Therapeutic Recreation Therapy

When we observe the demographics of today¡¦s society, we notice that there is quite a change in the average age, as well as life expectancy. In 1993, the average life expectancy rose to an amazing 75.5 years, with women living an average of 79 years and men living an average of 72 years (Hawkins, 1996, p. 4). With this gradual rise in age, the idea of therapeutic recreation for the aging population has taken on a significant role. Therapeutic recreation uses recreation and leisure activities to meet the needs of people in order to improve their quality of life. These needs include social, physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual. The experience of engaging in recreation is perceived to have therapeutic benefits. Engaging in

Activity theory of aging suggest that when elderly people interact with the community and include activities in their daily routine they are their happiest (Baird, 2011, p. 187). Ariel stated that “everyone need some form of release” (Lemmon, 1995).

Without occupational therapists, millions of people would struggle to live their everyday lives. Occupational therapists give specialized assistance to people with physical, developmental, social or emotional problems. This assistance is used to live productive and independent or semi independent lives. Occupational therapists can be used, and is effective for people of all ages. Many people have not heard of occupational therapy and are not aware of the positive impact it has on members of our society. With this paper I want to spread the knowledge that I have on occupational therapy. Many people that could benefit from occupational therapy do not even know that it exists. This career is difficult for everyone involved, but the impact it has

Recreation is something that not only gives us pleasure, but also helps to renew or recreate the mind and body.

There are many career paths that you can take when studying leisure studies/services with one being therapeutic recreation. Therapeutic recreation uses a mix of activity therapy, education and recreation and leisure to help promote the health and well-being of people who require specialised care because of illness or disability. Within the United

It has been brought to the attention of our new Recreational Therapist staff at this facility, that there are not enough programs or accessible information pertaining to leisure resources for our current consumers who are being discharged from the facility. The specific issue we would like to address are solutions for our clients who struggle with PTSD. As an RT our job is to develop a treatment plan/service designed to restore, remediate, recreate, and rehabilitate an individual’s functional abilities and independence. To promote health and wellness as well as reduce or eliminate the barriers to participation in activities and life situations are the major goals as RTs to decrease consumer dependency. As a Recreational Therapist, providing clients with leisure- education is important so patients can be knowledgeable of what resources are available to them (Carter, M., & Van Andel, G. (2011). Without proper local environmental, leisure

The Activity theory theorizes that when individuals engage and interact with their environment are all things that elderly individuals can be positive to their life and can be a positive sense of self, i.e. retiring may not be so harmful if the person actively maintains other roles, such as familial roles, recreational roles, and volunteer & community roles. They believe individuals should be encouraged to remain active & develop

As I make my way on this journey that is my life, I realize that I have always believed in the fundamental worth of all humanity and my responsibility as a fellow human being to respect this premise and also to support individuals, as much as I am able, to help unearth it should this basic truth become hidden to them. This is a guiding principle for me and I believe that many of the constructs of the field of Therapeutic Recreation (TR) are congruent with this philosophy. Making the decision to obtain a Therapeutic Recreation Specialization (TRS) degree offered a theoretical rationale in which to further explore the concept of leisure, define my professional philosophy and an opportunity to reflect critically on the field which I have

Yes, I agree with you that people are living much longer thanks to advances in technology and medicine. Thus, the older adults (I prefer to use the term older than elderly or geriatric), is one group of the population that Healthy People 2020 has assigned a separate topic of concern. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested that any health promotion for the older adult has to take into consideration the psychosocial determinants of health. Given that older adults may not have the physical strength or stamina of the younger population, participation in physical activities should be encouraged (Healthy People 2020). If you don’t mind I would like to suggest that you include some kind of activity in your program

The organization is working really hard to optimize the available resources by engaging volunteers from the university, providing flexible hours for working older adults, introducing various wellness program such as; blood pressure screening, hearing problem screening, exercise classes. The institution has also brought provision for older adults in transportation services, meals on wheel and day care center. These programs clearly promotes ‘ageing in place’ concept and discourage institutionalization of older adults. The older adults who volunteer in the center feel valued as they help fellows with their skills and capacity. Different workshops for one to enjoy their hobbies further promotes their self-esteem and

In America as of fall 2015 according to National Center for Education Sciences there happens to be 20.2 million students attending American colleges and universities, That's an increase of about 4.9 million people. 43,186 students graduate form 4 year universities with a bachelor's degree in therapeutic recreation. the median pay in Illinois is $44,000, Employment is growing at an average rate of about 11% projecting about 6,700 openings nationwide in the next 10 years. This major is in demand because of the foreshadowing of the upcoming baby boomers. Recreational Therapy is a human service profession, which is heavily physical based, mainly dealing with using intervention to implement self-independence.

During my co-op term, I was a Recreation Assistant at a nursing home. I aided the Recreation Programmers in providing therapeutic recreation to nearly 200 residents. They presented varying abilities; physical and mental health concerns; as well as varying levels of cognitive awareness, exposing me to the needs of our aging population. It is important to understand what the ‘day-to-day’ lives of my clients look like in order to proficiently plan programs based on ideal situations and what we think is

As people age they develop many special needs related to the later period of life. Many elderly people have specific physical needs where adaptations to their home are necessary or where they need specific equipment for self care. Old age also brings new emotional challenges for the elderly person when the family can be useful in helping to meet the persons mental health needs. Senior citizens experience needs in their social life; they also experience the need for activities with other seniors. Health needs also negatively affect the elderly and cause multiple physical problems. Every elderly person experiences needs that are related to each of these areas.

The continuity theory of aging is the belief that older adults will usually maintain the same relationships, behaviors, and activities as they did in their earlier years. Kali and Cavanaugh (2016) identify that people tend to cope with daily life when growing older by applying familiar strategies learned from their past experiences (Kali and Cavanaugh, 2016). This means that as an individual adjusts to changes associated with the normal aging process, the individual’s past decisions, experiences, and behaviors will form the foundation for his or her present and future behaviors and decisions (Minhat, Rahmah, & Khadijah, 2013). Maintaining the same activities, habits, and patterns of thought is the most common strategy for adaptation as people begin to age as this maintains existing internal and external structures (Minhat, Rahman, & Khadijah, 2013). In a study that involved elderly aged adults, they found that they were more likely to actively be involved in a leisure activity if the activity had been performed at a young age (Minhat, Rahman, & Khadijah, 2013). This study confirms that older adults typically strive to continue doing as much as possible what

1) The article from The Gerontologist supports the activity theory of aging. This states that as people age, it is very important for them to be engaged in various activities and social roles. As described in the lecture, studies have shown that those who stay involved have less signs of depression and have a lesser decline in mental health. In addition, they are considered more competent than others in their age group by the general population since they are actively participating in society. The research described in the article proved that those who had moderate or high participation in activities such as working, volunteering, and caregiving had a better psychological well-being. It is not necessarily just taking part in these, but the level in which one does so is also crucial. It appears that moderate participation is the best way to a better psychological well-being, as one does not want to be overworked, but should still be involved.