Research & Evidence:

Blog Entry Four:

Research & Evidence:
 

There is a significant quantity of research evidence to support that the positive relationship between occupation, health and well-being and that it is intertwined. The strength of the effect of occupation on health is dependent on the relationship between the person, environment and occupation. It is the balance between self-care, productivity and leisure that provides a positive sense of well-being for any individual. 

Wilcock (2006) describes that “The active aging process sits well with the view of doing, being, becoming and belonging and it states that research shows all four are essential to survival, health and well-being” (pp.17).

There is both antiquarian and modern evidence available to support how meaningful occupations promote successful ageing, can benefit health, prolong life and therefore promote well-being. In the 19th century Thomas Southwood-Smith (1836) stated that “it is, in fact, the pleasurable consciousness which constitutes the feeling of health” (pp.81-82).

Here and now in New Zealand, the New Zealand’s Positive Ageing Strategy (Ministry of Social Development, 2001) has developed 10 goals that are used by central and local government agencies to develop their own action plans to improve the well-being of older people to participate in their communities in ways they choose.

Here is a link to a wordpress: This is a blog set up by the New Zealand Association of Occupational Therapists.
http://meaningfuloccupations.wordpress.com/2009/05/29/what-occupations-are-meaningful-to-you/#comment-71

What occupations are meaningful to you?

References:

Southwood-Smith, T. (1836). The philosophy of health; Or an exposition of the physical and

mental constitution of man, with a view to the promotion of human longevity and happiness.

(Vol 1). London: Charles Knight. Cited in Wilcock, A.A. (2007). Active ageing: Dream or

reality? New Zealand Journal of Occupational Therapy, 54(1), 15-20.

New Zealand’s Positive Ageing Strategy (2001), retrieved 30/07/2012 from      www.msd.govt.nz/what-we-can-do/seniorcitizens/positive-ageing/index.html

Wilcock, A.A. (2007). Active ageing: Dream or reality? New Zealand Journal of Occupational Therapy, 54(1), 15-20.