Long-term effects of leisure education on leisure needs and stress in older adults

We examined whether a 12-week leisure education program could promote leisure autonomy and leisure competence and reduce stress in older adults. Forty subjects were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. Before the experiment, pretest data were collected using leisure autonomy, leisure competence, and stress scales. After the experiment, posttest data were collected using the same scales; follow-up test data were collected a year later. These data were evaluated through an analysis of covariance. The results indicated that the average posttest and follow-up test scores of leisure autonomy and leisure competence in the experimental group were significantly higher than the corresponding scores in the control group and that the average posttest and follow-up test scores of stress in the experimental group were significantly lower than the corresponding scores in the control group. In the experimental group, the average posttest and follow-up test scores of leisure autonomy and leisure competence were significantly higher than the average pretest scores of leisure autonomy and leisure competence, whereas the average posttest and follow-up test scores of stress were significantly lower than the average pretest scores of stress. Therefore, health care practitioners should adopt the provision of leisure education as a priority to promote leisure autonomy and leisure competence and reduce stress in older adults.