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The profession of recreational therapy first established professional membership organizations in the 1940s and 1950s. The most recent national professional membership organization was developed in 1984, when the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) was formed. The National Academy of Recreational Therapists (NART) was established in 2011 as an honor society to recognize the most accomplished practitioners and educators in recreational therapy and to provide a clearinghouse for the exchange of ideas that would ultimately lead to the advancement of the recreational therapy profession. Efforts to establish NART began in 2009 when David Austin and Ray West drafted a conceptualization of the academy and its operations, as well as proposed a set of by-laws. A steering committee was subsequently established to review and approve by-laws for NART and to establish the Founding Fellows of NART. The central purpose of the Academy was the advancement of recreational therapy by recognition, education, research, scholarly activity, advocacy, and the provision of advice to decision makers. Since its inception NART has established and funded a Future Scholars Fund to support outstanding graduate students considering pursuing a terminal degree, as well as the Marcia Carter Scholarly Manuscript Award for the best annual publication in the Therapeutic Recreation Journal. Over its first 10 years, NART made revisions to its bylaws to refine criteria and categories for Fellows, and by 2021 there were 77 elected Fellows. The invited paper summarizes the first 10 years and considers a number of original goals that remain to be realized to support and advance this honor society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the Health Protection/Health Promotion Model of therapeutic recreation, highlighting its underlying concepts: the humanistic perspective, high-level wellness, the stabilization and actualization tendencies, and health. Describes components of the model (prescribed activities, recreation, and leisure), discusses utilization of the model in practice, and notes the model's strengths and limitations. (SM)

It has often been said of psychology that it is a field with a long past but a relatively brief history. A similar statement could be made about therapeutic recreation. [...]

To our knowledge, information on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) has not appeared in the literature of recreational therapy. This article provides an introduction to PROs and PROMs so recreational therapists may understand them and see their possible applications within recreational therapy. In this article, PROs and PROMs are described. Specific examples of PROMs, and resources for accessing them are provided. Discussion on the value of PROs in the enhancement of client care, challenges to the use of PROMs, and the relevance of PROMS to recreational therapy practice and research follows. It is concluded that the use of PROMs is an emerging approach that recreational therapists need to explore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is a common primary and secondary condition among recreational therapy clients, and is a threat to engagement and outcomes of recreational therapy. Recreational therapists are able to respond to depression through physical activity. A substantial amount of recent research has uniformly identified that there exist signifi- cant positive effects of physical activity on both clinical depression as well as depression among non-clinical populations. The research evidence in depression treatment and depression prevention supports physical activity as an intervention. This article reports types of exercise known to alleviate depression, the neuroanatomical structures affected by physical activity, and the effects of these structure changes on depressive symptoms. In addition, issues related to motivation regarding physical activity engagement as well as ways to respond to such issues using self-efficacy theory and self-determination theory are discussed. With an awareness of this current information, recreational therapists could integrate physical activity more intentionally into the APIED process to help their clients manage depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Replicated Tringo's research measuring respondents attitudes about various groups. Results indicated positive shift in attitudes toward older persons. Discusses findings in terms of Harasymiw's continuum of normalcy, Tibbitts' view regarding improving societal attitudes toward older people, and Schonfield's conclusion that Americans do not hold negative attitudes toward older persons. (Author/NRB)

Findings from 74 summer camp staff serving disabled children suggest: burnout exists; emotional exhaustion is the burnout phase more often experienced; staff reporting higher social support report less burnout; perceptions of social support decrease as summer progresses; camp administrators need to develop/evaluate strategies to foster social support within their staffs. (NEC)

Results showed that, when compared to a control group receiving an unrelated lecture, both presentations of the handicapped had a positive effect upon college student attitudes, with positive effects slightly greater when the lecture was given by the handicapped presentor. (DB)

Empirical evidence has shown a positive relationship between physical training and selected mental health variables. In nonclinical studies the most significant effects of physical exercise have been on self-concept and body image. Two affective variables, depression and anxiety, also seem to be influenced by physical activity but to a lesser degree in this population than with clinical populations. Certain clinical populations appear to benefit cognitively and socially from exercise even though the activity may not be aerobically stressful. Theories that attempt to explain the relationship between fitness and mental health are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project INSPIRE (Indiana Special Population Institutes for Recreation Educators), assisted by a team of 61 experts, identified 16 minimum competencies necessary for entry-level professionals in the field of recreation to serve special populations in community recreation. (JN)

We thank Dustin and Schwab for provoking the discussion of distinctions between recreational therapy (RT) and therapeutic recreation (TR). We find a number of problems in their interpretations of RT. Counter to their characterization, the focus of RT practice is not on people with disabilities or the disabilities themselves, but on helping clients to restore, maintain, and enhance health. In addition, RT practitioners do not strictly adhere to the medical model, but follow a biopsychosocial model that is developmental in nature and focuses on strengths and interests. Further, we find that Dustin and Schwab's assertion that RT lacks a science-based foundation for evidence-based practice (EBP) to be dated. Resources for EBP has existed for well over a decade in RT literature and supporting research evidence is abundant. Additionally, we assert that "therapeutic recreation" has never truly existed as a profession because it lacks a united philosophy encompassing both the "therapy orientation" and "leisure orientation." Instead, we believe the term "leisure facilitation" reflects the practice and philosophy of the leisure orientation, with a focus on supporting individuals whose health or other conditions may constrain their full participation in leisure. Finally, we argue that knowledge of recreation and leisure is a foundation to the practice of RT and leisure facilitation. While this knowledge should be found in academic departments of recreation and leisure studies, it must be acknowledged that RT is a profession distinct from parks and recreation, and requires curricula preparing RT students for practice in health services systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the authors' insights on the rejoinder written by doctor Dieser for the article "Beyond Curriculum Reform: Therapeutic Recreation's Hidden Curriculum," which introduced the idea of hidden curriculum and its effect to therapeutic recreation education. The authors mention that Dieser provides the cross-ethnic perspective as an issue in the hidden curriculum. They add the Dieser's rejoinder was focused on him and his worldview instead of the hidden curriculum.

Educators in the field of therapeutic recreation influence their students through formal and informal means, and overt and covert behaviors. Formal means and overt behaviors are the traditional teaching that occurs in the course of instruction. Informal means and covert behaviors are what occur in the context of the learning environment, not only in the classroom but in interacting outside of the classroom and observing faculty behavior and departmental messages. These informal and covert means, termed "hidden curriculum," may influence student's beliefs about the field as strongly as the formal and overt behaviors. This article defines hidden curriculum, describes the faculty, structural and cultural influences on hidden curricula, describes the current state that many therapeutic recreation curricula exist within, and offers suggestions for faculty and administrators to consider when examining their programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]