Qualitative Quality Indicators are Good Advocate for Recreational Therapy

Using quality indicators shows the value residents place on recreational therapy (RT), which helps Sunnybrook advocate for and educate about RT practice. Resident feedback provides evidence of the importance of their relationships with the recreation therapists and the link with quality of life. This approach supports shifting RT practice away from quantitative activity-focused programming (“Mr. Jones participated in the baking program three times this month for 30 minutes”) towards qualitative experience-focused programming (“I like helping when I go to the baking program. Most of us aren’t that mobile, we are in wheelchairs so we can’t help a lot, but I contribute in my own way, using my own knowledge.”) Using quality indicators provides a transferable and systematic method to identify and evaluate meaningful recreation therapy opportunities.