Increasing engagement in activity of residents in old people's homes by providing recreational materials

This project investigated whether the level of engagement in two special Homes for the elderly could be increased by providing a regular recreational session, where the residents had the opportunity to use various extra recreational materials and to interact with the organiser of the session. The residents' level of engagement during the sessions was consistently higher than under baseline conditions. This indicates that the low engagement of the residents is at least partly due to lack of opportunity to engage, rather than to the specific disabilities of the residents. The methodological approach used in this study is suggested as a useful, objective way of evaluating the effects of, and preferences for, various types of recreational activities that might be offered to elderly people in residential care