Fresh air, sunshine and happiness: Millennials building health (salutogenesis) in leisure and nature

ABSTRACT

This paper explores intersections between health creation, leisure and nature emerging from research with Millennial university students in Australia studying to become health(system) professionals. Most enter university believing that ‘health’ is a bio-medical (illness and disease focused) concept. This reflects the dominant discourse of ‘health’. The term ‘salutogenesis’ (meaning health as a resource) is used to disrupt this discourse. In 2015 and 2016 students completed an online survey in which they subjectively identified three things that build their health and how these work for them. Many identified factors that fit within a broad definition of ‘leisure’. About one quarter refer to nature. What emerges are insights into the manner in which leisure, nature and wellbeing intersect for these Millennials and suggests that their subjective understandings of health creation, including for some a leisure: nature intersection can assist future health professionals to understand ‘health’ as not only bio-medical.

KEYWORDS:

• Leisure
• salutogenesis
• Millennials
• nature
• health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Janette Young lectures in health promotion at the University of South Australia. She has a background as a social worker and her current research focus is on the intersection of pets, health and older people.

Richard McGrath is a lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia, focusing on the sociological aspects of health and wellbeing. His current research involves exploration of the impact of creative arts on the health and wellbeing of youth.

Caroline Adams is currently a lecturer in Health Science at the University of South Australia. Her research interests include the use of the arts and cultural spaces to enhance health and wellbeing, the history of health and salutogenesis especially in relation to first year university students as they transition into university life, and pets and people.

ORCID

Richard McGrath http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3488-0945

Notes

1. We acknowledge that freedom to choose within Western neo-liberal societies can be highly constrained by social obligations and the provision of services for specific groups.