The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of leisure counseling provided in Texas Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Centers. Data was gathered from responses to a survey sent to Texas Community MHMR Centers. There was a ninety-three per cent response rate. The results indicated leisure counseling was not being provided, although some minor components of leisure counseling were being conducted at individual centers. Recommendations were made for expansion of recreation programs, the institution of counseling sessions dealing with leisure related topics on a regular basis, the use of leisure interests.:assessment instruments, and the development of a systematic recreation information referral system.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the delineation of current practices in therapeutic recreation in psychiatric treatment centers in Texas, The programs of the forty-two hospitals responding to the survey questionnaire were evaluated in terms of the National Therapeutic Recreation Society's "Standards for Therapeutic Recreation in Psychiatric Facilities." It was determined that, while the use of recreation in psychiatric rehabilitation is widespread, many programs are not administratively independent., A close association between recreation and occupational therapy was found. Extensive recreation facilities and activities were reported. Use of community resources was widespread, but follow-up and leisure counseling services were rare. Most personnel had no recreation training. The evaluation showed limited compliance with the standards.

The purpose of this study was to determine the educational and experiential levels attained by professional recreators employed by the City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department from 1961 through 1971. Comparison of these levels was made to the minimum qualifications for employment as recommended by the National Recreation and Park Association. The study also surveyed the areas of specialized course work, in-service education, on-the-job training, and personal philosophy of the individual recreator.

The purpose of this study was to determine what recreational activities were of greatest interest and appeal to members of nine senior centers in Texas and according to their age and sex. The nine senior centers were randomly selected from the forty-two centers in Texas. A minimum of twenty-five members at the selected centers were asked to respond to a questionnaire concerning their recreational activity interest. A total of two hundred seventy-four respondents completed the questionnaire, of which seventy-nine were males and one hundred ninety-five were females. The questionnaire consisted of nine recreational activity categories. These categories were designed to cover a wide range of recreational interest. Table games were the activities indicated by the respondents (88 per cent) to be of greatest interest. The activity that was indicated to be of least interest was dancing (47 per cent). Activities that included social contact had the greatest interest to the respondents. A recommendation was made that senior centers should stress those activities of a social group nature. The centers should also provide more outdoor life activities.

The purpose of the investigation was to determine if participant attitudes toward recreation program elements varied significantly according to racial origin of the individual. The subjects were adults involved in structured and unstructured recreation programs at six community recreation centers operated by the Dallas Recreation Department. The chi-square test was used to determine significance of the difference among participant attitudes. The results of the investigation revealed a statistically significant difference among the three racial groups with regard to their attitudes toward various program elements. Conclusions were that participants from these three racial groups appear to be more different than alike in their attitude toward recreation programming.

Personal qualifications of industrial recreation directors and the adequacy of the North Texas State University recreation curriculum in developing these qualifications.

The problem of this investigation was the construction and evaluation of a score card for evaluating the field work experience in recreation. The instrument was constructed after studying nationally adopted accreditation standards, criteria, guidelines and evaluations of professional preparation programs. This investigation concludes that of twenty-five items which made up the original instrument, twenty-four remained after two evaluations by a panel of experts. A method was developed to score the instrument according to maximum score and percentage compliance score for each section of the instrument. It is the recommendation of this investigation that the score card be field tested and become part of a total score card for evaluating the professional preparation program in recreation.