Leisure Contexts Research Articles

User Experience Research in the Work Context: Maps, Gaps and Agenda

User experience (UX) research has been criticized for focusing on leisure contexts and overlooking the work contexts. Moreover, researchers have been drawing attention to how UX at work differs from UX in leisure contexts, requiring development of domain specific knowledge. Inspired by these discussions, our motivation is to see the current state of UX at work research. Based on the systematic review of 52 papers, our results revealed that UX at work research is still immature. It is run by dichotomies; the conceptualizations such as the definition and the dimensions of UX at work are ambiguous; the variety of the studied work domains are limited and do not contribute to the understanding of UX at work; and the consideration of contextual factors are arbitrary and coincidental. To advance this important field of research, we indicate the research gaps and suggest a research agenda introducing areas for future research.

"Keeping Christmas" on the Page: The Adelaide Observer, Alice in Wonderland, and the Australian Periodical at Play

This article explores the rise of diversion genres in the South Australian Adelaide Observer in the 1860s. Setting examples of the Australian periodical at play within a larger British context of competitive leisure, I argue that the Observer's Christmas pages present competitive periodical diversions as essential to observing the holiday. Further, the Observer's serial reprinting of Alice in Wonderland in its Christmas pages underscores the puzzle-like quality of Carroll's Alice such that Alice and the Christmas pages reify one another's status as competitive diversions.

How and When Leisure Crafting Enhances College Students' Well-Being: A (Quantitative) Weekly Diary Study.

PurposeCollege students’ well-being is important for their self-growth and the whole society. However, we still know relatively little about how college students could proactively, strategically improve their well-being in the leisure context. Following the self-determination theory and proactivity literature, this study examines how and when leisure crafting (ie, a proactive act whereby individuals balance their leisure resources and demands by utilizing their personal abilities and needs) can enhance college students’ well-being.MethodsConducting a quantitative weekly diary study of 80 Chinese students in an engineering college (320 observations), we drew a moderated mediation model.ResultsWe found that weekly leisure crafting behaviors (ie, seeking structural leisure resources, seeking social leisure resources, seeking leisure challenges, and reducing hindering leisure demands) were positively related to weekly intrinsic need satisfaction (ie, need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness), then resulting in higher weekly subjective well-being (ie, physical thriving, mental health, and life meaningfulness). Moreover, this indirect effect was stronger for those who had a higher level of leisure boredom.ConclusionOur study contributes to student development and well-being literature by focusing on the students’ leisure context and providing a means to enhance their well-being. We unfold how the leisure crafting strategy boosts college students’ well-being via increasing their intrinsic need satisfaction. We also highlight the compensating role of leisure crafting when one is in an unfavorable personal state (eg, leisure boredom).

Contribution of Leisure Context, Motivation and Experience to the Frequency of Participation in Structured Leisure Activities among Adolescents.

Leisure time is considered an important context for adolescent development. The purpose of this article is to investigate what contributes to the frequency of adolescents’ participation in structured leisure activities (SLA). Participants were aged 14–21 years (M = 18.87, SD = 1.23) and 44.8% of participants were female. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. Results indicate that boys and adolescents who perceive the context of participation in SLA as safe, are externally or intrinsically motivated, and perceive that participation has contributed to their identity development and experiences of initiative, as well as their experiences of stress, are more likely to participate frequently in SLA. On the other hand, these findings indicate that girls and adolescents who are unmotivated to participate in SLA and who experience negative peer influences while participating in SLA are less likely to frequently participate in SLA. It can be concluded that it is important to think much more broadly than just the setting of the activities themselves when promoting young people’s participation in SLA. Some of the features of SLA that promote positive youth development are presented in this paper.

Drug Normalization and Conventional Social Institutions: The Unusual Case of Prescription Drug Misuse

Sociological and criminological research demonstrates that involvement in conventional social institutions and having a “stake in conformity” serves as a protective factor against various forms of substance use. Yet, the normalization of prescription drug misuse raises questions about these processes. Drawing on interviews of 162 young adult prescription drug misusers, we demonstrate that the normalization of prescription drug misuse is driven by facets of the conventional social institutions of medicine, the family, school, and the workplace. These findings not only contrast the large body of research on the protective role these social institutions typically play regarding substance use, but also the subcultural context of leisure that has historically produced processes of drug normalization among young adults. Through processes of pharmaceuticalization as well as family and institutionally based peer associations, prescription drug misuse emerges as a common and contradictory way in which young adults navigate social expectations of conformity within the contexts of conventional social institutions.

