Background

Within the development of new interventions, it is of highly important to address social participation since it is associated with improved physical and mental health. Therefore, a new intervention in occupational therapy, ‘The health Web’ was developed.

Aim

The aim of this study was to explore and describe how older adults experienced the intervention process of ‘The Health Web’ provided by an occupational therapist, and whether the intervention has the potential to promote social participation.

Material and Methods

An exploratory descriptive case study was designed. Five older adults and an occupational therapist were included. Interviews, self-assessments, registration forms and field-notes were used to collect data. The data were analysed using pattern-matching.

Results

The results consist of two cases: A) Continuous engagement promoted the development of strategies and: B) Uneven engagement inhibited the development of strategies. Each case is described with three categories representing the experienced intervention process of the older adults in the respective case.

Conclusions and significance

The results suggest that the intervention has some potential to support older adults’ in using strategies supporting social participation. This study provides valuable insights for the continued development of the intervention.

Changing demographics with an increased proportion of older adults indicate the need to develop new health-promoting interventions where the potential of digitization is considered. The aim was to explore and create an understanding of how social online meetings are experienced by older adults. Interviews with older adults generated data that were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The participants were interviewed after participating in a digital health promotion group initiative provided in a municipality context. A core conceptual category and three subcategories reflected an intertwined process of discovering facets of social participation where internal reflections on personal values and needs were nurtured by an external driven process of becoming part of a group in an online context. Occupational therapists and other health and social care professionals need to consider the various facets of social participation when supporting older adults active and healthy aging.

Background: Health promotion interventions supporting the development of strategies for social participation when ageing is an important concern within occupational therapy. Therefore, a new intervention has been developed.

Aim: To present a protocol for a feasibility study evaluating the feasibility of Health Web 1.0, a web-based occupational therapy group intervention supporting older adults’ social participation and meaningful activities in daily life.

Material and methods: This feasibility study follows the framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions. This study will be conducted using a pre-test and posttest design without a control group to evaluate feasibility and potential results. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected concurrently in a mixed-method design. The Health Web 1.0 will be conducted in municipal primary healthcare settings. The intervention is provided through a digital communication platform, delivered by occupational therapists.

Results: Not applicable (N/A).

Conclusions and significance: The intervention will have significance for occupational therapists to adapt to a more proactive role in supporting a meaningful everyday life when ageing. Additionally, the group format and digital delivery of the intervention will provide possibilities to use resources more effectively.

Background: Fostering social participation for active and healthy ageing among older adults is an urgent issue in a changing society that requires new approaches from occupational therapists as well as from society at large.

Aim: To explore possibilities to foster social participation for older adults in society from the perspective of stakeholders.

Material and methods: A qualitative design was applied. 18 key informants, engaged in supporting older adults in their organisational roles as either professionals or volunteers, participated in five different focus groups discussions.

Results: The results involved two overarching themes that reflects different perspectives on key informants’ possibilities to foster social participation for older adults. The first theme describes how they direct their attention towards their roles within the organisations to foster social participation in their own context. The second theme describes the broader societal perspectives that they address to establish a common ground for collaboration and knowledge-sharing among different stakeholders.

Conclusions: The findings emphasise how addressing common challenges and developing collaboration are essential to foster older adults’ social participation. It is therefore necessary to involve policy-makers and decision-makers. Occupational therapists and researchers should consider the value of occupational justice to drive collective and social approaches.

Social participation is positively associated with older adults’ health. Health-care services, therefore, need to empower older adults to adapt to the social changes that accompany aging. This systematic review, with a metasynthesis of qualitative studies, aimed to describe and develop an understanding of home-dwelling older adults’ (65 yrs+) experiences of using strategies to maintain and foster their social participation. The main search was performed in March 2022 using the PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and AMED databases and included peer-reviewed articles published between 2012 and 2022. A total of 35 full-text articles from 15 different countries were included and assessed for quality by the assessment tool for qualitative studies provided by the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). The metasynthesis resulted in the main theme: strategically creating routines that foster social participation and two main categories: inward-looking strategies for social participation and outward-looking strategies for social participation. Each main category contained three subcategories. The findings suggest that for perceiving social participation, it is important for older adults to create routines with patterns of activities and to be able to engage in these activities. The findings further reflect that older adults use earlier experiences of social participation to facilitate the making of routines. This indicates that health-care interventions supporting older adults’ social participation must be applied early and with a health-promotive focus. Conclusively, researchers need to develop interventions that support older adults in healthy activity patterns by raising awareness of how to use inward-looking and outward-looking strategies to create routines for social participation. The findings further suggest that older adults’ possibilities for social participation could be supported by designing accessible venues that facilitate spontaneous meetings and encourage older adults’ own choices and initiatives for social participation.

