Influence of Lifestyle Redesign® on health, social participation, leisure and mobility of older French-Canadians

Importance: Developed in California to enable community-dwelling older adults to maintain healthy and meaningful activities, Lifestyle Redesign® is a well-known cost-effective preventive occupational therapy intervention. The impact of a newly adapted French version on older French-Canadians was, however, unknown.

Objective: To explore the influence of Lifestyle Redesign on older French-Canadians’ health, social participation, leisure, and mobility.

Design: A mixed-methods design included a preexperimental component (questionnaires administered before and after the intervention and 3 and 6 mo postintervention) and an exploratory descriptive qualitative clinical study. Individual semidirected interviews were digitally audiotaped and transcribed, then underwent thematic content analysis using mix extraction grids.

Setting: Community.

Participants: Sixteen volunteers (10 women) aged 65–90 yr (mean = 76.4, standard deviation = 7.6), 10 without and 6 with disabilities. Inclusion criteria were age ≥65 yr, normal cognitive functions, residence in a conventional or senior home, and French speaking.

Intervention: French-Canadian 6-mo version of Lifestyle Redesign.

Outcomes and Measures: Health, social participation, leisure, and mobility were measured using the 36-item Short Form Health Survey, Social Participation Scale, Leisure Profile, and Life-Space Assessment, as well as a semistructured interview guide.

Results: The French-Canadian Lifestyle Redesign had a beneficial effect on participants’ mental health (p = .02) and interest in leisure (p = .02) and, in those with disabilities, social participation (p = .03) and attitudes toward leisure (p = .04). Participants reported positive effects on their mental health, leisure, mobility, and social participation, including frequency and quality of social interactions, and indicated that having an occupational routine fostered better health. None of the participants reported no effect.

Conclusion and Relevance: The translated and culturally adapted Lifestyle Redesign is a promising occupational therapy intervention for community-dwelling older French-Canadians.