Question: In adults with a diagnosis of dementia, how effective is occupational therapy which involves participation in daily living tasks, compared to any other intervention, in improving patient outcomes?

Answer:

Evidence on the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions which include activities of daily living tasks for improving outcomes in adults with dementia was weak. There was some evidence of positive treatment effects on depressive symptoms, cognitive and social functioning, quality of life and general health for people with mild to moderate dementia. However, a sub-group analysis of three RCTs from one systematic review found that OT interventions based on functional task activities had no effect on depressive symptoms in patients with dementia (severity of dementia un-specified). The effectiveness of OT interventions which include activities of daily living tasks in patients with more severe dementia remains uncertain. There was evidence, from one moderate quality RCT, that a specific standardised multi-component intervention (MAKS), which included ADL tasks, could be used to stabilise cognitive function and ability to perform ADL in patients with degenerative dementia over the medium term (12 months). Further larger, high quality RCTs are needed to confirm the apparent treatment effects observed in people with mild to moderate dementia and to further explore treatment effects on patients with varying severity of the disease.