EFFECTIVENESS OF TWO OT TREATMENTS FOR THE ELDERLY

人口统计数据显示，美国老年人口的数量有所上升 这一数字在近几年急剧上升，并将继续上升。因为年纪大了 个人面临着许多慢性健康和心理疾病的风险 威胁他们独立生活和生活能力的条件 体验令人满意的生活，他们将从中受益匪浅 提供职业治疗服务。然而，尽管 对这类服务的需求不断增长，职业治疗专业 目前正经历着严重的人力短缺。鉴于此， 在这种情况下，迫切需要研究来确定成本 老年职业治疗服务提供的效果 严谨的研究表明，作业疗法在 治疗老年人在文献中基本上是没有的。 这个为期3年的赠款项目的目标是进行第一个 作业治疗服务集约化效果研究 为低收入的老年人提供更好的服务。 目的，一个跨学科的研究团队，以 职业治疗师，具有丰富经验的医生 老年学，以及一名生物统计学家作为联合首席调查员 进行了一项随机的田间试验，其中345名低收入者 联邦政府补贴的大型住房项目的老年居民 已经或将被分配到：(A)以集团为中心的 职业治疗干预条件；(B)社会方案 对照组；或(C)不治疗的对照条件。对于每个 受试者，研究的治疗阶段将持续9个月。在……里面 为了评估治疗的有效性，所有受试者都将 接受治疗前、治疗后和6个月的随访测试 身体和社会功能能力、生活的衡量标准 满意度、抑郁、自我评价和医生评价的健康 状态和营养摄入量。对于这些有效性中的每一个 指标-变化的平均差异的意义 治疗和控制条件之间的基线分数将是 对后测和后续评估进行了测试。此外，一个 与传输前经过的时间相对应的已删除变量 将包括升级设施，并将通过以下方式进行评估 生存分析。此外，还将进行相关分析 致力于确定具有预测性的客户特征 治疗反应；这些相关分析的结果 将被用来描述可能会 在实现特定结果目标方面，从治疗中获益最多。 最后，成本效益分析将由一个 经济学家，并将包括对避免的医疗成本的估计 接受作业治疗的结果。

Demographic data reveal that the number of elderly Americans has risen dramatically in recent years and will continue to rise. Because older individuals are at risk for numerous chronic health and psychological conditions that threaten their ability to live independently and experience a satisfying life, they stand to benefit significantly from the provision of occupational therapy services. However, despite the growing demand for such services, the occupational therapy profession is currently experiencing a severe manpower shortage. Given this situation, research is urgently needed to identify the cost effectiveness of geriatric occupational therapy service delivery, as rigorous studies on the effectiveness of occupational therapy in treating the elderly are largely absent in the literature. The goal of this 3-year grant project is to conduct the first intensive effectiveness study of occupational therapy service provision to the low-income well elderly.To accomplish this purpose,an interdisciplinary research team featuring an occupational therapist, a physician with extensive experience in gerontology, and a biostatistician as Co-Principal Investigators are conducting a randomized field experiment in which 345 low-income elderly residents of a large, federally subsidized housing project have been or will be assigned to either: (a) a group-centered occupational therapy intervention condition; (b) a social program control group; or (c) a no-treatment control condition. For each subject, the treatment phase of the study will last 9 months. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of therapy, all subjects will receive pretreatment, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up testing on measures of physical and social functional capacity, life satisfaction, depression, self-rated and physician-rated health status, and nutritional intake. For each of these effectiveness indicators, the significance of mean differences in change-from- baseline scores between the therapy and control conditions will be tested for both the posttest and follow-up assessments. Further, a censored variable corresponding to the elapsed time prior to transfer to a step-up facility will be included and will be assessed via survival analysis. In addition, correlational analyses will be undertaken to determine the client characteristics that are predictive of response to treatment; the outcome of these correlational analyses will be utilized to delineate the type of client who is likely to benefit most from therapy in achieving a specified outcome goal. Finally, cost effectiveness analyses will be undertaken by an economist and will include estimates of the medical costs avoided as a result of undergoing occupational therapy.