Sheffield Investigator:
Professor Gail Mountain
Dr Peter Bowie
Sheffield Researchers:
Partners:
North East London NHS Foundation Trust (host)
Funder:
National Institute of Health Research
The study is called ‘Valuing Active Life in Dementia’ or VALID. We are looking at the possible benefits of a programme of occupational therapy for people who have been diagnosed with dementia and those who regularly support them.
Maintaining both everyday and interesting pleasurable activities can be difficult for people with dementia as well as for those who support them. Occupational therapists assist people to continue to participate in activities despite the difficulties that they might be experiencing. They do this by helping people to try new ways of doing things. Some examples of activities are: joining a local group (like a walking group, or a lunch club), continuing to work in the garden, staying in touch with friends, or doing jobs around the house. They can also assist people to explore new activities.
Researchers in the Netherlands found that providing this occupational therapy programme could benefit both the person with dementia and their supporter. It was also shown to be a good use of money.
The UK research team have developed a similar occupational therapy programme to meet the needs of people living in this country. We are now testing whether this UK programme is beneficial. We are carrying out a randomised controlled trial of the clinical and cost effectiveness of the Community Occupational Therapy in Dementia –UK intervention.
Publications so far:
- Hynes, S., et al., (2015) Exploring the need for a new UK occupational therapy intervention for people with dementia and family carers: Community Occupational Therapy in Dementia (COTiD). A focus group study. Aging & Mental Health, DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2015.1037243
- Swinson, T., et al. (2016) Community occupational therapy for people with dementia and their family carers: A national survey of United Kingdom occupational therapy practice. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 79, (No. 2) pp85-91
- Wenborn, J. et al., (2016) Community occupational therapy for people with dementia and family carers (COTiD-UK) versus treatment as usual (Valuing Active Life in Dementia [VALID] programme): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 17:65 DOI: 10.1186/s13063-015-1150-y
- Enablers and challenges to occupational therapists’ research engagement: A qualitative study Di Bona L, Wenborn J, Field B, Hynes SM, Ledgerd R, Mountain G, Swinson T British Journal of Occupational Therapy 11 Aug 2017
More information can be found at: www.ucl.ac.uk/valid
twitter: @VALIDResearch