Occupational Therapy Intervention Process With Aging Adults

Intervention is the second step of the occupational therapy process as outlined in the occupational therapy practice framework-4 from the United States. It is through the intervention process that occupational therapy practitioners collaborate with older adults and employ occupation-based interventions to assist them in meeting their functional goals. The occupational therapy intervention process consists of three steps: (1) intervention planning, (2) intervention implementation, and (3) intervention review. In order for the intervention process to be successful when working with older adults, the occupational therapy practitioner must use client-centered, age appropriate, culturally relevant, and evidence-based activity interventions. The use of sound clinical reasoning and assessment skills is also critical to the success of the intervention plan. In this chapter, the reader will not only learn in detail about the individual steps of the occupational therapy intervention process but also about the use of environmentally focused models to support interventions. These are important considerations for intervention in later life (e.g., residential relocation, late-life social role changes, and intersectionality), as well as an exemplar evidence-based community intervention with older people that applies occupational therapy intervention processes. A case example is used to help bring chapter concepts to life.