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Abstract

The older adult population has unique health needs and can benefit from addressing health at the individual and population levels. Occupational therapy’s unique lens on health can provide significant contributions to population health of older adults, however addressing health at the population-level is not customary practice for most practitioners. This study aimed to explore occupational therapists’ perceptions of their roles in population health with older adults. This qualitative descriptive study utilized semi-structured interviews with 21 occupational therapists. A content analysis revealed 2 main categories; positive perceptions of occupational therapy’s role and population-level issues that need to be addressed by occupational therapy specifically for older adults. Therapists identified an alignment between occupational therapy and population health and portrayed a desire to engage in more population-based practice. Focused occupational therapy practice areas for the older adult population were identified, including health management and prevention, aging-in-place, and maintaining independence. Understanding the perceptions and willingness to engage in population health with older adults can help expand the profession’s role in this type of practice. The identified areas of need from this study can be used as starting points for population-based occupational therapy practice with older adults in a variety of practice settings.

Keywords

occupational therapy older adults perceptions population health population-based practice

Highlights

● There is an alignment between occupational therapy and population health due to the holistic nature of occupational therapy.

● Occupational therapists noted the importance of population health to the overall health and well-being of older adults.

● Occupational therapists were open to engaging in population-based practice, regardless of their current involvement in such practices.

● Population-based occupational therapy practice areas for the older adults included health management and prevention, aging-in-place, and maintaining independence.

Introduction

The health of the growing older adult population is influenced by several factors. These include individual factors such as age-related changes to body systems (eg, sensory, muscle, and vestibular), personal factors, health behaviors, and higher risks of chronic health problems and hospitalizations.^1
-3 However, individual factors alone do not explain the overall health of older adults. An interplay of broader social, economic, and environmental factors, including food insecurity, social support, education, socioeconomic status, and ageism, also significantly influence the health of the older adult population.^1,4
-6 Health promotion can address factors at both levels by enabling individuals and populations to improve and increase control over their health.⁷ Health promotion recognizes that health is more than the absence of disease and takes into account physical, mental, and social wellbeing.⁷ An individual focus on health promotion alone, however, may fail to address the broader factors also impacting the health of older adults. To fully support their unique health needs, a population-level focus on health and wellbeing should also be integrated into routine care. Population health focuses on communities of people, or populations, and the various factors that influence their health.³ A population health approach includes health promotion and strives to improve the overall health and well-being of a population.³

Occupational therapy is a healthcare profession that aims to enable individuals, communities, and populations to participate in daily life activities, or occupations. Occupational therapy is holistic and considers the relationship between daily activities, body functions (ie, strength, endurance), environments, habits, skills, and values, and the impact those can have on health.⁸ This unique lens makes occupational therapy an ideal profession to address health at individual and population levels. The older adult population is growing and has unique health needs emphasizing the importance of exploring different approaches to occupational therapy service delivery. Additionally, older adults with 3 or more health determinant risk factors have reported limitations in activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and leisure activities at significantly higher rates than those with 2 or fewer risk factors.⁵ These areas are within the occupational therapy scope of practice and can impact the quality of life of older adults.

