Evaluation is a process that each of us uses every day. Professionals in any field of human services must have the means to access and assess information. Having information is not enough, however, unless that information can be applied and used. To organize and manage recreation services (i.e., all elements related to the various specialties in the field such as parks, tourism, sports, arts, therapeutic recreation, camping, event management), information is needed about people's preferences, needs, and behaviors and the programs, administrative structures, and resources that comprise the organizations. To build a body of knowledge and to document the value of recreation, systematic processes are necessary. Evaluation and research can provide information that will enable "enlightened decisions." Evaluating Recreation Services: Making Enlightened Decisions, Fourth Edition, is about systematic evaluation and research that focuses specifically on identifying explicit evaluation criteria or research questions, collecting evidence or data, and making judgments about the value or the worth of something applied to service improvement or knowledge development. This book aims to provide a basic overview and working knowledge of procedures. Knowing basic steps in evaluation research and having some familiarity with evaluation and research tools can help you to begin a process of lifelong learning about systematic inquiry.

Introduction to Recreation Services for People With Disabilities continues to reflect a broad-based explanation of the role of practitioners in the interrelated fields of therapeutic recreation, inclusive recreation, and special recreation. This fourth edition represents a major revision, including the most current research and thinking about the interdisciplinary fields of recreation and disability studies. This book is intended to be an introductory text for all students in parks and recreation/leisure studies departments. Every student, whether she or he intends to work in a provincial park or a state hospital, a community recreation center or a community mental health center, a public school or a cruise ship, needs a basic level of knowledge about people with disabilities. The central theme of this book is that people with disabilities are people who have the same needs and wants as anyone else and deserve the right to be at the center of their services. Each person with a disability is a person first, not a disability. Recreation services must be centered around the person who is being served. That is, whether treatment-oriented recreation therapy, goal-oriented special recreation, or activity-oriented inclusive recreation, it is the person and not the professional or even the activity that must be at the center of service delivery. It is our hope that you will begin to see people with disabilities as people as you learn about recreation and therapeutic recreation services. If you emerge from this book (or your class) with this person-centered knowledge, then you will have learned a lot about how to provide recreation services to people with disabilities. Whether or not you happen to be a person with a disability, our more earnest hope is that you will emerge with a commitment to ensure that people with disabilities are treated as people who are at the center of their programs and services. This means that you will become an advocate, maybe even a zealot, on behalf of people with disabilities. You will encourage friends and colleagues to use people-first and respectful language. You will refrain from jokes that perpetuate stereotypes. You will be part of a new breed of recreation and therapeutic recreation professionals who celebrate differences and strive to provide person-centered and responsive services.

This book fills a void in our literature with a comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of evaluation in recreation, park and leisure services. The book provides a basic over view and working knowledge of evaluation procedures for upper level undergraduate students, beginning graduate students, and practitioners who wish to apply evaluation research in their work. The authors have written the book in concise, clear chapters in which they not only outline key points, but also provide examples of various evaluation issues.

It has been over 20 years since the first edition of "Productive Management of Leisure Service Organisations" was conceptualised, written, and published. Now in it's 4th edition, "Managing Recreation, Parks & Leisure Services" considers three critical changes in the leisure services field: technology and information resolution, nature of the workforce, and the basic revision of our economy. These changes have greatly impacted the management of human resources, which is the main focus of this book.

"Introduction to Recreation Services for People With Disabilities continues to reflect a broad-based explanation of the role of practitioners in the interrelated fields of therapeutic recreation, inclusive recreation, and special recreation. This fourth edition represents a major revision, including the most current research and thinking about the interdisciplinary fields of recreation and disability studies. This book is intended to be an introductory text for all students in parks and recreation/leisure studies departments."--Provided by publisher.

This book fills a gap in the therapeutic recreation literature concerning client assessment. It educates the reader about the importance of client assessment, how assessment relates to treatment planning and programming, and ways to improve the process of data collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting..