Interventions Within the Scope of Occupational Therapy to Improve Activities of Daily Living, Rest, and Sleep in People With Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review.

Importance: People with Parkinson's disease (PD) commonly experience difficulty in performing activities of daily living (ADLs), which affects their perceived quality of life.

Objective: To examine the evidence for the effectiveness of interventions within the scope of occupational therapy to improve performance and participation in ADLs, rest, and sleep in adults with PD.

Data Sources: Databases searched were MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, OTseeker, and Cochrane Collection. Included articles were published between January 2011 and December 2018. Study Selection and Data Collection: Articles describing Level 1b, 2b, and 3b studies that examined outcomes related to ADLs, rest, and sleep in people with PD were included following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Findings: Forty-five articles (10 Level 1b, 27 Level 2b, and 8 Level 3b) met the inclusion criteria.

Conclusions And Relevance: Strong strength of evidence was found to support inpatient multidisciplinary intensive rehabilitation treatment (MIRT) to improve ADLs, and moderate strength of evidence that MIRT improves sleep performance. Low strength of evidence was present for outpatient occupational therapy to improve ADL and sleep outcomes. Low strength of evidence was found for resistance exercise programs to improve ADLs, but moderate strength of evidence indicates that multimodal exercise programs and targeted exercise programs can improve ADLs. Low to moderate strength of evidence suggested that alternative therapies and cognitive-behavioral therapy have a positive impact on ADLs and sleep. These results can be used to inform evidence-based occupational therapy practice. What This Article Adds: This article provides information for practitioners on the effectiveness of interventions within the scope of occupational therapy practice to improve ADLs and sleep.