Effect of recreation therapy on quality of life among older women in the daycare center

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of therapeutic recreation on the quality of life in the elderly. This study aimed to examine the effect of therapeutic recreation on the quality of life among older women in the daycare center.

It was a randomized controlled trial. The research population consisted of all older women over 60 years of age who were referred to the elderly center. A total of 64 people were randomly selected based on the sample size, and then the sample members were randomly divided into two groups (32 subjects) and control (32 subjects). The intervention consisted of 10 sessions of therapeutic recreation for 10 weeks for the experimental group. Life expectancy was measured before, after the intervention, and follow up in both groups. The research tool was SF-36 quality of life questionnaire. SPSS 20 software was used to analyze the data.

Mean scores of quality of life before intervention after intervention and follow up were 41.52, 55.07, and 72.43, respectively, and in the control group, 45.44, 45.16, and 45.81, respectively. In addition, the findings of this study showed that before the intervention, the mean quality of life in the two intervention and control groups was not significant (P = 0.293). Still, there was a significant difference after the intervention and follow up (P<0.001).

Recreation therapy improves the health of older women, so it is recommended that recreational treatments be used in various age-care settings.