The impact of recreational participation on behavior change of intermediate care patients

Includes bibliographical references (pages 44-46)This study was undertaken to ascertain whether\ud participation in social recreational activities has an\ud impact on patients' behavior. The purpose of the program\ud was to provide exposure to a variety of games, promote\ud socialization experiences, develop independent interests\ud and contribute to the daily living skills of thirty three\ud chronically ill and disabled patients. This exploratory\ud study evaluated the social recreational participation of\ud these patients selected from the Intermediate Care Facility\ud of Veterans Administration Wadsworth Medical Center.\ud The investigation focused on potential changes in self-care, mental health, and social interaction of the patients involved in the games.\ud The patients were observed by the nurses over a\ud ten week period for changes in overt social behavior\ud utilizing behavioral scales. The results of the study did reflect a positive\ud influence on reading skills and social interaction but\ud showed little or no influence on eating or grooming-behaviors.\ud Statistical significance was found in reading\ud behavior results only. The number of subjects, thirty-three, was reduced\ud to twenty-three after first week of the study, due to the\ud death and discharge of ten subjects. By the start of the\ud third week ten new subjects were added to the sample of\ud population to maintain a total of thirty-three subjects.\ud The separate tests for the original twenty-three\ud subjects indicated significance not only in the reading\ud category but also for the eating category. The type of recreational program utilized in this study promoted beneficial changes in the participants.\ud The patients were observed interacting more frequently\ud with other members and/or assumed leadership roles. However\ud the patients required more sophisticated games than\ud those provided to them to sustain their interest. It is\ud this experimenter's opinion that more research is needed\ud to determine how alternate recreational programs can best be instituted for the benefit of chronically ill and disabled patients