Therapeutic Activities With The Impaired Elderly

This highly practical volume presents valuable insights for all professionals who provide activities for the impaired elderly. It will serve as a helpful resource for both those who work directly with the aged in institutional settings, as well for those who train activities counselors. Therapeutic Activities With the Impaired Elderly addresses a number of pertinent issues and provides useful information on designing and implementing recreation and socialization programs, memory improvement classes, sign language activities, and leisure education and counseling.

This highly practical volume presents valuable insights for all professionals who provide activities for the impaired elderly. It will serve as a helpful resource for both those who work directly with the aged in institutional settings, as well for those who train activities counselors.Therapeutic Activities With the Impaired Elderly addresses a number of pertinent issues and provides useful information on designing and implementing recreation and socialization programs, memory improvement classes, sign language activities, and leisure education and counseling.

There are many activity manuals on the market today but this publication is the first to offer a clear guideline on exactly what constitutes good practice in activity provision. Written by the National Association for Providers of Activities for Older People (NAPA), a charity whose remit is to set standards and disseminate knowledge of good practice in activity provision and to support activity providers who work in care settings for older people, this guide offers: a model of good practice in one concise volume; a benchmark against which activity providers can measure and evaluate their practice; clear links to current national standards; guidance for care home owners and managers who wish to respond to the recent government initiatives on providing activities for their clients; and a call for clinical governance in the emerging 'profession' of activity provision.

Here is a one-of-a-kind resource for professionals who prepare and lead group activities for impaired older adults. Filling a crucial gap in the field of clinical gerontology, this invaluable guide provides more than 70 stimulating and therapeutic group activities designed specifically for use with moderately to severely impaired older adults. Even though group activities designed for children, adolescents, and young adults are inadequate and inappropriate for use with older adults who have significant cognitive, emotional, and physical limitations or impairments, very little has been published--until now--on activities designed to meet the special needs of this population. Comprehensive and well-organized This comprehensive and well-organized resource does even more than provide over 70 activities at your fingertips. It also includes a recommended schedule of activities for a typical day, helpful suggestions for planning and leading group activities, and valuable tips for creating your own group activities that are effective, therapeutic, and entertaining. Each entry includes information on the activity’s therapeutic value, the optimal group size, the time required, the materials needed, guidelines for adaptation, and blank space for your notes. Also for your convenience, symbols are used to indicate the therapeutic objective and the ease with which the activity can be implemented. Provides the foundation for a daily activities program Handbook of Group Activities for Impaired Older Adults provides the foundation for a therapeutic and enjoyable daily activities program that facilitates emotional expression, enhances problem solving skills and sensory stimulation, and encourages social interaction. Social workers, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, recreational therapists, group therapists, and related paraprofessionals who work in nursing or convalescent hospitals, adult day care or day treatment facilities, and retirement homes will not want to be without this practical guidebook.

Horticultural Therapy and the Older Adult Population is the guidebook you’ve been waiting for since the American Horticultural Therapy Association’s (AHTA) 1981 publication. With an updated collection of chapters in the area of horticultural therapy and older adults--ranging from a review of relevant literature to descriptions of existing horticultural therapy programs--this book will stimulate networking and information sharing among horticultural therapists and other professionals working with older adults, spur new ideas, and foster continuing research in the field. The book’s importance is recognized internationally, and it is soon to be published in Japanese. In Horticultural Therapy and the Older Adult Population, you will find chapters on garden designs to enhance the horticultural therapy experience, descriptions of existing horticultural therapy programs for older adults, and new research to evaluate the effectiveness of horticultural therapy with this population. Whether you’re an established horticultural therapist, a nursing home administrator, or a gerontology educator, this book will help you design gardens, set up and evaluate programs, and develop curriculum. Horticultural Therapy and the Older Adult Population also includes the results of a survey sent to all registered members of AHTA who work with the older adult population. The survey responses provide information about the institutions and the population served, programming activities, program staffing, program evaluation, and funding. Another beneficial feature of the book is a resource-packed bibliography. Prepared as a service to horticultural therapists and others working with older adults, it covers the most relevant publications--giving you more places to find inspiration and ideas for improving care to the elderly through horticultural therapy.

Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.

Here is comprehensive, systematic information about the services long-term care facilities are providing--outside of medical and nursing care--to enhance both the quality of care and the quality of life of the institutionalized elderly. Based on the results of a two-year survey of innovative programs in long-term care facilities for the elderly across the country, this impressive volume includes descriptions of physical activity programs, rehabilitation programs, and community linkage programs. The most important feature of each program description is the directory of information resources--a listing of responding facilities that are willing to be consulted about developing particular programs. Handbook of Innovative Programs for the Impaired Elderly is a source of fresh ideas and inspiration for creative responses to the needs of institutionalized elderly people.