Need For Recreation Research Articles

Personal characteristics and experiences of long-term allied health professionals in rural and northern British Columbia

Health sciences programs are being designed to attract students who are likely to stay and practice in rural and northern Canada. Consequently, student recruitment and screening are increasingly including assessment of suitability for rural practice. Although retention factors among rural physicians and nurses have been investigated, little is known about factors that contribute to the retention of other healthcare professionals who work in rural areas. The primary objective of this project was to identify the personal characteristics and experiences of allied health professionals who have worked long term in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada. The study used a qualitative descriptive approach. Six speech language pathologists, four psychologists, four occupational therapists, eight social workers, and four physiotherapists practicing long term in northern BC were recruited, using a convenience sample and the snowball technique, to participate in semi-structured telephone interviews. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. A thematic content analysis identified the motivations for their decision to begin or stay working in northern communities, the reasons for choosing rural or northern education and key themes concerning personal characteristics and experiences. A process of member checking and an external audit validated the analysis and findings. There were two major themes for choosing rural and northern education. For some, selection of rural or northern training was based on accessibility to health education programs; all participants who chose rural and northern education had already decided that they were going to practice rurally. Generally, participants identified past positive experiences and rural background as influencing their practice location decision. Participants named the community's need for healthcare professionals, career advancement opportunities, welcoming employers, peer support, as well as promises of continuing education and interprofessional teamwork as key to their decision. Professional preferences for variety, challenges, and trying new aspects of the job such as teaching also impacted their decision. Also identified were individual factors and personal preferences such as the need for adventure, wilderness, and outdoor recreation, and community factors (eg people's friendliness and the slow pace). Such factors also influenced retention; however, retention was also affected by factors such as job satisfaction, and some community factors were only associated with retention. The analysis revealed a number of personal characteristics and experiences shared by long-term healthcare professionals, and that there is not one particular factor that determines duration of practice in rural and northern communities. The findings imply a combination of varying personal values impact the decision to come or stay in rural and northern communities. Personal characteristics and experiences help to shape these personal values. Over time and depending on stage of life, personal values change. Age and stage of life, rural background, and location of family members also have bearing on personal values, which in turn impact recruitment and retention. An explicit identification of values that have emerged out of personal characteristics and experiences may be useful in the selection of students for rural health education programs, as well as the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals in rural and northern areas.

Wohlstandszunahme als Konstante des Wandels (Essay) | Increase of prosperity as a constant of changes (essay)

The Swiss per-capita income may further increase up to the year 2050. In addition to this materialistic prosperity, further indicators for prosperity are expected to improve significantly, such as life expectancy and a decreasing rate of infant mortality. New products and services will come on the market at reasonable prices. Overall, there are few reasons to assume that the current trend of recorded increase in prosperity will suddenly stop; however, there will be changes in the sectoral composition of employment and value creation. The forest services will remain a niche business. The importance of the forest, however, will increase – not due to timber production but due to the increasing need for recreation.

Contested construction of nature for city fringe outdoor recreation in southern Sweden: The Arrie case

This article deals with the process of change from industrial land to recreational area on a 60 ha piece of land 12 km southeast of Malmö, southern Sweden, called Lake Arrie. The area is an abandoned gravel quarry in the midst of an agricultural landscape. We present a short background and the current situation in Arrie, setting out to capture the tendencies of the contemporary construction of nature for outdoor recreation. We then move on to discuss the salutogenic aspects of outdoor recreation, and how these can be traced in the actual landscape at Arrie. Furthermore, we open the discussion on diversity as a cherished post-modern ideal both in nature and culture. Different interests and ideologies may cause conflicts in the planning process. To capture the multitude of voices emanating among stakeholders, the process to extract local opinions through participatory processes is presented. The social and political categorisation of an area reflects the needs of a changing society. In the early industrial era, the area was an enclave of industrial ground in a completely rural setting. In the post-industrial era, it turned into a ‘wasteland’, open for nature to recolonise. This type of landscape is difficult to categorise, being an ‘inbetween-land’, neither nature nor culture, perceived as ephemeral and inferior. At the same time, the city sprawled closer, with the semi-urban populations’ need for outdoor recreation. In future, the former industrial ground will be perceived as an enclave of nature in an urban setting. When the former products of the area responded to the industrial need for gravel and limestone, the contemporary ‘products’ respond to emotional needs.

