Psychiatric Patients' Occupational Roles: Changes Over Time and Associations with Self-rated Quality of Life

Abstract

Eklund M. Psychiatric patients' occupational roles: Changes o × er time and associations with self-rated quality of life. Scand J Occup Ther 2001; 8: 125-130.This study investigated psychiatric patients' occupational roles before and after a period of treatment in occupational therapy day-care and at a 1-year follow-up. Furthermore, associations between valued occupational roles and self-rated quality of life were investigated. Twenty patients with a mean age of 30 years and diagnosed with a psychosis diagnosis or other long-term mental illness were followed during treatment, in average 16 months, and 1 year after. The pro le of occupational roles for the group as a whole pointed to that home maintainer, family member, hobbyist, and friend were roles that were held and valued by more than half of the respondents. The number of valued roles increased signi cantly from admission to discharge and follow-up. Five out of eight valued roles, friend, hobbyist, worker, family member, and caregiver showed associations with quality of life, and the relationship of friend to quality of life was most consistent over the three measurement points. No association was found between occupational roles and a general measure of mental health. Even though the number of valued roles increased, however, the pattern of roles remained fairly similar over the three occasions, and the picture deviated from results from studies on general populations of similar ages on, e.g. the proportion of respondents holding a worker role and a caregiver role.

What older people do: Time use and exploring the link between role participation and life satisfaction in people aged 65 years and over

“…Few studies have examined the number and types of roles in which older people participate. The frequency of participation in roles found in this study was higher than those found in other studies that used the Role Checklist with people with severe mental illness (Eklund, 2001;Hachey, Boyer, & Mercier, 2001). Australian census data about the prevalence of formal roles for older people including paid worker (6.5%), and volunteer worker (25%) indicated that the rates of participation were higher in the current study than in the Australian population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2002).…”

Satisfaction with Daily Occupations: A Tool for Client Evaluation in Mental Health Care

“…Qualitative studies typically verify such an association [5 Á/7], while results from quantitative studies are more mixed. Concerning occupational roles, associations with quality of life have been found [8,9], but the pattern of relationships was not consistent among roles or over time [9]. When focusing on the hassles and uplifts inherent in daily occupations among healthy women, Erlandsson & Eklund [10] found only a few associations with health and well-being.…”

The nature and meaning of occupational engagement for forensic clients living in the community

“…A social constructivist framework, which focuses on understanding how individuals and groups create a perceived reality (Bradley & Morss, 2002) such as restrictions imposed by the legal system might also be used to further explore and address the relationship between societal values and occupational engagement. Finally, the literature indicates that occupation is related to life satisfaction and perceived quality of life for individuals with SPMI (Christiansen, Backman, Little, & Nguyen, 1998;Eklund, 2001) and this relationship merits more research, particularly in relation to recidivism amongst individuals with a mental illness who have been charged with committing a crime.…”