Part IV analyses evidence for the effectiveness of occupational therapy for patients suffering from dementia. A (single) recent and comprehensive review of the evidence for occupational therapy’s effectiveness for patients with Alzheimer and related dementias was available. Most of the evidence on occupational therapy is from the inpatient sector and shows that certain occupational therapy interventions may tend to have certain positive effects on patients and their (family) caregivers. It is unclear which occupational therapy interventions are the most effective and how often they have to be performed in order to achieve a given effect.

Part V analyses the evidence on the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for depressed patients. There is only scant high level evidence on the effectiveness of occupational therapy on depression. In answer to our research question all three included systematic reviews refer to one identical RCT. This RCT on severe depression at the workplace is small but of good methodological quality. It shows no improvement of depression through occupational therapy interventions but finds a faster return to the workplace in the intervention group. This appears to be quite straight forward evidence for a positive effect of an occupational therapy program. In addition a feasibility study for an RCT with aged inhabitants of nursing homes finds no significant differences in depression, dependence on caregivers and quality of life. This result needs to be viewed with caution due to the poor quality of the study. Available evidence is too little, too specific and of insufficient methodological quality to justify more general conclusions on the effectiveness of occupational therapy with persons with depression.