Community Dwelling Elderly Women and Meal Preparation

Abstract

ABSTRACTMaintaining instrumental activities of daily living independence is an important component of successful aging in place. Meal preparation is an essential occupation and aspect of self-identity for many women. The aim of this study was to learn which meal preparation occupations are perceived to have high activity demands, the source of these activity demands, and the coping strategies developed to mitigate the press of these activity demands. Eight community dwelling American women, 73 years old or more, participated in this study. Using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, each woman identified meal preparation occupations that were important to her but which she felt were performed unsatisfactorily. The author completed an activity analysis based on the Person-Environment-Occupation Model to validate each participant's identified source of high activity demands. The results suggest that the activity demands are not solely due to a decline in functional capacity but also due to environmental barriers.