Occupational therapy may be able to more comprehensively address the health of the older adult population through engagement in population-based practice (PBP).^3,9 PBP allows occupational therapy to enhance performance and participation in life activities, increase access to services, enhance quality of life, and promote occupational justice for the older adult population as a whole.^3,8 However, some of the broader social, economic, and environmental factors are more often addressed at the individual rather than the population level within occupational therapy practice.^10
-13 Barriers encountered in practice, such as a lack of understanding of the profession, employer support, and resources can influence engagement in PBP.^11,12,14 Overall perceptions of this type of practice may also contribute to current engagement. To expand the role of the occupational therapy in population health, it is essential to understand the current perceptions of therapists. Since perceptions strongly influence thoughts and behaviors, understanding occupational therapists’ perceptions of PBP with older adults may determine how and to what extent they will engage in this type of practice. Previous studies showed that occupational therapists viewed health promotion positively and as an inherent part of the occupational therapy process.^10,15,16 Therapists recognize that occupational therapy practice aligns with health promotion and identify their roles as creating supportive environments, building personal skills, strengthening community action, advocating, collaborating, educating, and developing public policy.^10,11,16 Additionally, therapists who regularly engage in PBP report a larger impact on the health of populations and greater opportunities to focus on prevention.¹⁷ Previous studies have explored the perceptions of occupational therapists regularly engaging in PBP and factors that may influence engagement in PBP.^14,17 However, no studies have explored the perceptions of occupational therapists across diverse practice settings, not regularly engaging in PBP, and specifically working with older adults. The current study aimed to fill this literature gap by exploring the current perceptions of PBP among occupational therapists working with older adults in a variety of practice settings.

Materials and Methods

Design

A descriptive qualitative approach, which seeks to understand the everyday nature of events, using words to communicate an experience,¹⁸ was used for this study. This approach allowed the researchers to remain focused on the direct data obtained rather than assigning interpretive meaning to data, and to provide a straightforward description of the occupational therapists’ perceptions.^18
-23 Standards for reporting qualitative research (SRQR) were followed to present this study and its findings.²⁴

Participants

Convenience sampling was utilized to recruit participants across the US. The target sample size was 20 participants, which is consistent with recommendations for qualitative research and similar studies in the published literature.^22,25,26 Inclusion criteria consisted of occupational therapists: (1) currently working with older adults or having worked with older adults within the last 5 years; (2) able to read and speak the English language to facilitate interviews; and (3) eligible to practice occupational therapy in the US. There were no exclusion criteria. Participants were recruited using Facebook™ posts on therapy-related pages, posts on national listservs, and email invitations. The incentive for participation consisted of a chance to win a $50 digital gift card.

Data Collection

Following institutional review board approval, consenting occupational therapists completed a brief online survey and participated in semi-structured virtual interviews. The online survey confirmed study eligibility, obtained informed consent, collected demographic information, and identified a time for the virtual interview. Interviews were conducted between July 2022 and October 2022. The interview guide consisted of 10 questions that were developed by the research team for this study and were based on existing literature and using the Population-Based Practice Framework.^9
-13 The PBP Framework was adapted from the Public Health Nursing Intervention Wheel²⁷ to increase its applicability to the rehabilitation professions. This framework can be used to assist rehabilitation professionals in conceptualizing their roles in population health and provides definitions, population-level activities, and explanations of PBP.⁹ The use of this framework was necessary since occupational therapy is in the early phases of conceptualizing the field’s role and practice in population health. The interview guide was reviewed by 4 experts in occupational therapy for face and content validity and was pretested with 4 additional occupational therapists.

During interviews, participants were provided definitions of PBP and each of the PBP activities found within the PBP Framework. Open-ended interview questions explored participants’ understanding of the term “population-based practice” and health promotion, as well as engagement in PBP within their practice setting. Additionally, questions explored the perceptions of the role of occupational therapy in PBP and occupational therapy related population level issues specific to older adults. All interviews, each lasting 30 to 45 min, were recorded and automatically transcribed within the video conferencing software. The lead researcher with 13 years of occupational therapy experience with older adults conducted all interviews. Recordings were compared to the transcripts to ensure that they were verbatim prior to analysis.

Data Analysis

This study utilized qualitative content analysis, a commonly used method for a descriptive approach, allowing the researchers to stay close to the data and interpretations to be low inference.^18,19,21
-23 Data analysis was conducted by the lead researcher and 2 research assistants pursing doctoral degrees in health education. The following data analysis steps were employed individually: (1) data were read to obtain a sense of the whole interview; (2) codes were developed through inductive analysis, emerging from the data itself; (3) comments and reflections were added. As a team the following data steps were then employed: (4) data were explored to identify similar codes, phrases, patterns, or categories; (5) elaborations of patterns and generalizations were made.^18,21,23,28 Demographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS Version 25.

Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness can increase the rigor of a qualitative study by addressing credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.²⁹ Trustworthiness was addressed through the recruitment of information-rich occupational therapists, detailed descriptions of the participants and methods, researcher triangulation, and reflexivity. The research team consisted of faculty with expertise in qualitative research, gerontology, public health, occupational therapy, and population-based practice. Researchers engaged in reflexivity through self-reflection, as well as identifying and addressing potential biases prior to and during the research process. This included acknowledging their own biases and obtaining perspectives from others with different experiences and backgrounds. Additionally, peer debriefing was completed to provide insight and gain a broader understanding. Table 1 provides more information on the strategies used to establish trustworthiness.

Table 1.

Strategies Used to Establish Trustworthiness.²⁶.

Strategy	Methods	Data collection	Data analysis	Comment
Credibility	Familiarity with cultureInformation-rich participantsTriangulation of researchers	XX-	X-X	The lead researcher is an OT who primary worked with older adultsParticipants were all occupational therapists who worked with older adultsThree researchers participated in data analysis
Dependability	Detailed description of research methodsCodebookPeer debriefing	X--	-XX	Detailed description of the methods was providedCodebook was utilized to ensure that definitions did not shift in meaning during the coding processThree researchers coded the data individually and then completed a peer debriefing
Transferability	Detailed description of participants	X	-	Demographic information was collected using the online questionnaire
Confirmability	Triangulation of researchersReflexivity	-X	XX	Three researchers from varying backgrounds participated in data analysisPotential bias of the researchers was recorded and reflected upon during data collection and analysis

Results

A total of 21 occupational therapists participated in the study (see Table 2 for participant characteristics). Data collection was concluded for practical reasons, rather than reaching data saturation, but thematic replication suggested a sufficient level of completeness.³⁰ The majority of the participants identified as female (85.7%), White (85.7%), and between the ages of 20 and 39 (57.1%). They worked in a variety of practice settings and the majority (85.7%) stated they did not routinely engage in PBP as part of their daily practice. Participants had been working with older adults for a short (28.6 % < 5 yrs.) or moderate (33.3 % = 11-15 yrs.) period of time. Over 75% of the participants reported that they worked with older adults for over half of their workday.

Table 2.

Summary of Participant Characteristics (n = 21).

Participant	Age (years)	Gender (F = female, M = male)	Race/ethnicity	Highest degree obtained	Setting type	State employed	No. of years working with older adults	% of Day working with older adults
001	60-69	F	White/Caucasian	Post – Professional OTD	Acute	NY	20+	51-75%
002	50-59	F	White/Caucasian	Post – Professional OTD	CRCC	CA	16-20	76-100%
003	60-69	F	White/Caucasian	Masters of OT	Acute	NJ	11-15	76-100%
004	30-39	F	White/Caucasian	Masters of OT	SNF, Outpt, HH	VA	6-10	76-100%
005	30-39	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	Acute	AZ	0-5	76-100%
006	70+	F	White/Caucasian	Masters of OT	HH (all settings at one point)	GA	20+	26-50%
007	30-39	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	SNF	OH	6-10	76-100%
008	30-39	F	Prefer not to say	Post – Professional OTD	HH	MN	11-15	76-100%
009	40-49	F	White/Caucasian	Bachelor of OT	Outpt	IL	16-20	51-75%
010	50-59	F	Black or African American	Masters of OT	Acute	TX	11-15	51-75%
011	30-39	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	Outpt	OH	0-5	51-75%
012	20-29	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	Comm	OH	0-5	26-50%
013	30-39	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	Outpt	SC	11-15	51-75%
014	40-49	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	Acute	OH	11-15	76-100%
015	20-29	M	White/Caucasian	OTD	Outpt	OH	0-5	51-75%
016	30-39	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	SNF	OH	11-15	51-75%
017	40-49	F	White/Caucasian	Bachelor of OT	Inpt (all settings at one point)	OH	20+	26-50%
018	20-29	M	Hispanic or Latino	OTD	SNF, HH	OH	0-5	76-100%
019	30-39	M	White/Caucasian	OTD	Outpt	OH	11-15	26-50%
020	50-59	F	White/Caucasian	Bachelor of OT	Acute	OH	20+	76-100%
021	20-29	F	White/Caucasian	OTD	Comm	OH	0-5	1-25%

