Parks and Recreation: Promoting Health and Wellness

1. chapter15 Health, Fitness, Wellness, and Livability Kathy Spangler and Ellen O’Sullivan

2. Introduction • In 1996, the U.S. Surgeon General’s report focused on a new health threat: lack of leisure-time physical activity. • Recognition was the beginning of renewed emphasis on the relationship between leisure time and health. • Parks and recreation are now central players in 21st century health and well-being in Canada and the United States.

3. Three Ways Recreation Supports Health and Well-Being • Wellness. Desirable outcomes associated with health and well-being that are natural effects of participation. • Leisure facilitation. Providing information, developing skills, and supporting opportunities to pursue health and well-being resulting in a healthier lifestyle. • Livability. Environmental and economic factors that support community access and opportunities to pursue a healthy lifestyle.

4. Shift From Treatment to Prevention Three approaches to health care: • Medical (focuses on treatment). Its main focus is on treating illness, disease, or some form of disability or discomfort. Focuses on diagnosis of diseases and illnesses and ways to alleviate those ailments. • Environmental (focuses on outside forces). Addresses the risks caused by natural forces, clean air and water, and societal forces such as socioeconomic status. (continued)

5. Shift From Treatment to Prevention (continued) • Prevention (holistic focus on wellness): • Considers interrelationships among various aspects of a person’s life and attempts to change lifestyle behavior across the multiple dimensions of human existence. • Monitors the leading causes of death and actual contributors to those deaths.

6. Expanded Industry of Health and Role of Parks and Recreation Parks and recreation professionals are forming partnerships with the following: • Physicians and hospitals providing recreation activities with wellness outcomes • Health departments to improve environmental and social access and to supplement with leisure-related aspects of health promotion • Physical education professionals to augment opportunities for skill development and other physical activity during nonschool hours

7. Parks and Recreation Across the Wellness Dimensions • Physical wellness. Functional operation of body enabling people to reach and maintain optimal physical condition and nutritional health. • Intellectual wellness. Development and maintenance of an active mind to support decision making and an enriched life. • Emotional wellness. Positive emotional and mental state enabling one to enjoy life and cope with life’s challenges. (continued)

8. Parks and Recreation Across the Wellness Dimensions (continued) • Social wellness. Ability to interact with others comfortably in group settings as a way to secure intimacy and sense of belonging. Caring connections = optimal well-being. • Spiritual wellness. Discovery of one’s core element of existence that provides meaning, purpose, and value in life. • Environmental wellness. Respect for and support of one’s personal, societal, and natural environments.

9. Interconnectedness of the Wellness Dimensions • The 6 dimensions of wellness are linked and interact continually. • Needs cannot always be segmented into one specific area and, in a similar manner, neither can wellness activities. • It is rare for a particular wellness activity to incorporate just one dimension of wellness.

10. Play: An Essential Wellness Component • Play is a form of human or animal behavior that is self-motivated and carried on for intrinsic purposes. • It is generally pleasurable and is often marked by elements of competition, exploration, problem solving, mimicry, or role taking. • May appear both in leisure and in work, and may be marked either by freedom and lack of structure, or by a set of rules and prescribed actions. (Kraus, 1990b)

11. Leisure Facilitation Defined • Leisure facilitation includes intentional efforts by leisure providers toward “facilitating” positive growth, development, and optimal well-being. • Consists of information, assistance, and support provided at different times and at various levels. • Levels of leisure facilitation include awareness, education, coaching, and counseling.

12. Levels of Leisure Facilitation • Leisure awareness. Raises people’s awareness of the many positive attributes and effects resulting from leisure-time activity. • Leisure education. Reflects the learning aspects within leisure facilitation and can include skill development as well as exposure to a variety of leisure-time experiences. (continued)

13. Levels of Leisure Facilitation (continued) • Leisure coaching. A structured self-help technique that draws on the person’s own resources and potential (Leoni & Berbling, 1980). • Leisure counseling. A more organized and structured approach than leisure coaching that focuses on changing attitudes and breaking down barriers to participation.

14. Recreation’s Role in Livability • A livable community is one where people can live safely, secure employment, acquire essential services, and gain access to a variety of leisure experiences. • Roles for the park and recreation industry include: community mobilization, land-use planning, park accessibility, and public policy.

15. Community Mobilization Model Hearts N’ Parks • People. Thoseinside and outside the organization that advance health promotion. • Programs and practices. Strategies that improve the intention for health outcomes within current program offerings. • Public visibility. Gaining public attention for the health-related benefits of parks and recreation resources. • Partnering. Catalyst for attracting unique nontraditional partners to support improved health outcomes. • Performance indicators. Measurements to demonstrate impact of parks and recreation services. • Policy interventions. Environmental indicators and policies that promote healthy lifestyles and livable communities.

16. Land-Use Planning • Smart growth movement; sprawl index • Neighborhoods designed to be self-policing • Common space in developments: pocket parks, community gardens, community centers, and neighborhood schools • Retrofitting existing neighborhoods • Sharing facilities with neighborhood schools • Providing semiprivate courtyards shared by no more than 30 people in dense, multifamily housing areas

17. Park AccessibilityResearch Findings • People with access to sidewalks are 28% more likely to be physically active. • People with access to walking/jogging trails are 55% more likely to be physically active. • 55.2% of respondents report an increase in walking since they began using the trails. • People with access to recreational facilities were twice as likely to get recommended levels of physical activity. • People with the best access to a variety of built and natural facilities were 43% more likely to exercise 30 minutes most days than those with poor access. • People living in areas with few public outdoor recreation facilities were more likely to be overweight.

18. Public Policy • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Active Living Environments Initiative (ACES) promotes walking and bicycling and the development of accessible recreation facilities. • ACES encourages environmental and policy interventions to affect increased levels of physical activity and improved public health. • Goals of an activity-friendly environment are to make it easy to choose physical activity options for daily living.

19. Career Opportunities in Health, Fitness, and Wellness • Public health: American Public Health Association, www.apha.org • Fitness and physical education: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, www.aahperd.org • Community planning and design: American Planning Association, www.planning.org • Parks and recreation: National Recreation and Park Association, www.nrpa.org (continued)

20. Career Opportunities in Health, Fitness, and Wellness (continued) • Health promotion and disease prevention: Coalition for Active Living,www.activeliving.ca • Wellness in the school, community, or corporate sector: National Wellness Institute, www.nationalwellness.org. • Military wellness and fitness: Executive Business Media, www.ebmpubs.com, or contact individual military service unit Web sites • Incorporate play into wellness and recreation: The American Association for the Child’s Right to Play, www.ipausa.org; Association for Play Therapy, www.a4pt.org; Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy,www.cacpt.com

21. Summary: Two Divergent Roles • One role is directed toward individuals or small groups attaining wellness through recreation activities or aspects of leisure facilitation by building awareness, providing education, coaching, or counseling. Focus is on people and their behaviors. • The other is a community, or societal, role. Parks and recreation is a vital and visible part of land use, community mobilization, and access to parks and recreation as an essential framework for community livability.