<http://purl.org/dc/terms/description>
"The purpose of this study was to analyze the subjective\r\nmeaning that leisure experiences and involvement in a\r\nTherapeutic Recreation Outreach Program (T.R.O.P.) had for\r\neight recently hospitalized older adults. The specific\r\nresearch questions were: What were their leisure interests?\r\nHow did participants describe the benefits of leisure? Did\r\nthey benefit from T.R.O.P.? What were the facilitating\r\nfactors which contributed towards their enjoyment of leisure?\r\nWhat were the constraints which prevented participants from\r\nachieving their leisure goals and interests? What were the\r\nrelationships between leisure satisfaction and life\r\nsatisfaction?\r\nA total of eight participants were recruited over a five\r\nmonth period and agreed to participate in T.R.O.P. They met\r\nthe following inclusion criteria. Participants were: in patients of St. Paul's Hospital; at least 55 years of age;\r\nable to speak, read, and comprehend English fluently; living\r\nin the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia; and,\r\nreturning to non-institutionalized community living.\r\nThe case study design entailed a number of data\r\ncollection strategies that occurred during the in-hospital\r\nand outreach phases of the T.R.O.P. intervention. These\r\nincluded two semi-structured interviews with each\r\n\r\nparticipant, observations and field notes throughout\r\nT.R.O.P., and a review of medical charts. In addition, the\r\nparticipants completed three forced-choice leisure worksheets\r\nwhich examined their leisure interests, leisure needs, and\r\nleisure constraints. Data analysis was based on Huberman and\r\nMiles (1994) interactive model of data display, conclusion\r\ndrawing, and verification.\r\nThe participants perceived leisure benefits to be:\r\n\"enjoyment\", \"time to think and forget your troubles\",\r\n\"relaxation\", \"a sense of satisfaction\", and \"maintaining an\r\ninterest in life\". These benefits are similar to those\r\ndescribed in the literature. Many of the leisure interests of\r\nthe participants were solitary and spectator types of\r\nexperiences which tended to occur within their home or near\r\ntheir home. An additional finding was that participants were\r\nfrustrated by not being able to pursue many of their leisure\r\ninterests due to declining health. The main benefits of\r\nT.R.O.P. were identified as knowledge of resources and\r\nincreased social contacts. The leisure constraints most\r\nfrequently reported were related to poor health status,\r\nphysical disability, lack of physical skills, lack of\r\nknowledge of resources, procrastination, and lack of social\r\nsupport.\r\nSocial support and social relationships were perceived\r\nto be major facilitating factors towards leisure enjoyment.\r\nSeveral of the participants' experiences in the hospital were\r\n\r\nperceived to alleviate social isolation, a finding that has\r\nnot been explored in the leisure literature. Social relations\r\nwere also perceived to be important contributors towards the\r\nleisure satisfaction and life satisfaction.\r\nThe findings also revealed that the most pertinent\r\ninformation related to leisure meaning and involvement was\r\nobtained through visiting and conversing with participants in\r\ntheir homes, and not through formal in-hospital leisure\r\nassessment procedures. The nature of the findings of this\r\nstudy have implications for future research and practice."@en
<https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0077143>