Leisure at work in Britain, West Germany, France and Japan : a cross-cultural comparative study

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the impact of changing values and attitudes toward work and the workplace in Britain, West Germany, France and Japan. A cross-national approach was adopted in order to gain a better understanding of differences and similarities in behaviour and to identify aspects specific to each society. Although the relationship between work and leisure has been thoroughly examined and there is a growing body of literature on changes in the values associated with these two phenomena, little research has been carried out into leisure at work. Studies of work time have tended to consider it as a homogeneous block, whereas recent research suggests that more attention should be devoted to unravelling the multiple uses of time at the workplace. The present study sought to review and analyse this new approach to the study of work time, and special attention is devoted to an examination of definitions of leisure, recreation, free time and work within the context of the workplace. The cross-cultural comparative approach gave rise to several problems due to the number of countries involved and the unusual combination of factors being investigated. The main difficulties were differences in the amount and quality of literature available, the non-comparability of existing data, definitions of concepts and socio-linguistic terms, and problems over access to organizations for fieldwork. Much of the literature generalizes about patterns of behaviour and few authors isolate factors specific to particular societies. In this thesis new empirical work is therefore used to ascertain the extent to which generalizations can be made from the literature and characteristics peculiar to each of the four countries identified. White-collar employees in large, broadly comparable companies were studied using identical questionnaires in the appropriate language. Respondents selected were men and women, aged between 20-65 years and either managers or non-managers. Patterns of leisure at work were found to be broadly similar in the national contexts, but with the Japanese and the West Germans experiencing the least leisure at work, and the British and the French perceiving the most. The general trend seems to be toward convergence of attitudes regarding leisure at work in the four countries. Explanations for variations in practice were sought within the wider societal contexts of each country.

Using mobile social media and GIS in health and place research

This paper presents new research methods that combine the use of location-based, social media on mobile phones with geographic information systems (GIS) to explore connections between people, place and health. It discusses the feasibility, limitations, and benefits of using these methods, which enable real-time, location-based, quantitative data to be collected on the recreation, consumption, and physical activity patterns of urban residents in Brisbane, Queensland. The study employs mechanisms already inherent in popular mobile social media applications (Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare) to collect this data. The research methods presented in this paper are innovative and potentially applicable to an increasing number of academic research areas, as well as to a growing range of service providers that benefit from monitoring consumer behaviour, and responding to emerging changes in these patterns and trends. The ability to both collect and map objective, real-time data about the consumption, leisure, recreation, and physical activity patterns amongst urban communities has direct implications for a range of research disciplines including media studies, advertising, health promotion, social marketing, public health inequalities, and urban design.

Lazer na terceira idade: desenvolvimento humano e qualidade de vida

The article aimed to understand the concept of leisure and understanding that older people have about their benefits to the quality of life as part of the idleness of the population. We used a sample of subjects living in the city of Bauru, SP, aged less than fifty years, of both sexes and economically disadvantaged class. It was used in literature, documentary and field. We developed an intervention project that aimed to education for leisure. It was the conclusion that public policies are necessary and qualified professionals for construction projects and equipment to expand the Recreation, spreading it and reaching the people of old age since previous stages of life. Materials with simple and low cost, the project of intervention, it reached the recreation-education and education for leisure satisfactorily.

A disciplina lazer nos currículos de educação física: um estudo sobre os saberes dos professores nas universidades públicas do estado de São Paulo

Pós-graduação em Ciências da Motricidade - IBRC

Student Independent Projects Environmental Studies 2007: Redesigning the Corner Brook Waterfront

