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Abstract
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine whether a leisure education program could facilitate leisure competence among older adults and whether it could also reduce their stress.Methods: A pre-test–post-test randomized experimental design was conducted. Subjects were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 30) or a control group (n = 30). A leisure education program was used to serve as the intervention. A day before this experiment was carried out, pre-test data were collected using leisure competence and stress scales. Thirty minutes after this experiment ended, post-test data were collected using the same scales. These data were analyzed using an analysis of covariance.Results: The results indicated that the average post-test scores of leisure competence in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group and that the average post-test scores of stress in the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group.Conclusion: Healthcare practitioners should adopt the provision of leisure education as a priority to facilitate leisure competence and reduce stress among older adults.