This blog began as a journal of a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Award visit to the USA to study how Lifestyle Redesign could be used in Occupational Therapy to improve the hospital/home interface for older people. It has continued to record developments and inspiration gained from that experience since returning from Los Angeles early in 2012.

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Sunday 30 September 2012

World Congress on Active Ageing

 


Last month I attended one day of the WCAA in Glasgow to present a poster about my study visit to the University Of Southern California to investigate using a Lifestyle Redesign® based approach to improve the hospital to home interface for older people.



The congress was held at the armadillo (otherwise known as the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre- but it looks like an armadillo!). Delegates included academics, various health and social care workers and professionals and a lot of older people. In addition to the serious presentations there were lots of fun activities going on in the main hall. I met one older couple who had arrived on their bikes and I last saw as I left playing a highly competitive game of table tennis together!

The day that I attended, the focus was on falls and bone health. Many of the presentations were about exercise, it’s benefits for falls prevention and bone health and a lot of discussion about problems with uptake and adherence to exercise programmes. My main reason for attending was to present my poster, and I had many interesting conversations with delegates viewing the poster but the presentations I attended got me thinking about how a Lifestyle Redesign® based approach could help to deliver a more holistic and lifestyle management orientated approach to falls prevention for older people. OTs sometimes find that their role becomes one of advising about environmental hazards and recommending equipment, but these factors on their own have only a limited impact. Incorporating health-promoting changes into daily routines could have a more significant and longer lasting impact on falls prevention- and on health and well being.
I intend to look at this in more detail in a later blog post- so watch this space.