Lifestyle Matters: An Occupational Approach Towards Health and Well-being in Later Life

Lifestyle Matters is an occupational approach to healthy ageing, which helps older people to get the most out of life. The intervention is based on an American model of health promotion called Lifestyle Redesign. This was found to be highly effective in enhancing the physical and mental health, occupational functioning and life satisfaction of community living older adults in Los Angeles, USA.

Weekly group meetings provide older people with the space, time and opportunity to share their experiences. Through a process of peer exchange and guidance, participants have the opportunity to reflect upon the range of activities that they engage with. They are then helped to begin to understand how these activities might impact on their health and well-being. However this approach alone cannot meet the complex needs of individual older people, and their specific and personal concerns. In recognition of this, the programme also includes monthly individual sessions with one of the group facilitators. The older person in partnership with the facilitator identifies a tailored programme to meet their individual needs, including the means by which they might work towards their personal goals. The individual programme is updated and refreshed in subsequent meetings over the months.

During 2004/5 researchers at Sheffield Hallam University in partnership with other researchers in York and Leeds, and clinical colleagues in Sheffield explored the feasibility of delivering this intervention to older people living in the UK. The project was funded through the Sheffield Health and Social Research Consortium. The summary below is an account of the process and outcomes of delivering a Lifestyle Matters programme to two groups of community living older people during 2004/5.