IMPACTS OF THE FRENCH LIFESTYLE REDESIGN®, A PREVENTIVE OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY INTERVENTION

Abstract

Rationale: Developed in California to enable community-dwelling older adults to integrate meaningful, healthy and sustainable activities, the Lifestyle Redesign® is a well-known cost effective occupational therapy intervention. Recently adapted to French by our team, the impacts of this new version are unknown. This study thus aimed to explore the impacts of this version of Lifestyle Redesign® on French-speaking older adults.

Method: A mixed-method design including a pre-experimental component was conducted with 16 participants (10 women), aged 66–91 (79.4 ± 8.7), 10 without and 6 with disabilities. They completed social participation, health, leisure, engagement in meaningful activities and life balance questionnaires at 0, 6 (immediately after), 9 and 12 months, and semi-structured interviews.

Results: Lifestyle Redesign® increased older adults’ mental health (p=0.02), life balance (p=0.04) and interest toward leisure (p=0.02). Results have also shown improvement in engagement in meaningful activities of participants without disability (p=0.03) and in social participation of older adults with disabilities (p=0.03). The majority of participants recommended the intervention to other seniors. Moreover, participants reported several positive impacts of the intervention, both on their personal and environmental factors, and, more specifically, for their social participation. This influence on social participation was seen in several activities, occupational routines and the frequency and quality of their contacts with others.

Conclusion: The French version of Lifestyle Redesign® is a promising occupational therapy intervention for older adults living in the community.

Funding: This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)’s [grant #126315].