Aging, occupation and mental health: the contribution of the Research Centre for Occupation and Mental Health

Abstract

The Research Centre for Occupation and Mental Health (RCOMH) was set up to develop world class research in occupation and mental health to influence best practice. This paper focuses on RCOMH as an international centre by exploring the drivers and rationale for RCOMH, summarising RCOMH’s activity, explaining how RCOMH is developing research programmes and elucidating how it is a vehicle for achieving WFOT’s goal of increasing research within occupational therapy internationally. The “Occupation and older people’s mental health” research programme is used as an exemplar to illustrate how RCOMH is developing research programmes, share how research into aging, occupation and mental health is being progressed, and a current study is outlined. It is anticipated that this paper will encourage those working in mental health across the world to get involved in RCOMH’s endeavours or stimulate others to develop international collaborative research centres related to other areas of occupational therapy practice.