A study of needs in managina recreation activities of the elderly in nang loeng community

Abstract

This research is a qualitative research. Considering the situation of the elderly in Thailand, B.E. 2016 and the study of the context of the community with a tendency to increase the proportion of the elderly population, together with the problems and obstacles that there are still needs to participate in recreational activities. In this regard, there were 38 key informants chosen by a purposive sampling method for each target group. The selected informants consisted of 30 elderly people between 60-69 years old, 2 neighbors, 2 community leaders, 2 family members, and 2 government officials. Due to the outbreak situation of COVID-19, the target group has to be adjusted accordingly. There were only 10 elderly people who were willing to be interviewed by phone. These informants are those who resides in Nang Loeng community, Phra Nakhon District and Pom Prap Sattru Phai District, Bangkok. The data was, therefore, collected by telephone interviews. It was found that the elderly’s highest average needs for recreational activities were the top 3 categories accordingly as follows: 1.the category of games, sports and play 2. dance, and 3. singing and music. The results of the research also showed a clear nature of the activities; that is, these three types of recreational activities involved body movement, fun activities, and those that demonstrated their abilities and skills. It can be seen that these three types of recreational activities involved physical movement as the main component of exercise and dancing, as well as gestures and posture while singing or playing music. This helps promote physical health, mental health and a good quality of life for the elderly. The result also showed that the activities that the elderly most frequently participated in during the recent period were games, sports, and plays, followed by singing and music, and dance. The problems found from participating in recreational activities among the elderly was the insufficiency of equipment and facilities, followed by the problem of inappropriate places for participating in recreational activities, and the problem of inappropriate activity period. (too little or too much time).