Research project Engaging in meaningful activities is vital for health and well-being and for participation in valued social contexts. During aging, conditions for activity often change, and involuntary loss of activities can negatively affect well-being. There is limited knowledge about how activity engagement changes among older people with emerging support needs and how such engagement can best be supported by health and social care.
The overall aim is to explore how activity-focused interventions can promote engagement in older people with no or limited support from primary health and social care. The project includes three sub-studies: interviews exploring experiences of disengagement from meaningful activities; co-creation of a rehabilitation program with older people and professionals; and a mixed-methods feasibility study examining experiences and preliminary effects.
Engagement in meaningful activities is important for health and well-being. Likewise, to be able to participate in social contexts and stay in places that we value. Conditions for activity often change during aging. An involuntary loss of activities can negatively affect health and well-being. There is a lack of knowledge about how activity engagement changes among older people with an incipient need for support from health and social care, and how support to promote activity engagement can be designed.
The overall aim is to explore how activity-focused interventions can promote activity engagement in older people without, or with limited support, from municipal and regional primary care. Objectives of the sub-studies:
1. Exploring older people's experiences of involuntary disengagement from important activities
2. To investigate how co-creative methods with older people and professionals shape the development of an activity-focused rehabilitation program
3. To examine perspectives on the feasibility of an activity-focused rehabilitation program from the perspective of participants and professionals
4. To investigate the preliminary effects of an activity-focused rehabilitation program on activity engagement and quality of life for older participants
Three sub-studies are included:
1) Interview study where older people's experience of involuntary disengagement from meaningful activities is explored,
2) A study in which the researchers together with older people and professionals co-create an activity-focused rehabilitation program,
3) A feasibility study based on mixed methods where experiences of the program and preliminary effects are investigated.
For study 1, participants are recruited through the municipality's meeting places, through the municipality's team that works with early rehabilitation efforts, and the regional primary care. The studies build on experiences from previous steps in the project.
The project is funded by the Health and Social Care Administration, Östersund Municipality.
The project builds on previous research and is linked to the research project ColOur at the Arctic University of Norway
