Scoring of leisure activities for older adults according to cognitive, physical, and social components

Abstract

Participation in leisure activities may be cognitively protective for older adults. However, there is no comprehensive scoring system for analyzing data related to the effectiveness of leisure activity engagement on cognitive decline risk. The authors developed a component scoring system to determine the typical amount of cognitive, physical, and social effort required for participation in common leisure activities. Fifty-nine leisure activities were scored on the three activity effort components in two rounds of expert panel review using a modified Delphi technique. Consensus on the component scores was established. Interrater reliability (IRR) was acceptable across all three components (0.72). IRR was adequate for the cognitive component (0.75) and excellent for the physical (0.94) and social (0.95) components. Component scores can be used to examine how the level of cognitive, physical, or social effort required for engagement in specific leisure activities is associated with risk for cognitive decline and other poor outcomes.