In recent decades, urban planning has seen a rise in waterfront revitalization. This is important concerning Corner Brook, where the possible permanent closure of the Mill would have devastating consequences for the surrounding area. Corner Brook is located on the West Coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and has a population of 20,083 (WWW.statcan.ca, 2007). Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Ltd. (CBP&P) dominates the local economy and is located on the city's waterfront. With the realization that the heart of any city is the waterfront, if there is one present, many cities started revitalization trend in order to bring life back to the community and restore the local economy (Robertson, 1999). In the past, waterfronts were dominated with industry, shipping, and the navy. Today, the focus has shifted to leisure, recreation, tourism, and residential and commercial activity. Along with economic factors, the visual aspect of the waterfront is also Important (Albrecht, Bode, & Evers, 2003; Hoffman, 1999). Although this trend started out larger cities, such as Toronto, it has now spread to smaller centers, similar to the size of Corner Brook (Hoyle, 2000). What differs between the various sizes of the cities is what the main focus of the waterfront will be following the revitalization. With the tourism economy making a strong foothold in Newfoundland, the waterfront would provide the possibility to extend it even further. Yet, the most important aspects of the new waterfront will be to ensure environmentally safe measures (Slocombe, 1993) and making sure that as many jobs as possible will be generated. The generation of new jobs is especially important considering the loss of the Mill, which has provided the city and surrounding area with paying employment.

Off-Duty Resilience: Re-orienting Tourism, Leisure and Recreation in the US Army BOSS program

Understanding how US imperial strategy is sustained by tourism and militarism requires an account of how American soldiers learn to understand themselves in relation to a variety of marginalized others. This paper explores how the US Army’s ‘Ready and Resilient’ (R2) campaign constructs soldier / other relations by mobilizing off-duty time through the ‘Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers’ (BOSS) program. BOSS’s first two platforms of ‘Well-Being’ and ‘Community Service’ feed into the R2 agenda by producing highly-skilled leaders (who govern a disengaged rank and file) and benevolent humanitarians (who provide charity for abject civilians). When these dispositions are transposed into BOSS’s third platform of ‘Recreation and Leisure’, soldiers turn away from the goals of leadership and humanitarianism to reveal the privileged narcissism underscoring the R2 agenda. This self-focus is intensified by familiar power relations in the tourism industry as soldiers pursue self-improvement by commodifying, distancing and effacing local tourist workers. Using the BOSS program as a case study, this paper critically interrogates how the US Army is assimilating off-duty practices of tourism, leisure and recreation into the wider program of resilience training.

Community Recreation and Leisure Activities in Adults with Developmental Disabilities who have Recently Relocated to Community-based Residences in Ontario

In 2009, the Ontario Government closed the last three remaining large-scale institutions for people with Developmental Disabilities (DD). The purpose of this study is to examine the community-based recreation and leisure activities of 87 adults with DD who have recently moved into the community. Study 1 provided a descriptive insight into the community recreation and leisure activities, and revealed that people with DD engage in low levels of community activities, however are reported to have the desire to engage more often. Staff reported that people with DD do not have the opportunities to engage in their preferable activities. Study 2 investigated the prbspective predictors of the number and frequency of community, recreation and leisure activities and found that a higher level of functioning predicted a greater number of community activities ([beta] = .26, P < .05), while both a higher level of functioning ([beta] = .38,p < .001) and greater preference ([beta] = .23. p < .05) predicted more frequent access to community activities. Future research and the implications of the findings for clinical practice and policy development were discussed.

Perpetual private land conservation: the case for outdoor recreation and functional leisure

As natural areas, agricultural lands, and open spaces continue to be developed at unprecedented rates, it is important for land conservation professionals to understand the individuals who might play a role in permanently protecting these lands and their ecological services. Many factors have been shown to influence land protection decisions among private owners, including land-use activities, demographic characteristics, and environmental intention and behavior. With the hypothesis that individuals already involved in land conservation programs would be candidates for permanent protection, we set out to model conservation easement decisions within a group of participants in southern Indiana’s Classified Forest and Wildlands Program (ICFWP). We used a mailed questionnaire to survey 500 landowners, garnering 308 responses, about their interest in conservation easements. Our results indicated significant positive relationships between interest in conservation easements with variables representing perception of landscape change, outdoor recreation behavior as an adult, and environmental organization membership. By better understanding the ways these factors promote permanent land-use decisions, land conservation professionals can better allocate limited resources through strategic investments in targeting and outreach.

