Journal of Gerontological Nursing
Vol. 34 No. 1 January 2008
By Ann Kolanowski, PhD, RN, FAAN; Linda Buettner, CTRS, PhD, FGSA-FAGHE
ABSTRACT
Individuals with dementia are often passive, which places them at risk for further cognitive and functional decline. Recreational activities have been used in research to reduce passive behaviors, but systematic reviews of these studies have found modest effect sizes for many activities. In this article, we describe the further theoretical development of an innovative method for prescribing activities that have a high likelihood of engaging nursing home residents who are passive and present examples for research application and clinical practice. This method may increase the effect size of activity interventions and encourage more widespread adoption of nonpharmacological interventions in practice.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Kolanowski is Elouise Ross Eberly Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. Dr. Buettner is Professor, College of Health and Human Performance, Recreation, Tourism, Hospitality Management Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina.
The authors acknowledge support for this work from the National Institute of Nursing Research grant number R01 NR008910 (A. Kolanowski, Principal Investigator).
Address correspondence to Ann Kolanowski, PhD, RN, FAAN, Elouise Ross Eberly Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, 106 HHD East, University Park, PA 16802; e-mail: amk20@psu.edu.
