IAmARecreationalTherapist.com Blog

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro Therapeutic Recreation program has recently established a partnership with the Teaching Nursing Home of Stavanger Norway. The program is designed for honors students in therapeutic recreation interested in geriatric practice in their future careers. During spring semester each student prepares for the 3-week study abroad by practicing intervention skills at Camden Place Health and Rehabilitation in Greensboro under the supervision of Linda Buettner. Students also meet weekly to learn some basic Norwegian, develop treatment protocols and practice their intervention skills. Once they arrive in Stavanger they take part in an orientation at Stokka Teaching Nursing Home and are paired up with a staff mentor. They then take on the roles of clinician, researcher (using evidence based practice) and complete assessments and time limited treatment using exercise, horticulture, sensory integration, wheelchair biking, and animal assisted therapy. Before leaving Norway students train staff to continue the program by providing two in-service sessions. Finally once the students return and de-brief they are required to write a paper reflecting on cultural differences and implementation issues for recreation therapy delivery in the US and in Norway. On completion of this two-part course that couples pre-trip training with service learning experiences in the Stokka teaching nursing home in Stavanger, Norway students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a critical awareness and understanding of a socialized system of care as compared to the US system.
2. Provide leadership in establishing a person-centered therapeutic recreation program.
3. Evaluate the impact of the therapeutic recreation program on older adult residents and staff in the teaching nursing home.
4. Reflect on cultural differences in the care of frail older adults between Norway and the US.