Promoting Leisure and Social Participation for Seniors in an Assisted Living Facility

Seniors in assisted living facilities (ALF) experience a decrease in leisure activity participation (Knecht-Sabres et al., 2020). This decrease could be due to the changes in the social, cultural, and physical environments and the loss of daily roles and routines (Lamarre et al., 2019). Participation in social group activities improves quality of life and provides many physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional benefits (Barnes et al., 2008; Horowitz & Vanner, 2010). Participation in group activities offers seniors a sense of community, purpose, belonging, and friendship (Dare et al., 2018). However, group activities offered in ALF may be generic and not individualized to resident interests and functional abilities (Lamarre et al., 2019). An occupational therapist (OT) has a distinct role in facilitating engagement in meaningful, social group activities by analyzing the activity demands and maximizing the fit between the person, occupation, and the environment (Knecht-Sabres et al., 2020; Lohman et al., 2017). This role could enhance resident participation in personally meaningful occupations while promoting social inclusion within an assisted living community. The purpose of this project was to create an individualized and occupation-based group activity program for seniors in an ALF and to educate and assist activities directors and staff in individualizing the activities to improve social participation and engagement in group activities. A needs assessment was conducted at an assisted living facility and involved observations of current group activity programming and the environment, semi-structured interviews with activities staff and residents, and the utilization of the Visual Activity Sort (VAS). The VAS is an occupation-based assessment tool that was used to evaluate the residents’ motivation and interest in different activities (O’Day, 2020). Based on the information gained from the needs assessment, an occupation-based program was created and conducted at an assisted living facility and a program manual was developed as a method to sustain the program long-term. This project aimed to advocate for the role of OT as a consultant in assisted living by collaborating with staff and developing occupation-based group activity programs that promote resident engagement in meaningful occupations.https://soar.usa.edu/otdcapstonessummer2021/1001/thumbnail.jp