The effectiveness of occupational therapy in enabling adults with a diagnosis of depression to improve their function and meaningful participation; a mixed methods study

Christie, L

Abstract

Background:
Depression is a leading cause of disability and is characterised by a loss of interest in
activities as well as difficulty carrying out everyday activities. Occupational therapy aims
to enable people to participate in the daily activities they want or need to do to improve
health and well-being, however there is a limited evidence base relating to the
effectiveness and impact of occupational therapy in depression.
Purpose
This mixed-methods study aimed to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of individualised
occupational therapy in enabling individuals with a diagnosis of depression to improve
their occupational functioning and participation in everyday activities and (b), identify
the most effective components of occupational therapy from the perspective of service
users.
Method:
A single group pretest-posttest study design was used utilising the following outcome
measures: Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), Beck Depression
Inventory II (BDI II), Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS), Utrecht Scale for
Evaluation of Rehabilitation-Participation (User-P) and the Short Form-36 Health Survey
(SF-36). Semi-structured interviews were undertaken at completion of the intervention.
Methods of data analysis included correlations, paired t tests and descriptive statistics
for the quantitative data, and thematic analysis for the interview data.
Findings
Quantitative findings show statistically significant improvements in the COPM-P, COPMS, BDI II, WSAS, two scales of the USER-P and three scales of the SF-36 outcome measure.
In addition, correlation analysis suggested a tendency for those participants who had
more occupational therapy to have better outcomes suggesting preliminary indication
of a ‘dose-response’ relationship relating to the amount of occupational therapy people
receive.

Citation

Christie, L. The effectiveness of occupational therapy in enabling adults with a diagnosis of depression to improve their function and meaningful participation; a mixed methods study. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jun 7, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 7, 2022
• Award Date: Sep 21, 2022