Recreation, Leisure and Chronic Illness

Issues of leisure and dying are not often discussed in depth by those in recreation or thanatology. However, Recreation, Leisure, and Chronic Illness bridges the gap between leisure and thanatology. Professionals know that when illness, disability, stress, or poverty threaten the quantity and quality of a person's life, leisure takes on great meaning. Readers will find in this truly unique book how leisure can be a positive counterforce to the physical and mental diminishments that erode health and work.Contributors to Recreation, Leisure and Chronic Illness explore the philosophy of leisure and how freedom, enjoyment, self-determination, and breaking the set patterns of daily life are central to true leisure, for persons in all walks of life. These authors illustrate the need for leisure in a wide variety of settings and in the face of multiple threats to both the quantity and the quality of life. Readers will find chapters filled with expert theories on how to help clients with limiting conditions realize the fulfillment of their leisure desires, the problem of groups left at the margins of the current health care policy who are also poorly served by the leisure professions, and the inevitable funding dilemma. Specific chapters focus on: - improving leisure lifestyles as a crucial first step in rehabilitation - the role and importance of recreation in lives of persons with AIDS - benefits of recreation programs in senior centers and care centers - community-based recreation programs that emphasize preserving existing coping patterns and maintaining daily functioning - the ability of recreation to sustain hope for psychiatric patients - relationships between leisure education and death education - how creative activities--music, dance, art, and creative writing--are used to promote physical mental healthWhile the chapters in Recreation, Leisure and Chronic Illness range from policy issues to specific recreation programs, as a whole they show the healing power of leisure. Professionals and students in both recreation and thanatology fields will find this volume an enlightening approach to promoting healing in those suffering from life-threatening conditions--medical, social, economic, or environmental.

Arnold Grossman (Edited by) , Frances Daly (Edited by) , Stuart Waldman (Edited by) , Fred Schwartz (Edited by)

Contents Preface - Trends That Affect the Quality of Life Through Leisure: Recreation as a Tool for Enhancement - Work, Health, and Recreation: Aspects of the Total Person - Balancing Changing Health Care Needs With the Shortage of Quality Health Care Professionals: Implications for Therapeutic Recreation - Clinical Effectiveness of Intense Therapeutic Recreation: A Multiple Case Study of Private Practice Intervention - Quality of Living Until Death: A Fusion of Death Awareness into Therapeutic Recreation-Leisure Education - Psychosocial Issues Confronting Health Care Professionals Working With People With AIDS - Occupational Therapy Intervention in Recreational Activities in Acute Care Settings - Acute Care vs. Chronic Care Models of Service to the Elderly: Implications for Therapeutic Recreation - Surviving a Fate Worse than Death: The Plight of the Homebound Elderly - Therapeutic Group Activities With Alzheimer's Patients - Meaningful Life Activities for Elderly Residents of Residential Health Care Facilities - From Custodial Care to Quality Care: Implications for the Therapeutic Recreation Professional - The Therapeutic Value of Art for Persons With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders - The Effectiveness of Cueing on Anagram Solving by Cognitively Impaired Nursing Home Elderly - Recreation in the Nursing Home - Playing for Keeps - Reference Notes Included