Factors Associated With Participation of Children With Mental Health Problems in Structured Youth Development Programs

Comprehensive community care principles emphasize the importance of positive community-based activities for children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), and caregivers frequently indicate the need for recreation and after-school programs.This study examined the involvement of children with EBD in positive youth development programs and investigated factors associated with their participation. From a sample of children in an urban public mental health system, interviews with the child and primary caregiver assessed child behavior and mental health, family functioning, and social demographic status. At 6 month follow-up, caregivers reported child participation in structured recreational/educational activities. Participation was positively associated with parents' level of education and negatively associated with child problem behaviors. An interaction effect involving parent education and child externalizing behaviors was identified. Also, controlling for child behavior, activity participation was associated with the impact of the child's mental health condition on the family. Considerations for assessing and overcoming barriers to participation are discussed.

Using familiar technologies in unfamiliar ways and learning from the old about the new

Findings are reported from a study of the befriending scheme for older people that includes a bi-weekly recreational telephone conference. Participants were visited in their homes soon after one of these “link-ups”. What emerges is a picture of the telephone as a mundane technology. The telephone receiver, the telephone conference, and even the content of the talk are not foregrounded in the accounts of the participants. Instead, they provided a rich account of their daily experiences that happen to include the technology. Amongst these experiences, the befriending scheme in general, and the feeling of contact provided by the link-ups in particular, are seen as the most important experiences. It is concluded that the designers of domestic technologies for recreation need to focus on experience rather than tasks when formulating design requirements. The uses and gratification model developed for describing mass media usage is suggested as one way of conceptualising these requirements. Finally, an experience-artefact cycle is outlined, that parallels Carroll’s task-artefact cycle, to describe the evolution of technology in this area.

Recreation in the Renaissance. Attitudes towards Leisure and Pastimes in European Culture, c.1425-1675

List of Figures Preface PART 1: INTRODUCTION Games and Leisure between history and social theory PART 2: THE NEED FOR RECREATION Paradise Lost A saint, an archer and his bow (story of an exemplum) A right to be idle? PART 3: THE MEDICAL DISCOURSE Motion and rest Ancient and modern forms of exercise 'The manner of governing health' Amor et alea PART 4: THE MORAL DISCOURSE Reason versus Joy A virtue to remember A view from Paris Games without a chance Juego(s) A time for play? PART 5: GAMES AND LAW Ius commune De ludo Panem et circenses The regulation of extravagance PART 6: VARIETIES OF PASTIMES Leisure and social hierarchy Plaisirs des dames Children's games Medieval and Renaissance taxonomies PART 7: CONCLUSION Appendix: the European Vocabulary of Recreation Notes Bibliography Index

Rehabilitation needs of an inpatient medical oncology unit

Movsas SB, Chang VT, Tunkel RS, Shah VV, Ryan LS, Millis SR. Rehabilitation needs of an inpatient medical oncology unit. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2003;84:1642-6. Objective To identify prospectively functional impairments and rehabilitation needs in an acute care medical oncology unit. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Inpatient medical oncology unit at a Veterans Affairs hospital. Participants Fifty-five patients admitted over a 6-month period. Interventions Not applicable. Main outcome measures FIM™ instrument, functionally based physical examination, Rehabilitation Needs Assessment, and Recreational Needs Assessment. Results On admission, the mean FIM total score was 105 out of 126, the FIM motor score was 72 out of 91, and the FIM cognitive score was 34 out of 35. The functionally based physical examination did not generally correlate with scores obtained on the FIM. Forty-eight (87%) patients had rehabilitation needs on admission. Forty-six (84%) patients had rehabilitation needs on discharge. Rehabilitation Needs Assessment on admission showed deconditioning in 42 (76%) patients; mobility impairment in 32 (58%) patients; a significant decrease in range of motion in 23 (42%) patients; deficits in activities of daily living in 12 (22%) patients; a need for recreational therapy in 7 (13%) patients; potential for benefit from patient education in 30 (55%) patients; and a need for modalities, edema control, or wound care in fever than 5% of patients. The most commonly requested recreational activity was reading. Conclusions Patients admitted to inpatient medical oncology units have many unmet, remediable rehabilitation needs that may not be recognized by nonrehabilitation physicians and other clinical staff. These findings suggest that assessment of medical oncology patients may be enhanced by consultation with rehabilitation medicine specialists.

