Introduction: Occupational therapy (OT) is based on the core assumption that humans are active beings through engagement in occupations. Within OT, occupation is typically used as primary means and/or ends i.e. occupation-focused and/or occupation-based interventions are employed. Studies evaluating such interventions are limited.Objectives: To synthesize experiences about occupation-focused and/or occupation-based interventions. Hence, to identify, organize and prioritize experiences with employing occupation as a core element in OT intervention studies.Methods: Participants were OT PhD students and researchers involved in studies concerning occupation-focused and/or occupation-based interventions. Group Concept Mapping was applied.Results: Based on 133 ideas, a conceptual model emerged encompassing two overall dimensions concerning 'developing interventions' and 'planning intervention studies', respectively. Moreover, ten themes related to one or both dimensions were defined and 94 ideas across clusters had high importance ratings.Conclusion: Synthesis of participants' experiences indicates that 'doing' as agent of change is a core element of OT interventions. Moreover, a multi-level perspective is needed to reach sustainable changes in doing. Group- and peer-support can work as amplifier for change, and flexibility is important during intervention. Such complex interventions need special design and mixed methods in the development, and evaluation of outcome needs to address occupation.

Ambient air pollution has been linked to stroke, but few studies have examined in detail stroke subtypes and confounding by road traffic noise, which was recently associated with stroke. Here we examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of stroke (overall, ischemic, hemorrhagic), adjusting for road traffic noise. In a nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort consisting of 23,423 nurses, recruited in 1993 or 1999, we identified 1,078 incident cases of stroke (944 ischemic and 134 hemorrhagic) up to December 31, 2014, defined as first-ever hospital contact. The full residential address histories since 1970 were obtained for each participant and the annual means of air pollutants (particulate matter with diameter < 2.5 µm and < 10 µm (PM
2.5 and PM
10), nitrogen dioxide (NO
2), nitrogen oxides (NOx)) and road traffic noise were determined using validated models. Time-varying Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) (95% confidence intervals (CI)) for the associations of one-, three, and 23-year running mean of air pollutants with stroke adjusting for potential confounders and noise. In fully adjusted models, the HRs (95% CI) per interquartile range increase in one-year running mean of PM
2.5 and overall, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke were 1.12 (1.01-1.25), 1.13 (1.01-1.26), and 1.07 (0.80-1.44), respectively, and remained unchanged after adjustment for noise. Long-term exposure to ambient PM
2.5 was associated with the risk of stroke independent of road traffic noise.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores dose-response relationships when treating fibromyalgia with low-dose naltrexone.

DESIGN: A single-blinded clinical trial was carried out using the "up-and-down" method.

SUBJECTS: Subjects included women with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia aged 18-60 years who had been referred to treatment at a public pain clinic at a Danish university hospital.

METHODS: The test doses were in the range 0.75-6 mg, and the dosing interval was 0.75 mg. The method was sequential and allowed predicting the dose effective in 50% (ED50) and 95% (ED95) of the subjects when the dose had shifted direction 10 times, and six pairs of "up-and-down" data were available.

RESULTS: A total of 27 subjects were included in the study; two subjects were withdrawn. After inclusion of 25 evaluable subjects, the dose estimates were calculated as 3.88 mg for ED50 and 5.40 mg for ED95. As a secondary outcome, the effects on 10 common fibromyalgia symptoms were evaluated. A high interindividual variation was observed both in the symptom presentation at baseline and in which symptoms were reduced by low-dose naltrexone.

CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to explore dose-response relationships in the treatment of fibromyalgia with low-dose naltrexone. Future placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials are needed, and according to our findings, 4.5 mg, which has previously been used, seems to be a relevant test dose. We recommend that future studies include additional nonpain fibromyalgia symptoms as outcome measures.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to synthesise qualitative studies exploring medication-related experiences of polypharmacy among patients with multimorbidity.

METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature in February 2020 for primary, peer-reviewed qualitative studies about multimorbid patients' medication-related experiences with polypharmacy, defined as the use of four or more medications. Identified studies were appraised for methodological quality by applying the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist for qualitative research, and data were extracted and synthesised by the meta-aggregation approach.