Formas de participação de jovens com origem migrante em associações em Portugal

The civic participation of young people with immigrant background is an area of study that needs academic attention in Portugal. This article aims to analyze the various forms of involvement and participation of young people of African descent and with Ukrainian and Romanian backgrounds, in immigrant associations in Portugal. The empirical work focused on a set of nine immigrant associations. Through a multiple case study, we carried out semi-structured interviews with coordinators and young people aged between 15 and 24 years who participate in these contexts. The results of this article indicate that immigrant associations are experienced as contexts of socialization, leisure, participation, education and expression of cultural belongings.

Running for inclusion: responsibility, (un)deservingness and the spectacle of integration in a sport-for-refugees intervention in Geneva, Switzerland

This study contributes to critical inter-disciplinary analyses of the meanings, uses and implications of sport-for-integration initiatives in relation to the contemporary politics of asylum in the Global North. It will do so, by drawing on an ethnographic study addressing the activities of FLAG21, a sport project based in Geneva, Switzerland, that employs running as an instrument of integration and health promotion for migrants and refugees. In advancing this discussion, we put to dialogue Nicholas De Genova’s work on the ‘border spectacle’ (2013) with critical analyses of integration in (forced) migration studies to explore what we call the ‘integration spectacle’. Through this lens, we address FLAG21 activities to examine the scenes of inclusion and the obscene of exclusion that sports projects aiming to foster refugees’ social integration can at the same time make visible and unwittingly conceal through their interventions. The discussion illuminates the ambivalent positions that sports interventions occupy within the politics and moral representations of asylum. This, as a premise to imagine, co-create and support sport and leisure practices and contexts that are more closely attending to and engaging with refugees’ experiences, struggles and trajectories within and beyond contemporary regimes of asylum.

Flow theory: Advancing the two-dimensional conceptualization

This research advances the conceptualization and measurement of flow. The results of six studies (N = 2809) reveal that flow has two dimensions: “fluency,” which is comprised of experiences related to fluent thought and action; and “absorption,” which is based on sustained full attention. The results also demonstrate that the two dimensions have nuanced relationships with other variables. Specifically, while the fluency dimension is related to antecedents of flow (familiarity, skill, progress), the absorption dimension is not. Conversely, the absorption dimension was found to be strongly related to consequences of flow (behavioral intentions, presence), while the fluency dimension was not. Furthermore, we demonstrate that fluency-related experiences can give rise to the absorption-related experiences, which advances our understanding of how flow emerges. Finally, we develop a refined measure of flow called the two-dimensional-flow scale, and demonstrate its enhanced ability to capture variance in flow and other related variables in leisure contexts.

Re-Imagining Sport Pedagogy through Youth Engagement: An Exploration of the Youth Engagement Continuum

Sport represents an important leisure context for promoting youth development. In particular, sport-based youth development (SBYD) initiatives have emerged to offer programming informed by theory rather than assumptions regarding the “power of sport”. While the importance of theory is well established in SBYD research, critical perspectives remain relatively underutilized. The purpose of this study was to analyze the sport pedagogy of six urban SBYD initiatives that work with youth from underserved communities in Belgium. Through a multiple case study approach, data were generated from focus groups, interviews, and observations. The Youth Engagement Continuum (YEC) framework was utilized to analyze data through a deductive thematic analysis. Findings indicate that the SBYD initiatives focused primarily on youth development categories of the YEC, with less engagement with more politicized and actionable elements of youth engagement. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed to inform SBYD initiatives.

The role of social context in the association between leisure activities and romantic relationship quality

Shared leisure activities with one’s romantic partner are beneficial for both partners and their romantic relationship, but may not exclusively occur with only the partners present. The current research examines the impact of leisure and other relationship behaviors in various social contexts on romantic relationship quality (satisfaction and commitment). Data were collected from a representative sample of couples over the course of 9 months ( N = 232 couples at Phase 1), including two 10-day daily diaries documenting engagement in 59 behaviors across various social contexts. Results demonstrated that leisure with one’s partner (without others) was positively associated with short-term relationship quality, whereas leisure with others (without one’s partner) was negatively associated with relationship quality; leisure with one’s partner and others and leisure alone were not associated with relationship quality. When considering engagement in other relationship behaviors with one’s partner, we found no unique effects of the rates of the behaviors, but significant effects for the proportion of physical affection relative to other behaviors. These findings suggest that the content and context of leisure have unique roles in romantic relationships.