Note. HH: home health; Outpt: outpatient; Inpt : inpatient; SNF : skilled nursing facility; Comm : community-based; CRCC : continuing care retirement community.

At the start of the interview, 17 participants (81.0%) did not have a solid understanding of the concept of PBP and expressed unfamiliarity with the term and its applicability to occupational therapy. For example, one participant (NY, Acute) stated, “I don’t know what PBP is. I never heard that term before” and another (OH, Inpatient) explained, “I actually had to look [PBP] up because I didn’t know what it meant as far as [occupational therapy]. And even looking it up, I don’t know that I got a clear picture.” Prior to asking additional questions, participants were provided the definition and the population-level activities (eg, screening and outreach, health teaching and coaching, advocacy and policy development) described within the PBP Framework. The content analysis of the data resulted in 2 main categories, each with sub-categories. Specific quotes from participants are used to illustrate the sub-categories. Participants are identified by their state of employment and practice setting.

Category 1: Perceptions of Occupational Therapy’s Role in PBP

All but one of the participants (n = 20) affirmed the significant role occupational therapy could play in population health. The one remaining participant did not state that she was opposed to occupational therapy’s role; however, she also did not express any positive perceptions. Within this overall category, 3 prominent sub-categories were identified that supported the positive perceptions of occupational therapy’s role: Holistic Nature of Occupational Therapy, Opportunities to Do More PBP, and Need to Address Population-Level Factors.

Holistic Nature of Occupational Therapy

Participants discussed the alignment between occupational therapy and PBP due to the holistic nature of the profession. Participants discussed occupational therapy having a broad scope of practice with the ability to address physical, mental, social, and emotional health. This holistic nature allows occupational therapy to look beyond individual health factors and address social and environmental factors that also influence the health of the older adult population. For example, one participant (AZ, Outpatient) stated, “Because we take such a broad approach. . ., we would be very effective at, like, identifying community-based issues and things like that. And kind of trends and patterns given the right scenario.” Another participant (OH, Inpatient) noted:

. . . we look at the full person and that includes the community they live in and the health system that they’re trying to maneuver within. I think we’re perfectly poised to work on those population-based health problems, um, on a much larger scale.

Opportunities to Do More PBP

Participants discussed potential opportunities for occupational therapy to get more involved in population health, although some felt that there is often a lack of occupational therapy representation on committees, in community agencies, or with programs in which the opportunities would be readily available. This was emphasized in the statement by one participant (GA, Home Health) stating, “We’ve got so many, many, many opportunities to be able to educate the general population and, um, you know, the people who actually control the dollars for the seniors.” Additionally, participants expressed frustrations with missed opportunities due to a lack of understanding of the profession and the occupational therapy scope of practice. One participant (IL, Outpatient) mentioned, “I think we’re under-utilized and under-realized for the amount and breadth of education and stuff we can do.” Participants felt that these types of opportunities would increase occupational therapy’s ability to address population-level factors impacting the health of the older adult population.

Need to Address Population-Level Factors

Participants discussed the need to address population-level factors impacting the health of the older adult population. These population-level factors included economic, environment, and social factors. Discussing economic factors, one participant (OH, Outpatient) explained:

[Older adults] don’t have the help or the resources to be independent and safe. . . .a lot of the items that I need people to get, or that I would like people to get, are expensive and cost money, and they’re not covered by insurance. And they are like, “I have no money. I can barely afford the things that I need day to day. Let alone you telling me to go buy this $100 item.”

