Date of Award

6-2024

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Occupational Therapy

Department

Occupational Therapy

First Advisor

Melinda Delbridge MS, OTR/L, CBIS

Second Advisor

Adam Story OTD, OTR/L, PT, DPT, MTC

Abstract

As individuals age they may experience a decrease in quality of life that impacts their overall health and well-being. One way to improve quality of life in older adults it through leisure activities that can provide a sense of purpose, autonomy, and roles or routines within their lives. The purpose of this doctoral capstone experience and report is to enhance older adult’s leisure competence through to improve leisure satisfaction and overall quality of life. The occupational therapy capstone student developed a five-session Leisure Education Program for residents at a continuing care retirement community, Beatitudes Campus. Using an occupational therapy point of view this program covered various aspects of leisure including the purpose leisure can have within their lives, how to develop roles and routines through leisure, benefits to participating in various form of leisure, how to adapt leisure, and how to create goals to support leisure engagement. Participants overall leisure satisfaction and thoughts on the program were assessed by two outcome measures, the Leisure Satisfaction Scale-short form and a semi-structured focus group. The results showed that majority of the participants reported no increase in their interpreted leisure satisfaction scores from quantitative data, but qualitative data demonstrated an increase in leisure competence. Although results did not meet the goal of the capstone experience, participants demonstrated other benefits from participating in the program. The capstone student additionally considered future implications for using leisure in occupational therapy practice and how Beatitudes Campus could reflect on information that was provided from participants.

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