Testing an occupational therapy intervention for people using secondary mental health services to promote the value of occupation in everyday life

Background Adults with mental health problems experience social isolation and spend time engaging in passive activities. A manualised intervention “Increasing Participation in Everyday Life” has been developed for adults... [ view full abstract ]

Background
Adults with mental health problems experience social isolation and spend time engaging in passive activities. A manualised intervention “Increasing Participation in Everyday Life” has been developed for adults with mental health problems to increase their participation in leisure, self-care and productive activities. The intervention consists of 6 group and 6 individual sessions. A feasibility study tested the intervention in clinical practice and assessed the acceptability of the intervention to occupational therapists and service users.

Method
A one-group study design assessed intervention use in adult community mental health services in two NHS trusts. Service users and occupational therapists were interviewed regarding their experience of the intervention and service user benefits. Changes in occupational participation were measured using the Social Functioning Scale.
Results
Service users and occupational therapists found the intervention to be acceptable. The service users stated they benefited from discussing the value of a range of activities with other service users in the group sessions and were working towards or met their goals set in the individual sessions. End scores on the Social Functioning Scale were not statistically different to baseline scores. The occupational therapists identified that service users benefitted from receiving the combination of group and individual sessions. Changes to the content of the intervention were recommended by the participants.
Conclusion
The intervention demonstrated preliminary evidence of positive effect and warrants further testing. A different outcome measure is needed to detect change.
Application to practice
The intervention shows promise in promoting participation in leisure, self-care and productive activities.