Date of Paper/Work

5-2017

Type of Paper/Work

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Occupational Therapy

Department

Occupational Science/Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Julie D. Bass

Department/School

Doctor of Occupational Therapy

Abstract

This cross-sectional descriptive study examined risk factors for hospitalization and the role of occupational therapy in the home health population of a large Midwest health system. The aim of the study was to determine if there was a difference in characteristics related to ADL/IADL performance with home health patients who were hospitalized and those who were not and in hospitalization for those who received occupational therapy and those who did not. Participants included a convenience sample (n=9045) of community-dwelling adults, age 18-104, who received home health services from January 2016 through December 2016. Descriptive statistics were obtained for demographics and thirteen OASIS ADL/IADL measures. Participants were mostly female (62.3%) with a mean age of 72.9 years (SD=14.7). The percentage of participants who were hospitalized (n=1440, 15.9%) was similar to the national average. For both the total group and the hospitalized group most individuals had ADL/IADL deficits. Over 75% of the total group had a diagnosis listed as other. There was lower occupational therapy involvement with participants having no or few deficits and greater involvement when patients had more deficits. Patients with 6-10 identified deficits had the highest rate of hospitalization (n=1041, 26.2%). Unexpected findings in the characteristics of groups who did and did not receive occupational therapy suggest further study is needed to understand the role of home health occupational therapy in reducing hospitalization.

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