A study published today by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has found community-based occupational therapy to improve the daily life of patients with dementia and to greatly reduce the burden on their caregivers.
Dutch researchers studied 135 patients with dementia and their primary caregivers, providing half of them with ten sessions of occupational therapy. At twelve weeks, 82 percent of those who had received the therapy reported needing less help in daily tasks, compared to just 10 percent of those who received no therapy. Nearly half of the caregivers also reported feeling more competent to care for their patient after the therapy.
Read more: Occupational therapy improves quality of life for dementia patients and their carers
FULL TEXT: Community based occupational therapy for patients with dementia and their care givers: randomised controlled trial (PDF)