Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Interventions to Enhance Occupational Performance for Adults With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Major Neurocognitive Disorders: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this systematic review was to describe the evidence for the effectiveness of interventions designed to establish, modify, and maintain occupations for adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related neurocognitive disorders.

METHOD: Titles and abstracts of 2,597 articles were reviewed, of which 256 were retrieved for full review and 52 met inclusion criteria. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force levels of certainty and grade definitions were used to describe the strength of evidence.

RESULTS: Articles were categorized into five themes: occupation-based, sleep, cognitive, physical exercise, and multicomponent interventions. Strong evidence supports the benefits of occupation-based interventions, physical exercise, and error-reduction learning.

CONCLUSION: Occupational therapy practitioners should integrate daily occupations, physical exercise, and error-reduction techniques into the daily routine of adults with AD to enhance occupational performance and delay functional decline. Future research should focus on establishing consensus on types and dosage of exercise and cognitive interventions.