Occupation Based Health-Promotion Program for People Aged Over 60: "Bliib Gsund"

1. Background

In Switzerland, the proportion of over-fifty-year-olds is growing rapidly - between 1996 and 2007, the proportion of people over 50 in employment grew from 26% to 31%. By 2020, the proportion will increase to one-third (Meyer, 2008). In addition, the baby boomers will retire in the next few years. In the canton of Glarus, about 26% will be older than 65 years in 2030, compared to only 18% today. The use of health services and the consequential higher costs for the health system will rise dramatically (Cruz et al., 2014). It is believed that approximately 2 billion Swiss Francs could be saved by 2030 by means of health promotion and disease prevention programs in this age group (Stuck et al., 2009). In 2007, the Federal Council designed the "Strategies for the Swiss old-age policy", which is based on the assumptions of "active aging" by the WHO in 2002. The knowledge gained showed that in particular individual health literacy and behavioral and relationship-oriented health promotion efforts strengthen the health and social integration. Moreover, the Federal Council describes that health promotion and the prevention of chronic diseases and functional disability will be future needs (Rielle, Wirz, & Wiesli, 2010). This is supported by the data available from the Federal Office of Statistics, which identified a permanent health problem by 43.2% among 55-64 year olds and 47.2% among 65-74 year olds (BFS, 2012).

For the above mentioned reasons the existing LINTHPRAXEN Medical Center is expanding their facilities and services in the form of a prevention center. One part of the expansion is creating an occupational therapy-led health promotion program. The program is based on the essential components of the already existing programs "Tatkraft - Gesund im Alter durch Betätigung" (Ferber et al., 2012) "Lifestyle Matters" (Mountain et al., 2008) and "Life-Redesign-Prgram" (Jackson et al., 1998, Hay et al., 2002, Clark et al., 2012) .

A demand for this program can be seen especially in the municipality of Glarus Süd. According to the "Report on the aging policy in the cantons" of Rielle et al. (2010) the Canton of Glarus and the municipality of Glarus Süd carry out a barely effective age policy. The report lists the relevant issues as: living in old age, health / prevention, finances, volunteer work, social integration and the maintaining of independence of the elderly. When implementing an age strategy, the community setting is of great importance. The "Model Health Canton Glarus", published in February 2014, reflects the problematic situation of the aging population in Glarus and defines principles that describe strategies for health care. Among other things, the Canton aims to expand the health promotion and prevention services and to link local players in health care (Cruz et al. 2014). The project "bliib gsund" is therefore a suitable first initiative in this area. 2. Program objectives

The program objectives are primarily aimed at learning skills to integrate health-promoting aspects in daily life and to maintain the quality of life (strengthen the sense of coherence, increase quality of life, increase self-efficacy). The main aspect is to maintain the autonomy and independence of the people in everyday life as long as possible. 3. Intended Curriculum