Recreational Therapy: An Introduction, 4th ed.

Recreational Therapy: An Introduction, 4th ed.

by David R. Austin, Michael R. Crawford, Bryan P. McCormick, and Marieke Van Puymbroeck (2015)

Sagamore Publishing

In the preface, the editors note their goal in preparing the fourth edition "was to provide a book that would clearly define the essence of recreational therapy as a health care profession. Thus, the book is focused on the purposeful use of recreation and leisure as interventions to enhance the health and well-being of clients whom recreational therapists serve" (p. vi). The structure, organization, and content of this edition accomplish the authors' goal. The book is organized into three sections with the center section, (2) Areas of Practice, being the focus of the publication with the bulk of the content (pp. 63-279) addressing individuals with disabilities. Each chapter is structured in a similar format with approximately an equivalent number of pages found in most chapters.

The introductory text commences with a brief section, theoretical overview (3 chapters) followed by the practice section (9 chapters), and concludes with the closing section (2 chapters) on professional practice concerns. This edition contains a total of four fewer chapters than the previous edition (18 chapters). Chapters present in the third edition and not found in this edition include corrections and social deviance, severe multiple disabilities, cognitive and cardiac rehabilitation, and HIV disease-new to this edition is the chapter on military service members. One of the strengths of this edition is the expertise of the chapter authors as well as the recency of...