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Introduction

Life skills training is a therapy technique used by healthcare professionals to help individuals learn new skills that are needed to promote independence in their everyday life. Older adults may have trouble learning new skills due to cognitive impairments or general lack of practice of certain skills. Skills such as budgeting and money allocation are essential for independence in daily life. Through repeated practice you can successfully facilitate mastery of money management skills.

Theory

The social learning theory posits that individuals learn through observation, modeling or imitation of others (Brown, 2012) . Through the use of modeling, client will be able to observe the behavior as well as reproduce the results. This repeated practice of skills leads to the retention and generalization of skills.

Case Study

Gloria Vasquez is a 60 year old housekeeper. Gloria and her husband Juan came to the United States 15 years ago from Venezuela. Unfortunately,  Gloria lost her husband 1 year ago, and since has had to take care of all the financial duties. Even though they had a joint banking account, her husband was always responsible for paying the bills. Since then, Gloria has been consistently late paying the bills, and has even received several late fees added to her total amounts due. Gloria is experiencing significant stress at her lack of knowledge on money management and recognizes she needs to learn how to budget the money so they can pay their bills on time.

Evidence

Research done by Power, Kirwan, and Palmer (2011) indicated that cognitive social skills training may produce positive benefits with older adults. The study investigated 40 older adults  who used the cognitive skills training tools they were given for 5-10 minutes per day, over a 60 day period. Pre and post tests were used to measure numerical abilities, self-reported memory and intelligence. There were significant improvements among the group of participants on numerical ability and intelligence. The researchers believe that improving cognitive skills can lead to improved quality of life and may have positive effects on financial and independent living outcomes.

Intervention Plan

Problem statement

Client has difficulty paying her bills due to lack of money management skills.

Short Term Goals

1. Client will be able to self select two money budget strategies to aid her in bill paying  tasks in two weeks.
2. Client will be able to safely retrieve money from an Automatic Teller Machine to enable her to complete money management skills in two weeks.

Long Term Goals

1. Client will be able to implement at least one budgeting strategy of her choosing, once a month, to aid her in money management skills in four weeks.
2. Client will pay her bills on time for three consecutive months, using any strategy of her choosing, to facilitate independence in money management skills in four weeks.

Intervention Format

Individual

Setting

Gloria will meet with the occupational therapist at the client’s current banking institution.

Supplies

• ATM
• Money

Agenda

• Meet Gloria and develop a rapport to establish trust (3 mins)
• Converse with Gloria about issues with bill pay  (2 mins)
• Analyze Gloria’s willingness to participate in the therapy session (2 min)
• Educate, model, and practice the proper use of an ATM with Gloria (15 min)
  • Provide constructive feedback (2 min)
  • Allow Gloria time to ask questions (3 min)
• Provide a summary of the discussion and explain take home activity (3 min)

S: Gloria expresses she is having trouble managing her money ever since her husband passed away.

O: The client participated in a 30 minute session with the OT at the client’s community bank, Wells Fargo. The session focused on skills training, specifically money management. The OT educated the client on how to use the ATM, in regards to taking money out. The OT modeled how to retrieve money out of the time ATM. After the OT demonstrated how to take money out of the ATM, the client was asked to demonstrate. The client required 2 verbal cues while she was trying to retrieve money out of the ATM. The client was able to retrieve the money with the help of the OT.

A:  Client’s difficulty using the ATM in the therapy session indicated the need for further instruction on proper use of ATM. Client’s ability to model the proper way of taking money out of the ATM after watching the OT, indicated increased capacity in ability to learn new skills. Her need for two verbal cues to retrieve money out of the ATM indicates need for repetition of the skill to be able to replicate independently.

P: Client will benefit from two 30 minute sessions per week to reinforce repetition of skills training. In next session client will practice depositing money into ATM.

References

Brown, C., Stoffel, V., & Munoz, J. P. (2011). Occupational therapy in mental health: A vision for participation. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis

Power, K., Kirwan, G.,  & Palmer, M. (2011) Annual Review of Cyber Therapy and Telemedicine. Vol. 9, 77-80.