No abstract

According to the Administration of Aging, 40.4 million (13.1 percent) of the US population or more than one in every eight Americans are 65 or older. Approximately 600 million people worldwide are aged 60 or older, and by 2050, this number will grow to 1.2 billion. Improvement and maintaining reported life-satisfaction can be linked to many co-occurring health benefits. The present manuscript addressing the potential life-satisfaction changes that seem to be associated with active participation in a chair resistance band exercise program in a residential facility for older individuals.

This is a presentation of three case reports of the potential benefits of community-based recreation programs for individuals caring for others diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

The use of the aquatic environment, as a modality and a setting for treatment, is well documented in healthcare literature.1-13 The application of aquatic interventions by recreational therapists has also been documented but to a lesser extent.14-19 The present case report will add to the recreational therapy literature related to the use of the aquatic environment and provide insight related to a 6-year-old male diagnosed with cerebral palsy and other conditions which have resulted in physical limitations from a southwestern community who participated in a 2-month warm-water intervention program provided by a recreational therapist dually credentialed in aquatic therapy.

There is a need for research centered around recreational therapy, cerebral palsy (CP), and quality of life (QOL). This study focused on one parent’s perceptions of their child’s QOL with spastic CP before and after receiving recreational therapy treatment. The PedsQL™ Infant Scales was utilized for this study in a pretest/post-test case report. Data were collected from the participant at a health center in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The data collected determined that the parent did perceive an improvement in QOL of their child with CP after receiving recreational therapy treatment. There is a minimal research in the specific areas of recreational therapy for CP and the effect that recreational therapy has on a child’s QOL with CP; however, this study helps build the foundation for future studies.