Environmental factors were brought forward, particularly when discussing referrals to community-based programs and resources. For example, one participant (OH, Skilled Nursing) stated, “one of the biggest issues is [older adults] don’t have transportation to these programs.” Commentary on an unequal distribution of resources also centered on community programs. One participant (SC, Outpatient) provided a specific example from her practice:

There’s a safety net for [young adults]. So if something happens in regard to a brain injury or stroke. . . there’s doctors that will see these people. But older adults are in a different situation. I’ve heard of older adults that have had a brain injury and certain providers don’t want to see them because they don’t know if it’s age-related changes or a brain injury. Um, frequently, there’s no one that has screened their vision. . . So, older adults don’t have advocates and safety nets, and it really puts them at a disadvantage. I feel like out of any population that desperately needs help from [occupational therapy] it would be older adults, because they’re just at risk compared to the other ages that I serve.

Participants also emphasized the social factor of ageism and its impact on older adult health. This included discussions related to perceptions of older adults and the term “old” itself. One participant (IL, Outpatient) explained “. . .redefining what old is, because old sometimes has a negative connotation, but it doesn’t need to, and helping people figure out what it is.” Participants also talked about dignity and attitudes toward aging. When conversing about socially appropriate recommendations to maintain dignity, one participant (NJ, Acute) stated, “We may have all the most wonderful ideas and we may have the knowledge. But what we’re missing is the dignity of aging.”

Category 2: Population-Level Issues for Older Adults

Participants brought forth critical issues that occupational therapy could address from a population-based perspective specific to older adults. Three prominent areas were identified as sub-categories and included: Health Management and Prevention, Aging in Place, and Maintaining Independence.

Health Management and Prevention

The participants believed that a greater focus in the areas of health management and prevention could have a positive impact on the health of the older adult population and that occupational therapists have the skills to functionally address these needs at the population level. One participant (VA, Skilled Nursing) stated, “there are so many chronic diseases that can be prevented. . . older adults are like, aware of that too. . . but they have no idea how to actually implement that into their daily routine.” One participant (CA, Comm) provided a potential population-based approach to prevention and exercise with older adults:

Like using a universal design framework idea for treating older adults. . . So, like, the universal design principals for architecture, you could also use with exercise. So really talking about what general guidelines work for everybody.

Aging in Place

Participants elaborated on how occupational therapy could address the ability of older adults to live in their place of choice safely, independently, and comfortably. To address this at the population-level, participants discussed the need for more community resources, as well as more education on fall prevention and home safety. All of which fall within the occupational therapy scope of practice. Additionally, discussions focused on the need for more proactive implementation of home and safety recommendations; before individuals have been diagnosed with a health condition. For example one participant (VA, Skilled Nursing), emphasized:

. . .with aging in place, you know, in an ideal world, if you could sell being a little bit more proactive and then on a higher systems-level advocating that be, like, something that’s covered by their insurance. . . even for individuals who don’t necessarily just have a diagnosis. You know, there’s definitely things that could be advocated for to help people be a little bit more proactive.

Maintaining Independence

Independence in activities that are meaningful and purposeful is a cornerstone of occupational therapy practice. When discussing the overall needs of the older adult population, participants discussed maintaining independence. One participant (OH, Skilled Nursing) stated, “. . . just promoting them to be as independent as possible, which is what [occupational therapy] is. . . just trying to promote the independence as much as we can to keep them healthy as long as we can.” To emphasize the need for population-level strategies to maintain older adult independence, one participant (OH, Community-based) provided a specific examples from her experience:

I do see where a lot of individuals as they get older, they lose a lot of independence. . .. staff is just used to, “This is my job, I take care of these individuals.” And they don’t necessarily think about. . . “maybe if I just set up the toothbrush for them, they could actually, like, work on brushing their teeth” or maybe they want to pick their outfit, but they can’t physically put it on. So, as much as it seems a little cliche to say supporting independence when you’re specifically talking about the older adult population, when I look at my specific facility, a lot of older adults lose independence without anybody realizing it.

