Recreation for older adults?

Recreation, leisure and community service professionals have an established prominence in the lives of older Americans. Public park and recreation agencies have traditionally been involved in coordinating and delivering services to older adults; recreation facilities are often the community focal point for such services. Research indicates that senior centers operated under the auspices of public park and recreation departments are often left out of the traditional aging network. In response to this, the National Recreation and Park Association is working to establish itself as a lead organization to more effectively integrate public park and recreation agencies into the traditional aging network, and to broaden the existing service system to better serve older adults.

NRPA recently received federal funding for a 17-month project which includes an array of actions and events: sponsoring national and regional leisure and aging institutes to train service providers; publishing and disseminating outreach materials to targeted audiences; developing a national public awareness campaign; and promoting grassroots action and advocacy in local communities throughout the nation.

Between 1990 and 2000, the population between ages 45 and 54 will increase by 46 percent, compared with an overall population growth rate of 7.1 percent. By 2010, one-quarter of the U.S. population will be at least 55; by 2020, seven million people will be over 85. In 1989, the size of the 65-plus population in America exceeded the size of the entire population of Canada. Extra years of life, however, have often come to mean extra years of chronic illness. About 50 percent of what we currently accept as aging is now understood to be hypokinesia, a disease of "disuse," the degeneration and functional loss of muscle and bone tissue. Unless significant changes are made, we can look ahead to an increasingly female, increasingly frail population which will turn toward society for the support it requires. The extended life of all older Americans--and predominantly older women--can become a test of time, with quality of life compromised by a sedentary lifestyle exacerbating already deteriorating health.

Sedentary Americans

Troubling research about activity-related behavior portending continued health status concerns continues to appear. It was recently reported that about 60 percent of American adults live sedentary lives, spending on the average of six hours, 59 minutes per day in front of the television. Research has also revealed that Americans spend 90 percent of their time indoors, resulting in a sharp decline in muscular activity and a marked increase in smoking, coffee and soda drinking, and candy nibbling.

Few Americans engage in regular physical activity despite the potential benefits. Currently, only 22 percent of adults engage in at least 30 minutes of light to moderate physical activity five or more times per week, and only 12 percent report that they are this active seven or more times a week. Less than ten percent of the population exercises three or more times a week at the vigorous level necessary to improve cardiovascular fitness. Nearly 25 percent of adults have no leisure activity, and the prevalence of sedentary behavior increases with advancing age. It has been found that older adults are significantly less likely to improve their health through exercise regimens and that they overestimate the health risks of exercise participation, while underrating the health-promoting potential of physical activity.

People who enjoy exercising regularly when young tend to continue to do so in later life; people who have exercised infrequently are more likely to stop altogether as they get older. Many older Americans ignore exercise, in part because the benefits for aging adults are only now being fully revealed. These realizations are emerging within a climate where prevention does not yet receive the same priority support as services for those already "at risk" (of losing their independence).

Dr. Geoffrey C. Godbey, professor of leisure studies at Pennsylvania State University, stated that the "new understanding of what constitutes health and healthy lives has drawn the concepts of 'health' and 'recreation' or 'leisure' so close together, they are practically synonymous. The time has come for the public to understand the benefits of [park and recreation] services within the framework of a single concept-- health."

Using recreation to prevent illness is far more cost-effective than treating only the results of inactivity. One national strategy must be to balance the prevailing focus on curative medicine with preventing disease and promoting and maintaining health. The leading chronic conditions affecting older people-arthritis, hypertension, hearing and visual loss, and heart problems-- are conditions we know have the potential to respond to health promotion interventions, such as exercise, healthy diet and early care.

Preventive services for older Americans should address factors that prevent disease. from producing disability, and prevent disability from becoming a handicap. Health promotion programs should emphasize self-responsibility for health and lifestyle modifications. We must encourage local communities to assess health-related components of physical fitness for older citizens to raise awareness of the importance of physical activity, develop position statements regarding appropriate physical activity for older people and provide educational programs to reinforce those statements. Federal, state and local governments should lead and support programs that will promote increased physical activity.