Recreation in stroke rehabilitation part two: exploring patients' views

Part one of this article highlighted a lack of research that investigated patients' perceptions of the need for recreational activity while undergoing rehabilitation following stroke. This article investigates whether patients perceive a need for recreation while undergoing stroke rehabilitation in an acute hospital setting. Data were collected using individual interviews and analysed using constant comparison. Participants explained how they had come to be in their current condition and described the ‘purgatory’ of having a stroke. They talked about the ‘lifelines’ that may help them recover sufficiently, one of which was recreation. Many of the findings from this study were congruent with those from other studies. However, this article highlighted a desperation that participants felt to undertake more activity and a desire to incorporate recreation into the rehabilitative milieu.

Considering people, adding value, maintaining relevance: Strategies and tactics to increase the usage of public parks

In 2000 an assessment was made of three asset management plans (Manawatu District Council, New Plymouth District Council and Wanganui District Council) to ascertain how these three nominated local authorities supported their community's need for recreation in a public park environment. As a focus of the study, and based upon the lack of leisure focus and programme development, Pukekura Park, New Plymouth was selected for analysis using SWOT and nonuse matrix analysis techniques. Spatial redesign, development of partnerships, redesign of parks information systems through integration with the school curriculum and methods of catering for the aged and physically impaired were put forward as a means of increasing user participation. All redevelopments were to be capable of implementation at acceptable cost and with minimum disruption to normal functioning of the park.

Cofactors for HIV disease progression in a cohort of homosexual and bisexual men.

To evaluate cofactors for progression of HIV infection, the authors identified 370 men with well-defined seroconversion dates and cofactor data among participants in the San Francisco City Clinic Cohort (SFCCC). Postseroconversion substance use, sexual behavior, and sexually transmitted diseases were assessed using multivariate proportional hazards models. Weekly use of hallucinogens strongly and independently predicted death (relative hazard [RH], 2.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.56-4.28), as well as diagnosis of AIDS; weekly cocaine use also predicted mortality. Receptive anal intercourse with ejaculation was independently associated with mortality risk (RH, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.02-2.04) and AIDS. The associations of accelerated progression with weekly use of recreational drugs and unprotected receptive anal intercourse need to be confirmed in other prospective cohorts.

Urban Development Revisited: The Role of Neighborhood Needs and Local Participation in Urban Revitalization

Traditional models of economic development such as economic base and urban revitalization models have been found wanting. Both models rely on expert-based assessments of local development needs. More recent approaches call for a stronger focus on local development needs and resident skills as the basis for designing development strategies. One such neighborhood-based approach to development is presented in this paper. Its initial step was a survey of 444 households representing 1398 residents conducted in the Hamilton Hill and Vale neighborhoods of Schenectady, New York a 'downsized' community of about 65,000 residents in the Capital District of New York State. Survey results show a strong need for recreation, childcare, a grocery store, care for the elderly and home repairs. Residents' self-assessed job skills and interests appear to be well suited to meet these needs. Yet despite these promising results, barriers to neighborhood-based development persist. These barriers reiterate the long history of isolation prevalent in US inner city neighborhoods. Two issues are particularly characteristic of the barriers that continue to keep urban neighborhoods isolated from their larger context. They are: (1) a lack of effective communication between local residents and decision makers; and (2) a lack of valuation systems that properly assess the value of social and environmental context and their contributions to local development.

Behind the Veil: Exploring the Recreation Needs of Muslim Women

The recreation needs of minority groups are often subjugated or marginalized when facilities and/or programs are designed to cater for exigencies of the general population. This situation is further exacerbated when these recreation services, by the nature of their provision, informally exclude the participation of certain groups of people. This paper details a research project exploring the recreation needs of one such minority group, Muslim women living in Australia, a predominantly Christian country. The study reported in this paper utilized in-depth interviews with Muslim women, representatives of Muslim womens' groups and recreation service providers, in the collection of primary data on recreation needs and provision. The narratives, which emerged from these interviews, suggest that many Muslim women experience considerable difficulties accessing programs and services that meet their religious requirements, and consequently feel systemically constrained in their recreation participation.

Prisoners' rights to recreation: Quantity, quality, and other aspects

Courts in the United States have come to recognize the need for recreation and, as a result, have made numerous rulings that guarantee prisoners are afforded some minimal amount of time in recreational activities. Court decisions also have dealt with the quality of recreation and the extent to which prison officials may restrict what activities are conducted. Outdoor recreation, the social aspects of recreation, and the health status of prisoners as it relates to recreation are important matters on which courts have ruled. Prison officials often are constrained by limited resources in providing the facilities and staff necessary for recreational programs. Although courts have ruled in numerous instances on the rights of prisoners to have access to recreation, a coherent and comprehensive policy in this area has yet to emerge.

ABC of sports medicine. Assessment of physical performance.

