ABSTRACT

Objective: This study aimed to systematically review occupational therapy intervention methods for an improvement in the activity and participation of persons with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Method: The search terms, “Occupational therapy” and “Dementia” or “Mild Cognitive Impairment” and “Participation,” “작업치료” and “치매” or “경도인지장애” and “참여,” were used to search the literature published between 2001 and 2018. For the international studies, we used MEDLINE, EMBASE, cochrane CENTRAL, and PubMed, and for Korean studies, KISS, RISS, NDSL, KMBASE, and KiSTi were used. Result: From the eight papers selected, international studies were found to be of higher quality than Korean studies. The most common intervention targets were persons with Alzheimer's type dementia. Common occupational therapy interventions were community occupational therapy and client-centered approaches. Interventions were noted to often take place in a home environment. There were a larger number of studies on measuring the level of activity compared to studies measuring the participation. Along with activity and participation, cognitive function was the most measured area. Conclusion: In this study, occupational therapy intervention methods to improve the activity and participation of persons with mild cognitive impairment or dementia are increasing in number, and a client-centered approach is being made as the occupational therapy environment extends from hospitals to communities, although to an insufficient degree. Thus, more research is needed to improve the activities and participation of persons with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.