Background: Everyday lives of adolescents reflects a pattern and balance of occupations across the awake-sleep continuum. Despite ongoing discussions regarding overconsumption, play in digital spaces is an occupation of choice for many adolescents.Aim: To explore and identify how the meaning of playing video games is situated in adolescents’ everyday life.Material and Method: Five participants aged 16–17 years were recruited. Data was generated through interviews and encounters using recorded clips of their play in digital spaces. Narrative analysis was utilised to explore the stories of adolescent’s digital play in everyday life.Results: The overall plot of ‘bridging the divide’ represents and symbolises how play in the digital space is integrated in adolescents’ everyday life as they negotiate and balance the habits and routines of everyday life. Four storylines help demonstrate the stories told.Conclusion: Playing in digital spaces enabled the participants to be part of an ongoing story where meaning could be negotiated and created. Play was interwoven in the complexity of routines reflecting the importance of examining the integrated whole of adolescents’ everyday life.Significance: These findings are significant in shifting current assumptions and discourses of how digital play is situated in everyday life.

Introduction: Internet-based interventions are called for within rehabilitation to meet the limited access to support for self-management after stroke. Therefore, a new intervention program, “Strategies for Empowering activities in Everyday life” (SEE) was developed. The aim of this study was to explore and describe how clients with stroke and their occupational therapists experienced the SEE intervention process and whether SEE has the potential to promote an active everyday life.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive case study was designed. Four people with stroke (two of each sex, mean age 66,5 years) and their two occupational therapists (one of each sex) were included. A mix of data collection methods as interviews, assessments, registration forms and fieldnotes was used to uncover the participants’ experiences and potential changes. Data were analysed with pattern matching.

Findings: The analysed data formed three categories: “Not being able to take on the internet-based intervention”, “Being facilitated in the change process of everyday life through the internet-based intervention”, and “Providing a new internet-based intervention is a transition from ordinary practice”. These categories included two to four subcategories that reflected aspects of SEE feasibility and acceptability with a focus on content and delivery.

Conclusion: The first test of the intervention indicates that the content and delivery of SEE can be feasible and acceptable both for clients and occupational therapists. The findings suggest that SEE has the potential to support clients’ self-reflections and their adoption of strategies that influence engagement in daily activities and satisfaction with life in various ways. Further research with large-scale studies is needed.

Background: Information and communication technology (ICT) has been proven to have effect in terms of providing alternative ways to deliver rehabilitation services. The intention with this paper is to serve as a foundation for discussions regarding the future development, design, and delivery of home-based rehabilitation, including ICT.

Aim: To reflect on and discuss the possibilities and challenges of using ICT in home-based rehabilitation services.Method and material: We use experiences and results from various projects to reflect on and discuss possibilities and challenges related to the use of ICT in home-based rehabilitation.

Findings and discussion: We exemplify how ICT present new possibilities that can increase the quality of the rehabilitation process and improve access to services. We reflect on some challenges in the use of ICT, related to non-user-friendly solutions, to the specific rehabilitation situation, and a lack of technical support. At an organisational level, readiness to use ICT can impact the extent to which new solutions are integrated into practice.

Conclusion: We emphasise that ICT has the potential to develop and improve service delivery and contribute to increased quality and accessibility of home-based rehabilitation.

Background

Social participation concerns the possibility of engaging in activities in interaction with others or society at large and contributes to the health and well-being of older adults. In contrast, a lack of social participation is associated with loneliness. It is, therefore, important to understand what strategies older adults use to maintain social participation.

Aim

To explore and describe older adults’ experiences of maintaining social participation.

Materials and methods

Nine older adults, aged 69–92 years, participated in interviews that were analysed through qualitative content analysis.

Results

The overall findings reflect how older adults create opportunities for social participation by developing strategies and striving to adapt to changing situations, emphasizing how maintaining social participation is an active process. Preserving social participation requires motivation and an effort to take initiative to cultivate social relations, maintain community bonds, engage in social events and activities and stay connected with society.

Conclusions and significance

These results may extend our understanding of strategies that older adults use, as well as the challenges they face when striving to adapt to new circumstances. This study may have implications for the practice of how to support older adults’ social participation.

Background

By examining the health needs of the general population and utilising the potential of digitalisation as a driving force, new internet-based services need to be developed in occupational therapy. However, existing guidelines for the development of complex interventions provide scant information on how to develop internet-based interventions.

Aim

The aim of this paper is to share experiences and illustrate important key actions and new perspectives to consider during the innovation process of developing and designing an internet-based occupational therapy intervention.

Method and Materials

International guidelines for intervention development was reviewed to add important perspectives in the innovation process.

Results

The illustration focuses on five key actions in the development phase to highlight new perspectives and questions important to consider when designing new internet-based occupational therapy interventions.

Conclusion

The new perspectives can complement existing guidelines to enhance the development of more effective and sustainable internet-based interventions.

Significance

The illustration provided has potential to improve the sustainability in innovation processes of new internet-based occupational therapy interventions.