Discuss positive ways to engage older adults to participate in activities. Describe 5 unique situations/examples of client engagement form current placement.
Older adults need regular exercise and social interactions to improve their health and overall wellbeing. However, elderly people are likely to lack the motivation to participate in such activities. Care homes have to find both extrinsic and intrinsic ways of motivating employees to perform unique activities that improve their overall condition. When an adult is unwilling to participate in either be lacking intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. The physical process of aging contributes significantly to the lack of motivation in activities such as physical activities. Hence, care homes have to develop multi-faceted approaches to engaging and motivating such people to become more socially and physically active (Kohn & Belza, 2016).
Engaging Older Adults
Some of the effective ways to engaging older adults to participate in social and physical activities include; identifying activities that seniors enjoy, being supportive, encouraging them to volunteer, scheduling activities and encouraging them to choose other participants (Phillips & Wójcicki, 2013).
The first step is to identify activities that seniors enjoy. Seniors are unlikely to engage and participate in a sport that is demanding such as running a marathon or hiking long distances. It is hence crucial to ensure that the decisions made about the activities matches their unique preferences. Some of the activities they are likely to enjoy include card and games, dancing, yoga, and light hiking (Phillips & Wójcicki, 2013). Care homes should engage with their residents to determine the type of activities that each individual resident would be interested in. This informs the best decision making when developing such activities.
Older adults need a support system to participate in most activities. For example, they need information about the various activities that the home can organise and help the resident participate in them. For example, some of the residents may be unaware of the activities available to them in the care home. It is hence important to ensure that the preferred activities that a resident might be interested in is available to them, and they are aware of this. Some of the residents might struggle with their physical and mental capabilities to participate in some of the activities. The care home should develop ways that these residents can gradually improve enough to be fully engaged in activities.
Encouraging residents to volunteer in activities is an effective way of getting them to participate in them. Volunteering is a form of giving where the participants may not be interested in the activity, but they are willing to be present as a form of charity. For example, the care home can ask residents to volunteer in growing flowers for the community or an important facility such as a hospital. Although the residents may be unresponsive to participating in such activities, they might want to contribute to their community (Phillips & Wójcicki, 2013).
Another way of engaging seniors to participate into social and physical activities is to schedule such activities into their daily activities. Residents within the care home can be allowed to develop their own schedule with different options of activities they can choose from. This ensures that they are in one way or another participating in the activities that they choose. For example, a resident can be asked to develop a schedule including a list of their own preferences; which would include a lot of social and physical activities. Allowing the residents to choose their preferred activities increases the chances of its overall success.
Residents should also be allowed to choose who they would like to invite to these activities. A major challenge to the success of the activities that older adults take part in is that they have to engage with strangers. It is important to allow the residents to choose the participants they would like to have in the activities they participate in. They are likely to choose their friends with whom they enjoy spending time with. This is hence an effective way of engaging with adults to encourage them to participate in social and physical activities that support their overall health and well-being.
Benefits of Participating in Activities
The main goals of supporting the engagement of seniors in social and physical activities is that they have benefits such as improved cognitive function, improved physical health, and socialisation opportunities (Hu, 2022).
Encouraging care home residents to participate in activities that require mental focus such as card and board games improves the physical state of the brain which include better memory, reasoning abilities, and the ability to learn. It has also been shown that improving the mental and intellectual capabilities of the elderly can slow the development of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Participating in social and physical activities has also been shown to have a positive impact in improving the health of seniors. Activities such as light exercise and strong social interactions have been associated with increased independence and health in seniors. Being independent and being of good health is vital in old age. Allowing seniors to participate in activities within the care home have also been associated with increased socialisation opportunities with like minded people. It is important to ensure that there are activities that each individual can participate in.
Hu, H.-M. (2022). Leisure Activity Demand of Older Adults: A Case Study. Ageing International, 47(3), 516-533.
Kohn, M., & Belza, B. (2016). Beyond Strength: Participant Perspectives on the Benefits of an Older Adult Exercise Program. Health Education & Behavior, 43(3), 305-312.
Phillips, S. M., & Wójcicki, T. R. (2013). Physical activity and quality of life in older adults. Quality of Life Research, 22(7), 1647-1654.