Facilities

| | | | | | |

Leading According Age Groups

Leading Older Adults

Old Age is a culturally and personally relevant life category. This means that its onset varies according to the life exppectancy of the general population, the availability of health care, societal value systems, and indivdual personality and attitude.

Typically for thoses in their 60's and 70's have a great deal of free time due to retirement but are still heathly, vigorous, and well educated.

This age group is able to use their free time for recreation, self enhancement, or community activities. This age group usually requires little attention and assistance.

Those that are in their 80's and 90's are going to require more assistance and are more likely to have health problems. This age group lives a more restriced life and suffer from physical and pyschological problems associated with the aging process.

Conditions of Aging

There are two different types of aging

1. Primary Aging: results from inborn and inevitable biological changes that are independent of stress and disease. Primary aging does not affect people in the same way.

2. Secondary Aging: comes as a result of accidents and chronic disease,

Aging is not just a physiological experience, there are also social and psychological conditions such as events in a person's later years.

Older adults are individuals with unique experiences and capabilities that are more associated with who they are than with their age.

o Recreation is often an important way of maintaining physical and mental capacities.

Couple dining; Size=240 pixels wide

Retirement

Some people eagerly await retirement whereas others dread it.

Whether an individual reacts well or poorly to retirement results from many factors:

health
economic status
flexibility
personal history
reactions of friends and relatives

Some people picture retirement as the "golden ages" of travel, recreation, and freedom.

Some people have gloomy portraits of the boredom and meaninglessness.

One important consideration in preparing for retirement is the role of recreation. Learning to live as a retired person is not very simple and they must learn a new role and acting in a new way

retiree will no longer to go work in the morning and socialize with coworkers
no longer will the retiree enjoy the status of work
there will be a lot of free time and has to plan how to experience each day

Recreation Leaders

o Play an important role in enhancing the quality of retirement and in slowing the aging process.

o Should encourage older adults to be involved in their community by:

§ Serve as a leisure and social resource

§ Stimulate social interaction

§ Facilitate experiences that enable feelings of self-worth and usefulness

§ Encourage independence in leisure expression

All of the information above came from the book, Leadership in Recreation, written by Ruth V. Russell.