Inclusive Leisure as a Resource for Socio-Educational Intervention during the COVID-19 Pandemic with Care Leavers

Jorge Díaz-Esterri,Rosa Goig-Martínez,Ángel De-Juanas,Francisco Javier García-Castilla

doi:10.3390/su13168851

Jorge Díaz-Esterri, Rosa Goig-Martínez + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168851

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Aug 7, 2021
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: National University of Distance Education

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a reduction in leisure activities involving human contact. Social isolation has increased, particularly amongst vulnerable individuals with a fragile support network, as is the case with young people who have left care. The aim of the present research was to identify socio-educational proposals and interventions implemented during the pandemic pertaining to leisure as a form of promoting social inclusion of these young people. To this end, a qualitative study was carried out in which twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with young people who had left care system, in addition to fifteen interviews with professionals working with this group when delivering socio-educational interventions. Discourse analysis revealed that isolation due to the health crisis had greater repercussions in normalised settings in which leisure activity was reduced with this increasing risk of social inclusion amongst these young people. Proposals and experiences emerging from this setting provide evidence that socio-educational interventions targeting leisure facilitate social inclusion. In this sense, future lines of research are suggested to optimise the outcomes of socio-educational interventions within this group.

Highlights

Accepted: 3 August 2021Over recent decades the importance of leisure has been argued as a fundamental pillar of human development [1,2,3,4] as it is an essential element of social inclusion and development [5,6]
A further aim was to identify the socio-educational proposals and interventions implemented during the pandemic to target leisure and promote the social inclusion of these young people
The findings demonstrate that, despite physical activity and sporting activities having numerous social, therapeutic and educational benefits, participating young peoples’ access to them was highly limited by economic challenges prior to the pandemic

Summary

Introduction

Accepted: 3 August 2021Over recent decades the importance of leisure has been argued as a fundamental pillar of human development [1,2,3,4] as it is an essential element of social inclusion and development [5,6]. Leisure contributes positively to physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects at an individual level as well as in a social sense [7,8] This aspect takes on special relevance during infancy and childhood when full and satisfying experiences of free time contribute to the development of identity, autonomy, sense of achievement and social commitment due to this being an appropriate vital stage for discovering new interests and affirming personal values and social ideals [9]. In this sense, we consider that engagement in meaningful leisure must be accompanied by positive values which lead to benefits for individuals, groups and communities [10]. Of the activities engaged in by young people in their free time, sport practice takes first

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