Programmed Activity Offerings and Attendance Patterns in Assisted Living

ABSTRACT

The scope of programmed activity offerings and attendance rates for specific activities are not thoroughly captured in the assisted living (AL) literature. The purpose of this study is to report activity offerings and associated attendance rates, as well as relationships between individual factors and activity attendance patterns in a sample of 202 residents of 21 ALs. Sampled communities offered 50 different types of programmed activities. Each AL offered exercise and religious services, most offered BINGO (n = 19, 91%) and socials (n = 18, 86%). BINGO was the most frequently attended activity (n = 83; 47%), followed by religious services (n = 75; 38%), socials (n = 67; 40%), and musical performances (n = 62, 37%). Additional findings provide insight into the features of frequently attended activities, and the relationships between attendance and resident characteristics. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications for service delivery and future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Activity programming
• assisted living
• recreation
• leisure
• activity calendars

Disclosure statement

The authors have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by a training grant from the National Institute on Aging, award number [T32AG044296].