RESULTS: We included 13 qualitative studies, representing 499 patients with polypharmacy and a wide range of chronic conditions. Overall, most Critical Appraisal Skills Programme items were reported in the studies. We extracted 140 findings, synthesised these into 17 categories, and developed five interrelated syntheses: (1) patients with polypharmacy are a heterogeneous group in terms of needing and appraising medication information; (2) patients are aware of the importance of medication adherence, but it is difficult to achieve; (3) decision-making about medications is complex; (4) multiple relational factors affect communication between patients and physicians, and these factors can prevent patients from disclosing important information; and (5) polypharmacy affects patients' lives and self-perception, and challenges with polypharmacy are not limited to practical issues of medication-taking.

DISCUSSION: Polypharmacy poses many challenges to patients, which have a negative impact on quality of life and adherence. Thus, when dealing with polypharmacy patients, it is crucial that healthcare professionals actively solicit individual patients' perspectives on challenges related to polypharmacy. Based on the reported experiences, we recommend that healthcare professionals upscale communicative efforts and involve patients' social network on an individualised basis to facilitate shared decision-making and treatment adherence in multimorbidpatients with polypharmacy.

BACKGROUND: Persons with dementia tend to be vulnerable to mobility challenges and hence face a greater risk of fall and subsequent fractures, morbidity, and mortality. Motion-based technologies (MBTs), also called sensor-based technologies or virtual reality, have the potential for assisting physical exercise and training as a part of a disease management and rehabilitation program, but little is known about its' use for people with dementia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of MBT physical training at home for people with dementia.

METHODS: A 3-phase pilot study: (1) baseline start-up, (2) 15 weeks of group training at a local care center twice a week, and (3) 12 weeks of group training reduced to once a week, supplemented with individual MBT training twice a week at home. A total of 26 people with dementia from a municipality in Southern Denmark were eligible and agreed to participate in this study. Three withdrew from the study, leaving 23 participants for the final analysis. Feasibility was measured by the percentage of participants who trained with MBT at home, and their completion rate of total scheduled MBT sessions. Efficacy was evaluated by physical function, measured by Sit-to-Stand (STS), Timed-Up-and-Go (TUG), 6-minute Walk Test (6MW), and 10-meter Dual-task Walking Test (10MDW); cognitive function was measured by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire (NPI-Q); and European Quality of Life 5 dimensions questionnaire (EQOL5) was used for measuring quality of life. Descriptive statistics were applied accordingly. Wilcoxon signed-rank and rank-sum tests were applied to explore significant differences within and between the groups.

RESULTS: As much as 12 of 23 participants (52%) used the supplemental MBT training at home. Among them, 6 (50%) completed 75% or more scheduled sessions, 3 completed 25% or less, and 3 completed between 25% and 75% of scheduled sessions. For physical and cognitive function tests, supplementing with MBT training at home showed a tendency of overall stabilization of scores among the group of participants who actively trained with MBT; especially, the 10MDW test even showed a significant improvement from 9.2 to 7.1 seconds (P=.03). We found no positive effect on EQOL5 tests.

CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the study population with dementia used MBT training at home, and among them, half had an overall high adherence to the home training activity. Physical function tended to remain stable or even improved among high-adherence MBT individuals. We conclude that MBT training at home may be feasible for some individuals with dementia. Further research is warranted.

Muscle contracture development is a major complication for individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) and has lifelong implications. In order to recognize contracture development early and to follow up on preventive interventions aimed at muscle health development, non-invasive, and easy to use methods are needed. The aim of the present study was to assess whether multi-frequency Bioimpedance (mfBIA) can be used to detect differences between skeletal muscle of individuals with CP and healthy controls. The mfBIA technique was applied to the medial gastrocnemius muscle of n = 24 adults with CP and n = 20 healthy controls of both genders. The phase angle (PA) and the centre frequency (fc) were significantly lower in individuals with CP when compared to controls; PA: - 25% for women and - 31.8% for men (P < 0.0001); fc: - 5.6% for women and - 5.2% for men (P < 0.009). The reactance (Xc) and the extracellular resistance (Re) of skeletal muscle from individuals with CP were significantly higher when compared to controls; Xc: + 9.9% for women and + 28.9% for men (P < 0.0001); Re: + 39.7% for women and + 91.2% for men (P < 0.0001). The present study shows that several mfBIA parameters differ significantly between individuals with CP and healthy controls. Furthermore, these changes correlated significantly with the severity of CP, as assessed using the GMFCS scale. The present data indicate that mfBIA shows promise in terms of being a useful diagnostic tool, capable of characterizing muscle health and its development in individuals with cerebral palsy.