articles can be accessed for their personal and reference use. The articles should not be reproduced in large quantities for distribution in classrooms or seminars without obtaining the rights from Slack Incorporated. We provide licensed reprints for distribution purposes for an appropriate fee. Abstract:There is a need for aging theories to become holistic and multidisciplinary with a life span focus. A theory is the construction of explicit explanations in accounting for empirical findings. A good gerontological theory integrates knowledge, tells how and why phenomena are related, leads to prediction, and provides process and understanding. In addition, a good theory must be holistic and take into account all that impacts on a person throughout a lifetime of aging. Based on these criteria, the authors created the Theory of Thriving, with a holistic life span perspective for studying people in their environments as they age. This article proposes a theory for studying people over time in a holistic, encompassing manner. Article:Since the early work on a Theory of Thriving approximately 10 years ago, the Theory has evolved from a gerontologic theory to a life span theory. Originally based on the concept of failure to thrive (FTT) in older adults (Newbern A. Krowchuk, 1994) and infants (Lobo, 1992), thriving is now applicable to many life span issues. However, for the purposes of this article, the Theory of Thriving will be discussed as one that fills gaps within the theories of aging. The Theory will be applied to a person's life in a nursing home environment. In a 1996 issue of The Gerontologist, Lynott and Birren examined the state of gerontologic theory and reported little growth in the area during the past 10 years. Since Birren and Bengston (1988) Gerontologists have been remiss in creating models and concepts that link variables together and serve as blueprints for conducting studies and exploring ideas. Life span development theories have served as aging theories, but other than addressing the progression of time in relation to the development of individuals, aging theories do not link variables. There is little emphasis placed on theory development or presentation by gerontologic journals that publish research findings. Perhaps this absence of a holistic gerontologic theory exists because gerontology is derived from several other fields, specifically biology, psychology, and sociology. Each of these fields has developed separate explanatory theories, but there are no multidisciplinary explanatory theories that combine the fields and examine aging as a whole over time.
Fifty-two research reports from the human/companion animal relationship literature published from 1988 to 1993 were reviewed using a shortened farm of the Selby Research, Assessment Form II (RAF) Descriptive data were analyzed for characteristics such as attributes of authors, grant funding, purposes, quality of literature reviews and conceptual frameworks, settings and sampling, research designs, and implications for future research. Qualitative data describing results of studies were summarized. Over half of the studies were published in Anthrozoös and were not grant funded. These were primarily nonexperimental studies using nonprobability, nongeneralizable samples. Social support was the most frequently cited framework. Understudied populations were rural groups, the middle aged, adolescents, and institutionalized elders. Few errors were committed in describing instruments or reporting analyses of data. Article:INTRODUCTION Over the last ten years, the human/companion animal relationship has become recognized as an important area for research. As might be expected, the volume of literature in this area has been growing rapidly. Hence, it is important both to identify and describe existing research related to the specialty and to assess the quality of this research as critique and evaluation of the scientific merit of the research should precede the application of research to practice.For many years the human/companion animal research literature has been criticized as being methodologically flawed and in particular lacking a clear theoretical basis and composed primarily of unscientific anecdotal reports with few high-quality experimental studies. This article describes and evaluates 52 research reports on human/companions from 1988 to 1993. The review examines the general characteristics of those published research articles: educational preparation of authors, journals, grant finding, etc.; the purposes, quality of literature reviews, and conceptual frameworks of the research; types of settings and sampling techniques used; types of research designs employed; common problems in the methodology, sampling, and analysis; and stated implications for future research. METHODS Sampling Criteria for the ReviewThe review focused on the human/companion animal relationship as it is currently portrayed. Therefore, only research published over the past 6 years, January 1988 through September 1993, was examined. Reports of research on the relationships between humans of all ages and companion animals were identified by key words and abstracts. Because the purpose was to evaluate the scientific methods used and gaps in knowledge, only reports that presented findings and analyses of human/companion animal-related data were included. Unpublished research reports were not included. Also, manuscripts not published in English, theoretical discussions, reports of psychometric properties of instruments, and studies of primarily animal behavior were excluded. Sampling ProcedureFour computerized bibliographic databases for the time p...
Abstract:In 2000, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing developed guidelines to help nurse educators incorporate gerontological nursing content into baccalaureate curricula. In 2001, the Hartford Foundation also provided grant monies to nursing programs to support gerontology curricular innovations and new clinical experiences. The funding allowed faculty to focus time, energy, and resources on gerontological nursing education. We, the authors, representing two funded schools of nursing, collaborated with community agencies to develop undergraduate gerontological clinical learning experiences and are encouraged by the results. This article describes the development of these collaborations and serves as a model for other schools of nursing. The education/community collaborations described here focus on clinical learning strategies, implementation activities, and outcomes/benefits of the experiences. Both educational programs had supportive administration, faculty willing to participate in curriculum change, organized plans to implement geriatric curricular enhancement, and long-standing community partnerships.
Are these typical scenes in nursing homes? No? Why aren't they? Why aren't nursing homes places where family members of all ages would eagerly anticipate spending the day? Why aren't nursing homes places where families and community groups are anxious to visit and participate in activities? Why aren't nursing homes places where employees are happy to come to work because they feel valued and because they are pleasant places to work?The current reality is that frail older adults who live in nursing homes spend a good deal of their time alone, unable to care for themselves or their environments. They enjoy few stimulating activities. Even well cared for nursing home residents may be afflicted by loneliness, helplessness, and boredom. Nursing home residents are viewed by others as having a poor quality of life. They fulfill the stereotype of being depressed, in depressing surroundings. Caregivers in nursing homes are viewed the same way. They are seen as having low status among health care workers, low salaries, and high turnover rates (Cohen-Mansfield, 1997;Kettlitz, Zbib, & Motwani, 1998).Nursing home residents suffer from loneliness, helplessness, and boredom more than from medical problems (Thomas, 1996). Most nursing homes operate from a medical model, yet most frail older adults do not enter nursing homes for medical care. The medical model focuses on treatment of physiological problems using medical interventions, failing to attend to psychological factors such as loneliness, helplessness, or boredom.Dr. William Thomas, who proposed the Eden Alternative, believes life can be fulfilling at any age. He says that nursing homes are primarily homes, not hospitals, and suggests nursing homes commit to a human habitat model. In this model, the residents' lives in nursing homes revolve around a decentralized team method of care delivery, resident animals, daily children's activities, and numerous plants.
This article provides a secondary analysis of data collected from a recreation therapy intervention trial for older adults with dementia and neuropsychiatric symptoms. In a subsample of 54 individuals who received wheelchair (WC) biking on some days and other recreation therapy interventions on other days, a comparison of engagement levels, time engaged, and encouragement needed was completed. The analysis showed that WC biking provided significantly more time on task and significantly higher levels of engagement, and less encouragement was needed. Collecting recreation therapy session engagement data was found to be a simple and useful method of comparing effectiveness of recreation therapy interventions.
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