Psychomotor activities as intervention in the functional performance of hospitalized old people

DOI: 10.15343/0104-7809.20102176182

Abstract

This research aimed to reduce functional loss of hospitalized old people from the stimulation of psychomotor aspects, as well
as the influence in the performance of patient daily activities during internment. For doing this, 4 interventions were done regarding the
psychomotor aspects in 30 patients during the period of internment in the geriatric infirmary of Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual
from September 2008 to January 2009; we also used the Functional Independence Measurement (FIM) for evaluation in 3 moments:
performance at home before the pathology appeared, in the admission to the infirmary and after the intervention. The results were postintervention
improvement in 83.33% of patients, with an average improvement of 8.5 in motor FIM. Even after a greater interference in
self-medication activities, with a significant difference in feeding activities, personal cares, bath and higher body parts dressing ability
no significant difference was found between the domains locomotion and mobility. There was also a reduction in the number of patients
with total and high dependency, as well as an increase in the number of people with low dependency. One concluded that the use of
psychomotor stimulation as an activity analyzed by the occupational therapist may improve functional capacity during internment.