Discussion

This study described the perspectives of occupational therapists on their role in PBP, specifically with older adults. It offers insights into how PBP is perceived by these professionals across different practice settings, including acute care, skilled nursing, outpatient, home health, inpatient rehabilitation, and community based. This is important as PBP is not customary practice in traditional settings, which make up the majority of occupational therapy work settings.³¹ The overall findings reveal awareness and acceptance of the importance of PBP among occupational therapists, regardless of their current involvement in such practices.

Most therapists in the current study had minimal experience with PBP. However, once provided a definition and examples, they expressed positive perceptions related to the role of occupational therapy in PBP with older adults. They believed that the essence of occupational therapy was well-aligned with PBP due to the holistic and broad nature of the field. It was perceived that the holistic lens currently employed with individual clients could enable occupational therapy to address more population-level issues, including changes to environments and systems that influence population health. It was noted that occupational therapists are trained to present information in a practical and manageable way for clients, a skill that is valuable to support change at the population-level. These sentiments on alignment are consistent with the findings from prior studies on health promotion in which occupational therapists understand how the nature of the profession and the values of health promotion make the 2 a natural match.^10,11,16

These sentiments also support the profession’s stance on promoting involvement of occupational therapy practitioners in health promotion services for individuals and populations.³ Furthermore, several occupational therapists expressed their personal desires and willingness to engage in more PBP and emphasized the need for the profession to do so, which is also consistent with prior studies.^13,15 However, it was noted that occupational therapy is often underutilized or overlooked when it comes to involvement in population health initiatives at their facilities or within organizations. This finding emphasizes the need for occupational therapy to clearly articulate its role in population health and educate others about its contributions.³²

Occupational therapists identified specific areas where occupational therapy can play a role in the population health of older adults. Although these areas are currently addressed at the individual level, they were identified as important to be addressed at the population-level as well. These population-level interventions could serve as a foundation for establishing occupational therapy’s role in population health with older adults. A previous study found that occupational therapists regularly engaging in PBP felt that this type of practice enabled them to emphasize prevention.¹⁷ This sentiment was shared by occupational therapists in the current study who were not regularly engaging in PBP. They felt that PBP could potentially improve their capacity for health management and preventive interventions, and they provided specific examples for the older adult population (eg, self-management of chronic conditions, education, energy conservation, caregiver training). This study was also able to shed light on the specific role of occupational therapy in supporting aging in place (eg, home safety, falls, community resources, assistive technology, environmental modifications) and maintaining independence for the older adult population, in both community and long-term care settings.

Furthermore, occupational therapists described the need to address broader factors (ie, economic, environmental, social) impacting the health and independence of their older adult clients and felt that PBP would allow for this. This supports and expands upon previous research on health promotion and PBP.^10,11,16,17 The need to address these broader factors also aligns with the population-level issues for older adults identified in this study. For example, economic factors were discussed with the potential for occupational therapy to address reimbursement, as well as coverage of medical equipment and other resources to maintain independence and safety. Environmental barriers were also discussed. These included the need to address transportation barriers limiting the older adult population’s ability to access community resources or medical care. To address these issues, occupational therapy can provide consultation to increase accessibility, advocate for changes related to access,⁸ develop age-friendly environments,³³ offer training in the use of community resources, and create safe driving programs.³⁴ Additionally, participants noted the need for societal shifts in attitudes about aging and behaviors toward older adults. Occupational therapists can address this issue through research, advocacy, education about aging, and promoting opportunities for intergenerational contact.⁴ All these actions are well within the scope of occupational therapy practice and would promote better overall health and wellness for the older adult population.