Readily Available Resource

The Older Americans Act, as amended in 1978, describes senior centers as appropriate. and desirable service delivery "focal points." Predictably, the Physical Fitness and Exercise Working Group Recommendations from the Surgeon General's Workshop on Health Promotion and Aging in 1988 advised local communities to identify and develop "focal points," such as "senior centers and other concerned community resources," to coordinate physical activity services for older citizens. "The advantage of using parks and recreation programs (for health promotion) is that they provide readily available, low-cost resources which are generally accessible, may be sustained over time, and have a pre-existing administrative structure and financial base."

At present, within the senior center service system, less than one-third of senior centers report planning or coordinating with county or local area agencies on aging. Many of these (senior) centers are operated by local recreation and park departments; indeed, many senior services and programs are provided through "community centers" that are never included as part of the senior service system. This omission occurs despite the fact that senior and community centers, and recreation, leisure and community service professionals have an established and traditional prominence in the lives of older community citizens. The leaders of many of these "focal point" facilities are recreation professionals functioning within the larger municipal settings and within the leisure and recreation service system.

To be fully effective, all senior centers and programs for older Americans, including those that are local agencies within the National Recreation and Park Association network, must offer a hybrid of services: a voluntary organization model providing the activities that relate directly to life satisfaction and maintain healthy intellectual, social and physical functioning and a social agency model that includes health maintenance and meal programs that many older adults cannot otherwise avail themselves of (and identified as the most widely used services by center participants).

Within the community today, the park, recreation and community services philosophy exemplifies the holistic view through the continuum of program planning and community services provided. This includes: tiny tot activities, child care, school district alliances, programs for youth and teenagers, self-esteem and personal development opportunities, classes and activities for adults, physical activity programs, preretirement preparation, recreation and social services for older adults, health maintenance and promotion programs, and technical assistance to community groups and organizations.

The growing number of older adults calls for new partnerships and visions linking traditional elements of society into new, non-traditional coalitions. It necessitates coordinated participation and research from all elements to improve life for today's elders and proactively prepare society for the explosive aging baby-boom generation rapidly advancing toward older adulthood. NRPA's grant project, "Enhancing Park and Recreation Agencies' Awareness of Older Adults' Health and Leisure Needs," is an effort to promote a national strategy, and incorporates a progressive style building upon work in four key areas:

* Training and technical assistance

* Knowledge transfer and information dissemination 

* Public awareness strategy

* Grassroots action and advocacy

Research indicates that recreation personnel must be trained to develop programs that help at-risk older adults participate and become more self-aware and satisfied with their lives. Most senior centers operated by park and recreation agencies offer a broad spectrum of services; many need to expand their role into being that of a multifaceted center, incorporating such programs as health screening, health education, counseling, leisure education, and nutrition programs, as well as information and referral to other much needed community-based services.

Seminars Organized

To address this, NRPA organized and implemented a national leisure and aging institute, which was held in conjunction with the NRPA Congress for Recreation and Parks in San Jose, California. Regional leisure and aging institutes are planned for this spring and will be held in conjunction with existing NRPA regional conferences.

The leisure and aging institutes include such topics as: implications of an aging society; the role of senior centers as community focal points; innovative programming; strategies for working with at-risk older adults; advocacy and empowerment training for older adults; working with minority elders; interagency collaboration and linkages; personal lifestyle responsibility; and healthy aging.

The NRPA Resource Development Division handles technical assistance requests and functions as the link between professionals in recreation and senior centers and the universe of information and resources available in the areas of recreation, leisure and aging. The Information Storage and Retrieval (ISAR) System and the NRPA/SC-HOLE Network (operated by NRPA in cooperation with Boston University) provides access to an extensive database, including the latest legislative news, national, regional, state and local conference listings, research-in-progress, and listings of discipline "experts" for referral purposes.

