An Expansive View of the Relationship Between Meaningful Activities and Health: A Call to Action.

Abstract

Internal medicine research and related fields are embarking on the examination of engagement in meaningful activities among adults and older adults with disabilities. Recent examples have concluded that older adults with disabilities had lower rates of engagement in meaningful activities than those without disabilities, but that engagement is still possible and important. 1 Allison T.A. Gubner J.M. Oh A. et al. Meaningful activities and sources of meaning for community-dwelling people living with dementia. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2021.08.009 Google Scholar ,2 Oh A. Gan S. Boscardin W.J. et al. Engagement in meaningful activities among older adults with disability, dementia, and depression. JAMA Intern Med. 2021; 181: 560-562 Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar These recent articles expose the need for a more expansive view of the relationship between meaningful activities and health and illustrate the great potential for synergistic collaborations between internal medicine and rehabilitation researchers. The findings of these studies align with evidence generated by rehabilitation science, which studies the health and function of people with disabilities. Occupational therapy falls within rehabilitation science and specializes in “achieving health, well-being, and participation in life through engagement in occupations (activities).” 3 American Occupational Therapy AssociationOccupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (4th ed). Am J Occup Ther. 2020; 74: 1-87 Google Scholar We are pleased to see interdisciplinary teams embark on this important work and to see interest in this topic among the readership of internal medicine journals, particularly as the US population ages and the prevalence of difficulties engaging in meaningful activities is increasing. 4 Zajacova A. Montez J.K. Explaining the increasing disability prevalence among mid-life US adults, 2002 to 2016. Soc Sci Med. 2018; 221: 1-8 Crossref PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar Here, we demonstrate relevance of rehabilitation science to this line of inquiry by describing a rehabilitation science framework that contextualizes the findings of recent studies, propose an expanded view of the link between meaningful activities and health, and advocate for greater collaboration to improve the health of the growing number of people with disabilities.