With the increasing number of older adults and the prevalence of comorbidities, it is vital to continue to address the health and healthcare needs of this population. Recognizing the potential of population-based occupational therapy practice could be transformative in meeting the needs of this aging demographic. This study has begun to address a substantial gap in the research literature, yet additional research is warranted. The perspectives of occupational therapy assistants are also vital to fully understanding the field’s views of PBP with older adults and could be included in future research. Furthermore, future research could explore occupational therapy outcomes and cost-effectiveness of PBP with the older population.

Limitations

At the outset of the interview, several participants expressed unfamiliarity with the term PBP. This could have posed a limitation on gathering accurate perspectives on occupational therapy’s role in this type of practice. This was anticipated by the researchers, and to mitigate this limitation the PBP Framework was utilized during interviews to ensure the discussion focused on population-level practice. This study used convenience sampling which may have limited the ability to obtain the broad and varying insights that maximum variation sampling would have provided.^18,23 With convenience sampling, selection bias may have occurred as individuals who had heard the term PBP or felt strongly about population health may have been more likely to participate.

Additionally, not all states were equally represented in this study with over half of the participants (52.4%) practicing in the state of Ohio. This is likely due to the researchers being based in Ohio and Ohio-specific social media sites being used for recruitment purposes. It is up to the reader to determine the extent to which these findings can be applicable and relevant to other contexts or settings beyond this specific research context. Although member checking after the data analysis was not performed, iterative questioning was used during interviews to increase trustworthiness of the data and to partially alleviate potential concerns about data accuracy.

Occupational therapists in this study identified specific areas in which occupational therapy could promote the health of older adults. These identified areas were solely from the occupational therapists’ perspectives. As a client-centered profession, occupational therapy develops a collaborative relationship with clients, whether individuals, groups, or populations, to understanding their priorities and experiences.⁸ Therefore, the distinct needs and perspectives of the clients must be taken into consideration in practice along with the findings from this study.

Conclusion

Occupational therapy can play a vital role in addressing the health of the older adult population. The occupational therapists who participated in this study described the potential for occupational therapy to practice at the population level and expressed willingness to engage in such practice regardless of their practice setting. Occupational therapists have a unique skill set and a broad scope of practice, and they are trained to provide education that is practical and relatable to clients, whether individuals or populations. Occupational therapy can engage in PBP by addressing the array of health factors for older adults, including economic instability, lack of transportation, and ageism. They can specifically use their skills to assist this population to manage their health and prevent disease by acting on health knowledge and establishing healthy behaviors, to age in place through the design of accessible and safe environments, and to maintain independence. These vital skills will allow occupational therapy to make meaningful contributions to the health of the older adult population.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-inq-10.1177_00469580251366149 – Supplemental material for Occupational Therapy’s Role in Population Health With Older Adults

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-inq-10.1177_00469580251366149 for Occupational Therapy’s Role in Population Health With Older Adults by Nicole L. Stotz, Victoria Steiner, Mounika Polavarapu and Erica Czaja in INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-2-inq-10.1177_00469580251366149 – Supplemental material for Occupational Therapy’s Role in Population Health With Older Adults

Supplemental material, sj-docx-2-inq-10.1177_00469580251366149 for Occupational Therapy’s Role in Population Health With Older Adults by Nicole L. Stotz, Victoria Steiner, Mounika Polavarapu and Erica Czaja in INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-3-inq-10.1177_00469580251366149 – Supplemental material for Occupational Therapy’s Role in Population Health With Older Adults

Supplemental material, sj-docx-3-inq-10.1177_00469580251366149 for Occupational Therapy’s Role in Population Health With Older Adults by Nicole L. Stotz, Victoria Steiner, Mounika Polavarapu and Erica Czaja in INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Nicole L. Stotz

Ethical Considerations

The Ethics Review Committee at the University of Toledo approved our interviews (301476-UT) on 06/25/22.

Consent to Participate

Respondents gave written consent for review and signature before starting interviews.

Author Contributions

All authors engaged in the conception and design, drafting the paper, revising it critically for intellectual content, and approved the final version to be published. In addition, Nicole Stotz collected and analyzed the data. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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