A Study of Intervention Strategy and Efficiency of Therapeutic Recreation Program for Family Supporting Senior with Dementia

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to seek the intervention strategy of therapeutic recreation by practice analysis of support program usage for dependents of the elderly patients with dementia. Methods/Statistical analysis: The survey was conducted in 205 subjects and personal interviews were conducted in 20 subjects by random sampling. For the investigation of program participations and needs, the programs in 10 family support centers currently operating (refer to Project Report in 2014 and web-site) and the tools developed by this investigator were used upon literature review and classifying the questionnaires. Findings: The study results are as follows. First, the limitation of the family support program was detected demonstrating low mean values in the family strength, family requests, and partnership of family and specialist. Second, it could understand that the participants’ needs did not apply to the programs entirely in the practice domain of family support program participation since the needs of family support programs were shown the highest in hobby and leisure activities. Third, top three reasons of difficulty in participating in the program were “there are few to provide (operate) the program,” followed by “there are many one-time programs,” and “there is no favorite program,” in the domain of activation plan for family support program. Improvements/Applications: A family support program can provide the empirical data for expanding the scope of social welfare. It will also contribute to the understanding, specialization, and institutionalization of the potential value of the therapeutic recreation which has not yet established as a specialized field in South Korea.