Midterm Assignment. Therapeutic recreation (or recreational therapy)

Midterm Assignment
Your Name
Subject and Section
Professor’s Name
February 8, 2019
Introduction
Therapeutic recreation (or recreational therapy) is known to be the process, utilized the field of healthcare, that aims to teach individuals with physical, emotional, or psychological limitations skills through a fun and leisurely manner (Stumbo, 2002). This is beneficial as the fun approach towards the treatments could make the skills acquisition process much faster as compared to other treatments out there in the market. However, just like other treatments, therapeutic recreation could be beneficial for some but not all. Other types of treatments might produce a much more optimal result as compared to it, which is the reason to pursue other processes. Due to this, therapeutic recreation also requires a stringent process of client selection. In turn, this leads to many issues when it comes to client assessment, both before and during the treatment. In order to understand more about these pertinent issues, this article would focus on the current day issues of client assessment during therapeutic recreation services. Aside from the descriptions provided in the book, other studies that focus on the said process would be used as a supplement. Nonetheless, the author of this article believes that by resolving these current-day issues, the practice of recreational therapy could be made even more beneficial for the patients.
Client Assessment
Before conducting any treatments, an assessment of the conditions and the needs of the patient must always be done. An assessment would help a healthcare professional plan for a strategic approach towards the needs of the client. In terms of therapeutic recreation services, it is the Recreation Therapist (RT) who would first assess whether a patient would require the said process. The initial assessment would include both internal and external contexts, such as disability/illness, hobbies, family, environment, and culture, among others (Therapeutic Recreation Ontario, 2017). After this, it is the RT’s role to develop a personalized plan that would achieve the skill sets that are needed to be developed through a leisurely manner, based on the interests of the patient. While the steps from assessment through treatment seems straightforward, it is usually during this transition where the issue happens.
Issues in Client Assessment
In a study conducted by Leahey and Singleton (2011), the authors have noted that one of the main difficulties of client assessment is finding the new skill that needs to be developed, that would help the patient reduce the impacts of the disease. In other words, the bridging between the condition of the patient and the type of treatment that would provide the best results. Co...