Leisure meets health: important intersections and alternative discourses

ABSTRACT

While it is generally accepted in the leisure field that leisure has a role, and arguably a key one in wellness and wellbeing, this is largely at odds with the operations and funding frameworks of contemporary healthcare systems. Governments spend much less on leisure which involves social aspects of health than they do on healthcare systems which are focussed on biomedical interventions. Yet, many leisure and healthcare practitioners and academics are aware of the intersections between leisure, health and wellbeing and the aim of this edition was to offer a forum for overtly presenting these intersections. Here we set the scene for the papers in this special edition, summarizing the contribution of each paper to progressing discussions regarding the intersections of leisure and health and suggesting future directions for exploration.

KEYWORDS:

• Health
• intersections
• covid-19
• wellbeing
• health promotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janette Young

Dr Janette Young is a lecturer in Health Promotion at the University of South Australia. She is interested in salutogenesis, or what creates and builds health. Her specialist field is in human-animal relationships and the impacts of these on human wellbeing. In particular her research has focussed on older lives, community engagement and mental health.

Hazel Maxwell

Dr Hazel Maxwell is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania in Australia. Her research and teaching focuses on sports and physical activity, social inclusion and diversity management. In particular Hazel is interested in issues concerning women and girls in sport such as gender and media representation. She also has management and governance experience in a variety of sport, community development, health promotion and education settings in Australia and the UK.

Nicole Peel

Dr Nicole Peel is a Lecturer at Western Sydney University. Her research and teaching focuses on leisure and health, recreation therapy, creative approaches and innovative solutions. Nicole is interested in how systems operate, and where the areas for change exist to optimise opportunities for healthy outcomes using leisure for marginalised individuals. Nicole has over 25 years of experience as a leisure practitioner and manager in varied governance roles across community and government settings.