The use of the activating activities in the home for the elderly

This bachelor's thesis is about the usage of activation activities. Its main goal is to map activation activities offered in the Home for the Elderly "Máj" and how popular they are. The thesis is divided into two parts - theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part is further divided into four sections. The first one describes changes connected to getting old. Second section characterizes different kinds of activation activities. Third one describes how to correctly communicate with the elderly; it is important to know how to communicate with the elderly whose hearing or sight are impaired, or with those who suffer from dementia. The last section describes basic types of motivation that affects activity of the elderly. I have chosen qualitative strategy of the research. The research was in-field. Methods used for getting data were extrospective observation and half-structured dialog, method for processing the data was qualitative content analysis. The researched group of people were nine elderly women and three workers from the home for the elderly in the regional town. The research showed that the facility offers wide range of activation activities that may be performed each day - canistherapy, reminiscence, art therapy, psychotherapy, music therapy, ergotherapy - workshops, memory training, <coffee movies>, various cultural events, group games, reading and church services. The elderly are content with the available free time activities. It turns out that all of the approached elderly take part in at least one activity per week. One of the most visited and popular activities is ergotherapy - workshops, where larger groups of the elderly meet regularly. The interest in other activation activities is tied to the interests the elderly had before moving into the home for the elderly. Thanks to these activation activities they do not feel alone, they can meet with others and fulfill their needs. The results of this work can be used as feedback and information for specialists who create activation program in home for the elderly