Casual Leisure in Rich-Prospect

As digital cultural collections become increasingly sophisticated in their scope and functionality, there is a need to build an in-depth understanding concerning the information behaviors of users in this new domain. Research has demonstrated that many digital museum visitors are engaged in casual leisure during exploration of a collection, suggesting that they do not have an inherent information goal but rather seek new experiences or learning opportunities based on personal curiosity and moments of discovery. Consequently, understanding how to translate casual leisure contexts into meaningful interaction design may play a critical role in designing engaging digital collections. Our study reports on the user experience of a largely unexplored user interface design framework called rich-prospect , which was originally developed to enhance browsing and discovery for complex visual collections. We performed a mixed-method, within-subjects study (N=30) that simulated a casual leisure approach to information browsing and retrieval across three different rich-prospect interfaces for digital cultural heritage. Our results show that rich-prospect scores well in the hedonic facets of its user experience, whereas pragmatic aspects have room for improvement. Additionally, through our qualitative analysis of participant feedback, we derived salient themes relating to the exploratory browsing experience. We conclude with a series of design implications to better connect interactive elements with casual leisure contexts for digital cultural collections.

Social participation to support good mental health in neurodisability

Young people with neurodisability experience lower levels of mental wellbeing and are at increased risk of mental illness compared with their non-disabled peers. Social participation is recognized as a protective factor against mental illness and a potential pathway to support better mental wellbeing in neurodisability. This co-design study involved young people, parents and clinicians. First, possible interventions were identified through a rapid systematic evidence review. Any study designs were considered, which included people with a neurodisability aged 0-18 years, which evaluated a therapy intervention with social participation and mental health outcomes. Titles and abstracts were screened by two reviewers, from the included studies data were extracted and then presented using written summaries. Second, the summaries were discussed and prioritized in stakeholder groups with young people, parents and clinicians. Groups were audio recorded and framework analysis was used to identify and specify intervention elements and their delivery. The evidence review identified 13,870 records, from which 43 were included. These records were published 1994-2017 and reported studies with 4-249 participants aged 16 months-18 years with a range of neurodisabilities. Five intervention approaches (social skills training, arts, sports, technology and play) were identified from the review. Two themes emerged from the stakeholder groups: intervention in the real world, feeling judged and feeling safe. The groups prioritized an intervention in real-world social leisure contexts (i.e. existing clubs and groups) using nine key intervention elements (e.g. feedback and positive verbal reinforcement) delivered by club leaders trained by healthcare professionals using five intervention procedures (e.g. a manual and video training). This study has identified core elements of social participation interventions that may improve mental health outcomes in young people with neurodisability, which should now be tested.

Factors influencing touristic consumer behaviour

PurposeThis paper aims to present a content analysis of two major constructs among tourism settings, namely involvement and emotions, strictly related to tourist behaviour, due to the fact that there are still some critical gaps in the knowledge about tourists' emotions and involvement.Design/methodology/approachAn in-depth content analysis of involvement and emotions was adopted as the methodological approach. This methodology addressed an amalgam of different definitions, frameworks, mixed theoretical and practical applications and approaches, results, comparisons as well as a blend of a set of scales of involvement and emotions by confrontating of authors.FindingsThe major findings state that emotions and involvement demonstrate greater progress and scientific development to the level of tourism, marketing and consumer behaviour, representing an important issue for the integrated tourism experiences.Originality/valueThis study presents a critical reflection on the importance of emotions and involvement in specific contexts of leisure and tourism.

Personality, anxiety, and cognitive failures as predictors of flow proneness

The goal of this study was to examine how certain personality traits relate to trait flow, also known as flow proneness. We examined whether those relationships differ between work and leisure context. Using an online survey via snowball method, we obtained the self-reported results of 273 participants (Mage = 38.3 years). We performed two parallel hierarchical regression analyses, one for each context flow is experienced in, and used the same blocks of predictors in both: the first block included age and gender, the second FFM dimensions, and the third anxiety and cognitive failures. A total of 33% of flow proneness variance was explained in the work context, with statistically significant positive predictors being age, extraversion, and consciousness, while negative predictors were openness, and anxiety. We also explained 42% flow proneness variance in the leisure context, with age and consciousness as positive predictors, and neuroticism and anxiety as negative predictors.

ESPORTE, LAZER E BNCC

Esse estudo propõe a busca de aproximações do esporte dentro da Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC) em uma perspectiva do contexto do lazer. A BNCC foi construída com uma visão de formação dos sujeitos voltados para atender o mercado de trabalho que tenciona com visão de esporte na perspectiva de uma educação para o lazer. Como percurso metodológico, fizemos uma pesquisa eminentemente qualitativa. Compreendemos que seja relevante a educação para o lazer, como incentivo a ambientes de aprendizagem de valores que contrapõe o modelo predominante existente nas aulas. Diante disso, propomos os Jogos Desportivos Coletivos (JDC), ao privilegiar o jogo, como ferramenta de aprendizagem de modalidades esportivas, dando ênfase ao diálogo, a participação, a ações coletivas em uma interface com o esporte enquanto atividade do contexto do lazer dentro da BNCC.

