“Racing Made Me Feel Strong and More Positive”: Experiencing Personal Meaning in Life through Leisure following Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore how leisure engagement contributes to experiencing a sense of personal meaning in life following a spinal cord injury. Ten former and current participants of an adaptive sports organization in Central Canada took part in the study. Personal descriptive interviews revealed that the participants of this study attempted to explore alternative ways to continue their life story and experience a new chapter of a personally meaningful life. Regardless of the types of leisure activities, leisure involvement played a vital role in experiencing a sense of personal meaning in life in the following four ways; (a) experiencing a sense of continuity of leisure activities, (b) renewing personal identity, (c) developing meaningful relationships, and (d) finding leisure-generated hope. Implications for further research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Leisure
• personal meaning in life
• spinal cord injury

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.