Mine Uyanık

By Onur Altuntaş, Berkan Torpil and Mine Uyanik

The population of the elderly is raising in the improved countries with the death age becoming later in life due to the improvement of contemporary therapy approaches and socio‐economic and cultural levels. Most older people with major disability of recent onset have the potential to benefit from geriatric rehabilitation. Rehabilitation for older people should have specific goals. Rehabilitation of elderly people involves an active process, delivered through a coordinated multidisciplinary team approach, aiming to improve function and enable subjects to live their lives to the whole potential. The major goal of rehabilitation programs for older people is to assist them to manage personal activities of daily living without the assistance of another person. Occupational therapy facilitates optimal occupational performance and community participation across the full spectrum of ability. In this chapter, there is information on the principles of occupational rehabilitation for elderly people and evaluation and different therapy approaches in occupational therapy.

Part of the book: Occupational Therapy

By Beliz Belgen Kaygisiz

The importance of employment to people with disabilities has been increasing in recent years. Participation in working life as active producers has been the main factor in community integration of people with disabilities. It has been proven that if people with disabilities are given the opportunity to develop and use their working capacity, they can be as successful as those who do not have any disabilities, and nowadays the most rational way of helping people with disabilities is to provide them with profession and work. Vocational rehabilitation is a process that helps someone to overcome the barriers when beginning to work, continuing to work, or returning to work after any accident, illness, or disorder. Although the employee is selected according to his/her ability according to the work to be done, it is very important that the place to work matches the physical and psychological characteristics of the employee. Ergonomics is important at working life as it affects productivity. Many different ergonomic risk factors are available to affect the quality of life of a person at workplace. This chapter focuses on the employment of people with disabilities, the risk factors they may face at workplace and assessment of risk factors.

Part of the book: Occupational Therapy