Physical performance is mainly a function of an individuals's size, shape, sex, and age, but not entirely so. Success in sport at whatever level also depends on fitness. It is assumed, of course, that implicit in any definition of fitness is the absence of acute or chronic illness. Fitness is sport specific and in many sports it is also position specific. This “fitness for purpose” is a well accepted concept in sport, as reflected by the use of the word “fit” to describe, for example, successful runners, swimmers, gymnasts, and paraplegic athletes. Nevertheless, fitness for any sport has five common elements - strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, and skill. The relative contributions of each of these to the specific fitness demands of different sports are, of course, not equal. Training time devoted to each of these elements is therefore different between sports and depends on the level of participation. To a certain extent skill can compensate for poor fitness, but improved fitness allows skilful athletes to extend their performance by delaying the onset of fatigue. View this table: Measurable elements of fitness Elite athletes develop fully each of the components of fitness as part of their preparation for competition at the highest levels. But even people participating in sport for recreation need to develop their fitness to enjoy their activities and to recoup the health benefits of exercise. All five elements contributing to fitness for sport also contribute to fitness for health. The one that must not be neglected is endurance. Rather than gold medals, the goal of most people taking exercise for health is the capacity to complete their daily round of activities with enough energy left over for recreation and relaxation. They are mainly interested in developing and maintaining good functional fitness; even so, their fitness can be assessed by the same …

Assessment of Therapeutical Values of Natural Environment for Recreational Needs. A Case Study of Warsaw Environs

Assessment of Therapeutical Values of Natural Environment for Recreational Needs. A Case Study of Warsaw Environs

Change in a petrified forest and implications towards management

The Gallatin Petrified Forest of Montana, USA, is a unique resource. The extensive area of the fossil forests, the numerous petrified trees in upright positions, and the large number of vertical layers of “successive” forests are unparalleled in the world. Collection by permit is permitted, but damage to the petrified forest by indiscriminate collection occurs. To assess the impact, a comparative examination of replicate (over 13 yr) photography of selected specimens was undertaken. The amount of change over time, the possible cause of change, and the relationship of the location of the specimen to that amount of change were determined. It was found that although considerable loss continues, impacts prior to a 1973 collection policy were most severe. There was more loss by natural erosion than by collection, but the collections are additive to the natural changes. Size of petrified outcrops and the steepness of the slope on which they were found did correlate with the amount of natural change occurring over time. Human-induced change was associated with the distance of the outcrops from the main trailheads and the specimen size. This method provides a tool with which to monitor impacts and develop a future policy aimed towards conservation of a unique resource in light of the need for appreciative recreation and some specimen collection. Recommended changes in present management policy are provided.

Outdoor Recreational Needs Assessments: The Importance of Drawing Two Samples from the Community

This research examines two questions. First, do the responses given by adults to a household survey reflect the responses given by teens to a teen survey? Second, if the two groups respond differen...

An environmental ethic for outdoor education: dilemma and resolution

AbstractPrograms designed to promote the use of natural environments for leisure purposes need to be based on a sound and justifiable environmental ethic. This paper attempts to develop such an ethic. The general and basic ecological attitude, arguments relating to the need for human survival, other arguments which relate to human interests such as the need for beauty, recreation and scientific endeavours and utilitarian arguments relating to the needs of future generations are examined and are seen as being morally and practically inadequate.The only justifiable environmental ethic is seen as one which has. as its central concept, the interdependent natural community in which the interests of all individual members of the community (including the interests of human beings) are regarded as secondary to the good of the total community. In the ethic, humans protect the natural environment because the entities of nature are “fellow-travellers”, members of the same moral community.

The Comparability Of Onsite and Offsite Measures of Recreation Needs

This study examines whether or not onsite measurement of “escape physical stress” needs differs from later offsite measures for a population of steelhead anglers. Measures were taken onsite and 4 months later in a mail survey. Results showed a negligible effect due to time of administration but a sizable effect due to a subject by time interaction implying low comparability between onsite and offsite measures. Methodological and conceptual explanations are offered.

Recreation Needs in California: Report to the Legislature on the Statewide Recreation Needs Analysis. State of California—The Resources Agency. Department of Parks and Recreation, P.O. Box 2390, Sacramento, California 95811. February 1982. 39p. $2.50

Recreation Needs in California: Report to the Legislature on the Statewide Recreation Needs Analysis. State of California—The Resources Agency. Department of Parks and Recreation, P.O. Box 2390, Sacramento, California 95811. February 1982. 39p. $2.50