Sociocultural animation plays a very important role in the institutional context. Animation activities not only bring life and soul to the entire environment but also have a dimension of socialization, learning, stimulation, and personal enjoyment and fulfillment.
When properly integrated with other technical intervention areas, sociocultural animation activities serve a purpose that goes far beyond their occupational nature, achieving the objectives of skill promotion and activation.
Through sociocultural animation activities that align with the tastes, preferences, and needs of our clients, stimuli are provoked and worked on, allowing us to improve the quality of life of those who reside here or spend their daily lives in our facilities. We promote cognitive, physical, and sensory stimulation, thereby slowing down the natural process of cognitive and physical decline.
Without forcing clients to participate in animation and social interaction activities, we propose a variety of action types where social interaction is naturally present. Social skills are often difficult to maintain, whether due to an individual's temperament and specific personality, the isolation that aging often leads to, or simply the loss of sensory abilities. Hearing or vision impairment, for example, is a factor of social isolation frequently observed in these contexts, requiring a specific approach. For this reason, we promote activities in small subgroups. The allocation of clients into specific groups and activities, in addition to catering to their individual preferences, also meets their needs and the objectives defined by a multidisciplinary technical team.
One of the methodologies used at Vida Maior focuses on life stories and always seeks to understand the life context of each person. Activities are designed according to what they used to enjoy or still enjoy doing, thus creating a culture in which participation in activities emerges as a natural process rather than as a result of encouragement from the technical team or geriatric agents. This way, it is not only the professionals who encourage participation in activities, but the clients themselves feel and express a willingness and agency to engage, understanding the benefits these activities bring to their well-being.
At Vida Maior, we create and define activity spaces where clients are the protagonists and leaders. Our living rooms always have a dedicated area where clients, freely and either individually or in self-formed groups, engage in actions, games, reading, or other activities according to their interests.
In our intervention model, we develop different types of activities: games, visual arts, performing arts, crafts, digital content creation, writing, arithmetic, life storytelling, outdoor excursions, visits to exhibitions, and many others. This diversity and multiplicity of interventions, while aiming to promote activities tailored to the reality of each client, also require great flexibility and adaptability. Sometimes, the goal of an activity may be the same (such as creating a painting using fabric cutouts and collage), but the way it is executed allows for different approaches to the task. To make it more tangible and engaging, it is almost always carried out in small groups where the theme can be more easily adjusted to each individual's interests, according to their background, knowledge, and abilities. The same applies to the type of activities selected, which are continuously adapted in accordance with the tastes and preferences of those for whom they are designed.
Sociocultural animation activities are integrated and developed according to the therapeutic and rehabilitation goals defined in each client's individual plan. In this way, there is a complementarity between sociocultural animation activities and those carried out by the other members of the technical team, including the occupational therapist, psychomotor therapist, physiotherapist, and even nursing staff.
Catarina Silvério
Sociocultural Animator
VM Maceira