Introduction: The world's population is aging, life expectancy is increasing and the number of older people is augmenting. It is expected that the number of elderly people with various diseases and problems, both in the motor, cognitive and social-interactional areas, will also increase. By performing physical activities, we want to influence on the physical, cognitive, social-interactional and emotional deficits of the elderly and to contribute to improve the performance of daily activities and more independence. Purpose: To investigate how physical activities affect motor, process and social-interactional areas in the elderly, to show the role of occupational therapist in performing physical activities and to determine what knowledge and skills the occupational therapist needs. Methods: A review of professional and scientific literature was used. Literature was selected on internet database Digital Library of the University of Ljubljana (DiKUL) and various individual databases: PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), OTseeker, ScienceDirect. Search of literature was proceeded with different combinations of key words (physical activity, elderly, occupational therapy) in slovene and english. The analysis included articles written in slovene or english, available in full text, published between 2000 and 2020, which included persons over 65 years of age. Results: The final analysis included 9 articles, including 4 literature reviews, 4 randomized control studies and 1 feasibility study. All studies included people over the age of 65, of which 3 studies included people with dementia, 2 studies people with Alzheimer’s disease and 4 studies people living in nursing homes. Discussion and conclusion: Performing various physical activities in the elderly has a positive effect on the performance of daily activities, social interaction, cognitive functions, motor skills, sleep, behavior and emotions, changes in the risk of falling and on the quality of life of individuals,. The occupational therapist's task is to understand and take into account the wishes of elderly, to plan individually adjusted activities, to guide, encourage and motivate elderly to perform in activities, take care of safety in performing activities, inform elderly about the benefits of physical activities, to share their knowledge with other participants. The occupational therapist has the knowledge to effectively implement multicomponent group programs so that he can help older people overcome barriers that limit their performance in participating in daily activities. It is recommended that he upgrade knowledge and consider the latest guidelines in occupational therapy field.
|
