Rehabilitation Interventions for the Institutionalized Elderly

Summary

Gerontology professionals offer suggestions to enrich the quality of rehabilitation services offered to the institutionalized elderly. This exciting volume examines up-to-the-minute ideas--some that would have been unlikely even a few years ago--that focus exclusively on rehabilitation services for the institutionalized elderly. Despite the strong move toward more community health services in the last decade, the essential role of the nursing home in the long term care continuum is continuing to expand. Perspectives on the response of elderly persons to therapeutic interventions are addressed--including the positive effects of such techniques as touch in therapy, group psychotherapy, and verbal and activity interventions. A significant exploration of the use of technological applications to promote independent living adds a new dimension to the use of technology in the field of gerontology--often a mixed blessing to chronically ill persons.

Table of Contents

Contents Rehabilitation Advocacy: A New Role for Therapists Working With the Elderly

• Technological Applications to Promote Independent Living in the Elderly
• The Wheelchair: An Adult Scooterboard
• The Effects of Touch in the Geriatric Population
• A Group Psychotherapy Intervention to Promote the Functional Independence of Older Adults in a Long Term Rehabilitation Hospital: A Preliminary Study
• The Effectiveness of an Occupational Therapy Program in an Inpatient Geropsychiatric Setting
• “A Thousand Small Deliberations”