Therapeutic Humor With the Elderly

Therapeutic Humor With the Elderly explores the use of humor as a tool in providing activity programs to older adults. It provides new program ideas for activity directors in all types of settings. The book highlights the benefits of using humor with the elderly, showing how vitalizing humor programs can be. It describes exemplary programs and provides specific activities to be used in humor programs. As a result of this comprehensive approach, individuals responsible for providing programs for older adults will be able to design humor programs easily and quickly implement them in their facilities. Activity directors in long-term care facilities and directors of senior citizen centers looking for new program ideas will find this book an invaluable resource. It provides not only an extensive selection of humor related activities which can be used in a variety of programs but also describes approaches to integrating humor into existing therapeutic programs. As a result, individuals seeking program ideas will find this book to be an excellent aid in planning and providing programs to a variety of elderly individuals. Activity workers with other special populations will also find many practical ideas for using humor in programs.Specific topics addressed in Therapeutic Humor With the Elderly include:

a definition of humor
benefits of humor
research on humor
application of humor on therapy
humor assessment
specific ways to use humor in programs
description of excellent humor programsActivity directors in long-term care facilities, social workers in long-term care facilities, directors of senior centers, and recreation therapists in any setting will find a practical resource in this new book.