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Helping the elderly make healthy changes in their daily lives may improve their well-being and keep them living independently, new research shows.
In a study of 285 elderly men and women, researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles found that a program of ``lifestyle redesign'' had lasting effects on participants' psychological and physical health. The program used occupational therapy, usually reserved for treating disease and injury, as a way to slow the effects of aging.

Dr. Florence Clark and her colleagues reported the findings in the January issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. Clark's team focused on a group of independently-living men and women aged 60 and older. The study participants were divided into three groups: one designated as the occupational therapy group; one that engaged in regular social activities like playing cards; and a ``control'' group that received no treatment. Over 9 months, those in the occupational therapy group had weekly sessions in which a therapist helped them make ''positive changes'' in their daily routines.

Six months after the program ended, those in the therapy group reported greater gains in quality of life and overall health compared with the other two groups. 

The program worked, Clark told Reuters Health, because therapists not only taught the participants the value of healthful habits, but helped them incorporate them into their normal routines.

For example, she said, ``they learned the value of a short walk to the grocery store.'' Older people, she noted, can sustain such moderate activity over time.

The program also stressed the importance of social activities such as going out for dinner or having a regular game of cards. ``Loneliness can kill,'' Clark said.

Preventive measures such as the ones in this study will become increasingly important as more and more Americans live longer, according to Clark. Ensuring that the elderly live not only longer, but better, is in everyone's interest, she added.

SOURCE: Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences 2001;560:60-63.