Mobility, Social Networks, and Pain Predict Occupational Participation in Older Japanese Adults

Chronic pain may impede occupational participation in older adults, but links among mobility, social networks, cognitive function, and pain-related factors remain unclear. To examine the relationships among these factors in relation to occupational participation in community-dwelling older Japanese adults. In this cross-sectional study, 130 adults more than 60 answered questions about occupational participation, mobility, social networks, cognitive function, and pain. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract latent variables representing key constructs. These were incorporated into structural equation modeling to examine their associations with occupational participation. Latent factors combining mobility and social networks (standardized coefficient: 0.75), and cognitive functions (0.35), were directly and positively associated with occupational participation, while pain-related factors were strongly negatively correlated with mobility/social networks (-0.79, -0.73) but showed no direct association with participation. Interventions addressing both physical and social function and pain-related barriers may support occupational participation in older adults.