Role Participation: A Comparison across Age Groups in a Norwegian General Population Sample

Lifeevents,illness,anddisabilitymayalteraperson’sroleparticipation,inwhichcaseoccupationaltherapymaybean appropriateintervention.However,roleparticipationdataderivedfromthegeneralpopulation,whichisrequiredformeaningful comparison,islargelymissing.Thisstudyisaimedatdescribingpast,present,andanticipatedroleparticipationinageneral populationsamplefromNorwayandatexaminingdifferencesincurrentroleparticipationbetweenagegroups.Methods.In 2015,asampleof140persons(agerange19–94years,65%females)fromtheNorwegiangeneralpopulationcompletedtheRole Checklistatoneoccasion.Thedatawereanalyzeddescriptivelyandwithchi-squaretestsandone-wayanalysisofvariance. Results.Themostfrequentrolewasahomemaintainer(93.6%),andtheleastfrequentwasareligiousparticipant(7.1%). Participantsaged65yearsandabovehadfewerrolescomparedwiththeiryoungercounterpartsandhadtoalargerextent experiencedrolelossoverthecourseoftheirlives.Conclusions.Rolecontinuitywasthemostprevalentrolepatterninthetotal sample,whereasrolelossappearedtobethemostprevalentrolepatternamongthoseintheoldestagegroup.Rehabilitation servicesingeneralandparticipation-focusedoccupationaltherapyinparticularmayprofitfromassessingroleparticipationin clientsandpotentiallytargetrolesthroughintervention.