Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT)

Department

Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Anne M. Haskins

Second Advisor

Marilyn G. Klug

Keywords

Aged; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Neurocognitive Disorders

Abstract

The purpose of this independent study was to evaluate occupational therapy practitioners’ perceptions of the efficacy of certain environment-based intervention types when utilized with nursing home residents who present with neurocognitive disorders. A non-experimental research design in an online survey format was utilized. An invitation to take the online survey was submitted to 56 occupational therapy (OT) practitioners working in skilled nursing facilities. The online survey was comprised of questions addressing awareness/use and perception of efficacy of environment-based intervention methods. Seventeen responses were received. The majority of respondents reported awareness and use of the 20 environment-based intervention methods. Overall, respondents reported agreement with the 22 statements regarding the efficacy of the interventions. While practitioners are predominantly tending to utilize strongly evidenced interventions, they are also heavily using interventions which lack sufficient evidence to support routine use. This may indicate that practitioners have a limited actual awareness of the evidence relating to environment-based interventions. However, these findings also indicate a need to further evaluate the evidence pertaining to environment-based interventions with limited evidence.

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