Beyond Bingo: A phenomenographic exploration of leisure in aged care

How do older adults living in residential aged care experience leisure activities? What restricts and facilitates participation? These two research questions guided this semi-longitudinal qualitative research, tracking the lived experience of aged care from the perspective of twenty new aged care residents over 18 months (average age, 80 years) through repeated in-depth semi-structured interviews. Interview data were analyzed using phenomenography, an under-utilized qualitative analysis technique that identifies the variations in how people experience, understand, or conceive of a phenomenon. Phenomenography revealed three qualitatively different ways of understanding residents’ leisure experience: - (1) as a structure for living, - (2) creating social connections, and; - (3) maintaining ability. By illustrating the variation and similarities in how these older Australian residents conceptualise and experience leisure in aged care, the findings may help facilitate a more thoughtful understanding that informs theory, policy and practice.

Rapid recreation assessment: a tool to assess visitor use and associated impacts at coastal and marine protected areas

As more people discover coastal and marine protected areas as destinations for leisure-time pursuits, the task of managing coastal resources while providing opportunities for high quality visitor experiences becomes more challenging. Many human impacts occur at these sites; some are caused by recreation and leisure activities on-site, and others by activities such as agriculture, aquaculture, or residential and economic development in surrounding areas. Coastal management professionals are continually looking for effective ways to prevent or mitigate negative impacts of visitor use. (PDF contains 8 pages) Most coastal and marine protected area managers are challenged with balancing two competing goals—protection of natural and cultural resources and provision of opportunities for public use. In most cases, some level of compromise between the goals is necessary, where one goal constrains or “outweighs” the other. Often there is a lack of clear agreement about the priority of these competing goals. Consequently, while natural resource decisions should ultimately be science-based and objective, such decisions are frequently made under uncertainty, relying heavily upon professional judgment. These decisions are subject to a complex array of formal and informal drivers and constraints—data availability, timing, legal mandate, political will, diverse public opinion, and physical, human, and social capital. This paper highlights assessment, monitoring, and planning approaches useful to gauge existing resource and social conditions, determine feasibility of management actions, and record decision process steps to enhance defensibility. Examples are presented from pilot efforts conducted at the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in South Florida.

The essence of a tacit intersection : a heuristic inquiry into nature-based leisure and personal transformation

There are a considerable number of programs and agencies that count on the existence of a unique relationship between nature and human development. In addition, there are significant bodies of literature dedicated to understanding developmentally focused nature-based experiences. This research project was designed to flirther the understanding of this phenomenon. Consequently, the purpose of this research endeavour was to discover the essence ofthe intersection ofpersonal transformation and nature-based leisure, culminating in a rich and detailed account of this otherwise tacit phenomenon. As such, this research built on the assumption of this beneficial intersection of nature and personal transformation and contributes to the understanding ofhow this context is supporting or generating of selfactualization and positive development. Heuristic methods were employed because heuristics is concerned with the quality and essence of an experience, not causal relationships (Moustakas, 1990). Heuristic inquiry begins with the primary researcher and her personal experience and knowledge of the phenomenon. This study also involved four other coresearchers who had also experienced this phenomenon intensely. Co-researchers were found through purposeful and snowball sampling. Rich narrative descriptions of their experiences were gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and artifact elicitation was employed as a means to get at co-researchers' tacit knowledge. Each coresearcher was interviewed twice (the first interview focused on personal transformation, the second on nature) for approximately four and a half hours in total. Transcripts were read repeatedly to discern patterns that emerged from the study of the narratives and were coded accordingly. Individual narratives were consolidated to create a composite narrative of the experience. Finally, a creative synthesis was developed to represent the essence of this tacit experience. In conclusion the essence of the intersection of nature-based leisure and personal transformation was found to lie in the convergence of the lived experience of authenticity. The physical environment of nature was perceived and experienced to be a space and context of authenticity, leisure experiences were experienced as an engagement of authenticity, and individuals themselves encountered a true or authentic self that emanated from within. The implications of these findings are many, offering suggestions, considerations and implications from reconsidered approaches to environmental education to support for selfdirected human development.