Knowledge Transfer and Information Dissemination

Resources and publications developed as a component of this project provide technical assistance, help recreation personnel coordinate services for older adults, and encourage the development of inter-agency collaborative partnerships. We prepared informational materials to help recreation directors and programmers be advocates and facilitators, encourage older adults to pursue their independent leisure lifestyles and to help determine senior center focus and direction.

A series of technical assistance manuals offer practice examples and case studies of successful, innovative model programs that can be replicated. Proceedings have been published from the national leisure and aging institute, designed to provide a wide range of perspectives on innovative programming, inter-agency partnerships and collaboration across various organizations and settings serving older adults. NRPA recently published Recreation, Leisure and Aging: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography, a comprehensive resource publication.

Leisure and Aging Newsletter Quarterly is geared to recreation and senior center staff and participants, and provides information about the value and benefits of recreation and leisure experiences and health/wellness programs for older adults.

All four issues included highlights of unique programs being offered in recreation and senior centers nationwide, and information to help older adults advocate for desired and needed services. The newsletter is widely disseminated through NRPA's extensive network of state and local affiliates and agency members.

NRPA members and member agencies are working diligently at the local level to address the needs of older adults. However, the public is not sufficiently aware of the efforts and successes of recreation and senior centers and health/wellness programs administered by park and recreation departments nationwide. The public is also frequently unaware that senior centers and recreation programs can make a critical difference by offering health promotion and wellness programs that help older adults enjoy a satisfying, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle.

In an effort to heighten awareness, NRPA has developed a national public awareness campaign that incorporates public service announcements (PSAs) for television and print mediums. The PSAs emphasize the value and health benefits of recreation and leisure for older adults, and highlight the key role traditionally played by local park and recreation organizations within each local community. Another component of the public awareness strategy includes the Older Americans Month Marketing Guides to promote programs and services in May during Older Americans Month.

The resource guides provide technical assistance and information on implementing events and activities to heighten awareness of the role that recreation and senior centers play as focal points for community-based services for older adults.

The guide includes programming ideas, media tips, sample proclamations, merchandising strategies and other valuable resource information. Senior centers and recreation programs are encouraged to hold open houses and sponsor community events and activities in May during Older Americans Month to highlight their programs and facilities, and to increase awareness of the broad array of services provided for older adults. A second Older Americans Month Marketing Guide has been published this year.

Grass Roots Action and Advocacy

The National Recreation and Park Association has implemented a concerted grass-roots action and advocacy effort. In addition to ongoing dissemination of information and materials to park and recreation agencies nationwide, ten local pilot communities served as models of service provision for older adults. The ten pilot communities represent urban and rural, large and small, racially and ethnically diverse communities.

NRPA supported the ten pilot communities to teach older adults about the benefits and value of health/wellness and exercise/fitness programs in their local communities. Grassroots efforts are coordinated with local and/or area agencies on aging, as well as Project CARE Coalitions, if they have been established in the selected pilot communities.

Most importantly, the project disseminates information on successful strategies through case studies, which were developed to focus attention on senior centers and programs operated by recreation and park departments that are effective in addressing the multiplicity of issues facing older adults, such as health and wellness, older adults with physical and/or mental impairments, minority elders, and service provision in rural areas.

The ultimate goal of this effort is to encourage and enable senior centers and community recreation agencies to more effectively provide eldercare service delivery systems, and to develop the long-range capacity to serve older adults through more coordinated efforts.

The National Recreation and Park Association has a strong commitment to recreation and leisure programs and services for older adults. NRPA will continue to work toward developing strong coalitions and expanding existing networks in order to broaden the scope of available opportunities, programs and services for older Americans.

Editors Note: For more information about training opportunities, publications and other resources that are described in this article, contact Marcia Cram, Program Coordinator, Leisure and Aging Section, NRPA 2775 South Quincy Street, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22206, [phone]. References cited in the article are available from the authors.