AN EXPLORATION INTO THE USE OF GROUP WORK AS A CORE COMPONENT OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERVENTION IN AN OLDER ADULT PHYSICAL REHABILITATION HOSPITAL SETTING.

Abstract

Occupation is a core component of occupation based practice promoted within occupational therapy provision. Within literature the growth of the body of knowledge and evidence has developed to confirm the importance of occupation and health and well being. Occupational therapists commonly work with all age groups and within a variety of settings. In the small evidence based occupational therapy literature available, the importance of occupation based interventions is often stated, alongside group work as a core component of occupational therapy interventions.

Whilst there seems to be an agreement across the profession that group work is a core component within occupational therapy and can be used as a beneficial occupation based intervention there is little literature to evidence the following; in which settings and with which client group, group work is seen to be most beneficial and why or whether it is generally a useful occupational therapy occupation based intervention which can be successfully used across a wide variety of occupational therapy services and service users. Moreover, patient care is rarely one dimensional, the collective skills of healthcare workers can have the greatest impact on patient outcome, and hence why multidisciplinary working and group work should be at the forefront of focus.

As this is such a broad topic within occupational therapy, for the purpose of this literature review, a specific service area and service user group will be identified and explored. An older adult physical rehabilitation hospital setting is the area of interest due to personal employment and interest through individual research around the ageing population. This literature review identifies a gap in current occupational therapy literature. It provides an in depth exploration of literature exploring our ageing population and the potential benefits of using group work as a core occupational therapy intervention in an older adult physical rehabilitation hospital setting.