Therapeutic recreation for long-term care patients

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Psychiatry
• Therapeutic Recreation
• Patient Outcomes

Background:

• Hospitalized geriatric psychiatric patients often experience reduced life satisfaction and activity levels.
• Therapeutic recreation programs aim to improve well-being in clinical populations.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of such programs requires appropriate methodologies for this demographic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a community-based therapeutic recreation program on life satisfaction and activity levels in hospitalized geropsychiatric patients.
• To compare outcomes between patients participating in a specialized recreation program and those in standard hospital activities.
• To discuss the suitability of current therapeutic evaluation methods for geriatric psychiatric populations.

Main Methods:

• Sixty-one inpatients at a VA Medical Center were randomized into two groups.
• One group participated in a 10-week community recreation program; the control group followed the regular hospital program.
• Life satisfaction and activity levels were measured using four observational instruments.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences were found between pre-post measures for either group.
• Clinical staff reported consistent, high, and uniform patient satisfaction with the recreation program through unsolicited feedback.
• Baseline data indicated life satisfaction comparable to existing literature.

Conclusions:

• Despite a lack of significant quantitative findings, the therapeutic recreation program elicited positive qualitative responses from patients.
• The study highlights the need for refined evaluation strategies tailored to the geropsychiatric population.
• Further research into appropriate assessment tools for therapeutic recreation in this group is warranted.