Blended learning for an educational event in a leisure context: impact on the participants’ experience

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to the blended learning paradigm for educational events in a leisure context, where organisers and participants can no longer rely on a linear approach for knowledge transfer and learning (Robinson, 2011; Giacalone, 2001) in a non-linear world (Castells, 2000). With the design of meaningful experiences at the core of Leisure Studies and of Events as their sub-field (Richards, G., Marques, L. & Mein, K., 2016), it is appropriate to investigate experiential learning and the role of blended learning in the participants’ experience, in a leisure context. The qualitative methodology focuses on in-depth, semi-structured interviews held with students enrolled in leisure studies and tourism management programmes who took part in the World Leisure international field school, which takes place biennially as a satellite event to the World Leisure Congress. The findings indicate that constructing a tailored blended learning experience in an educational event within a leisure context has a positive impact on the participants’ learning experience and knowledge transfer, extending it in terms of time and spaces. This research has relevant implications for practitioners, academics and designers targeting blended learning environments in educational events in leisure-related contexts.

Building resilience through trail running: women’s perspectives

ABSTRACT Access to and benefits from leisure programmes are influenced by both personal and social factors. Within the context of leisure, understanding the gendered experience is important with regards to how adventure experiences are constructed, and how outcomes are measured and interpreted. The purpose of the current study was to determine if trail running develops and supports resilience in women, similar to other outdoor adventure programs. Participants indicated that they gained a sense of empowerment, bravery and tenacity through trail running, and reported a gain in transferable outcomes such as resilience, perspective and mental health supports that improved daily function. Resilience is an important factor for many client populations that seek leisure-based therapeutic interventions, such as within the field of therapeutic recreation. Insight into the nuances of how it is developed and supported in individuals is key when it comes to fostering resilience with clients.

Towards co-created food well-being: culinary consumption, braggart word-of-mouth and the role of participative co-design, service provider support and C2C interactions

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether the antecedents of co-creation influence braggart word-of-mouth (WoM) in a participative leisure context, theorising the concept of co-created food well-being and highlighting implications for interactive experience co-design.Design/methodology/approachA sequential mixed-method approach was used to test a theoretical model; 25 in-depth interviews with cooking class participants were conducted, followed by a post-experience survey (n = 575).FindingsQualitative results suggest braggart WoM is rooted in active consumer participation in co-designing leisure experiences. The structural model confirms that participation in value co-creating activities (i.e. co-design, customer-to-customer (C2C) interaction), alongside perceived support from service providers, increases consumer perceptions of co-creation and stimulates braggart WoM. Degree of co-creation and support from peers mediate some relationships.Research limitations/implicationsLimited by cross-sectional data from one experiential consumption format, the results nevertheless demonstrate the role of active participation in co-design and C2C interactions during value co-creation. This implies that co-created and co-designed leisure experiences can intensify post-consumption behaviours and potentially enhance food well-being.Practical implicationsThe results highlight that integrating customer participation into service design, while also developing opportunities for peer support on-site, can stimulate braggart WoM.Originality/valueExtends burgeoning literature on co-creation and co-design in leisure services. By encouraging active customer participation while providing support and facilitating C2C interactions, service providers can enhance value co-creation, influencing customer experiences and food well-being. Accordingly, the concept of co-created food well-being is introduced.

“More Helpful than Hurtful”? Information, Technology, and Uncertainty in Outdoor Recreation

As information and communication technologies approach ubiquity, the need to examine their role in leisure contexts increases. Using data generated with Appalachian Trail (AT) long-distance hikers through semi-structured interviews, this research explored outdoor recreationist views on technology and information use. Participants’ views on technology ranged from unquestioningly pro-technology to technology-resistant. Regarding information sources, hikers generally expressed satisfaction while some communicated instances of information overload. In some cases, participants evaluated uncertainty positively, indicating situations where it is “nice not to know” what lies ahead. These findings shed light on smartphones’ role in leisure and underscore the need to evaluate uncertainty as a component of outdoor recreation. Information availability and the value of uncertainty may become increasingly important topics as leisure continues into the digital age.

Towards a Greater Contextualization of Music and the Arts in Aging and Cognitive Disorders

There is an increasing prominence of arts and cultural interventions related to aging and cognitive disorders in the scholarly literature and at gerontological conferences. However, the mechanisms of the salience and relevance of aesthetics, culture and leisure in the lives of older people remains unclear. One aspect which has emerged is that of aesthetic deprivation and its consequences for well-being. This symposium aims to provide perspectives from a range of researchers involved in programs of research and implementation to try to contextualize and better understand the perspectives of older people, arts practitioners and therapists the place and context of arts, culture and leisure in optimal aging.