scholarly journals Pandemic fitness assemblages: The sociomaterialities and affective dimensions of exercising at home during the COVID-19 crisis

Author(s):  
Marianne Clark ◽  
Deborah Lupton

The implementation of physical distancing measures and lockdowns across the globe to control the spread of COVID-19 has led to the home becoming a focal point of exercise and fitness activities for many people. A plethora of digital tools were hastily assembled to help people workout at home or in spaces close to home: including apps with workout suggestions, online videos and livestreamed fitness classes. In this article, we draw on our empirical material collected through semi-structured interviews and virtual ethnographic home tours with Australian adults to explore the ‘pandemic fitness assemblages’ generated with and through their improvised pandemic fitness practices inside and outside their homes. These materials illustrate how bodies, digital and non-digital technologies, and place and space came together and help to surface the affects, sensations and embodiments that emerged. We describe how people’s re-imagined fitness practices contributed to daily routines, transformed the atmospheres of the home and yielded affective experiences of escape. To do so, we think with sociospatial and feminist materialism theoretical frameworks that emphasise the generative relationships emerging between human and more-than-human forces and entities. Our analysis further illuminates the situatedness and relationality of these heterogeneous forces and considers how they come to matter within the broader sociomaterial context of COVID-19.

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Zingmark ◽  
Rosemarie Ankre ◽  
Sandra Wall-Reinius

Abstract Background Disengagement from outdoor recreation may diminish the positive benefits on health and well-being in old age. The purpose of this study is to present a contextual, theoretical, and empirical rationale for an intervention, aiming to promote continued engagement in outdoor recreation for older adults in a Swedish context. Methods The paper includes a contextualization of outdoor recreation in Sweden, a presentation of evidence on health benefits related to engagement in outdoor recreation, together with theoretical frameworks that may guide future intervention designs. To add empirical knowledge, a mixed methods approach was applied, including an empirical data collection based on a quantitative survey (n = 266) and individual semi-structured interviews with older adults (n = 12). Survey data were presented with descriptive statistics. Associations between disengagement from previously performed activities and age and gender was analyzed with Chi2 tests. Transcripts and handwritten notes from the interviews were analyzed qualitatively to identify key themes, as well as patterns and disparities among respondents. Results Outdoor recreation was rated as important/very important by 90% of respondents of the survey. The interviews highlighted that engagement in outdoor recreation aided respondents to keep fit but had also relevance in terms of identity, experiences, and daily routines. Outdoor recreation close to the place of residence was most common and walking was the most frequently reported activity. While 80% considered their health to be good/very good, disability and long-term diseases were common and during the previous year, more than half of all respondents had disengaged from activities previously performed. Reasons for disengagement were mainly related to health decline or that activities were too demanding but also due to social loss. The interviews indicated that continued engagement was important but challenging, and that disengagement could be considered as a loss or accepted due to changing circumstances. Conclusions In the design of an intervention aiming to promote engagement in outdoor recreation for older adults, the following features are proposed to be considered: person-centeredness, promoting functioning, addressing self-ageism, providing environmental support, promoting subjective mobility needs and adaptation to find new ways to engage in outdoor recreation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Kentlyn

This article reports an exploratory study that investigated domestic labour in same-sex households, to the best of my knowledge the first in Australia to do so. In-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 couples in Southeast Queensland reveal that these lesbians and gay men do not take on heteronormative gender roles when doing domestic labour, and that their practices reflect a variety of styles of sharing, with no pattern emerging as clearly dominant. Theoretical frameworks conceptualising gender as performative, and queer theory's figuring of identity as a constellation of multiple and unstable positions, suggest how the performance of gender may vary in different domains of social and cultural space, and in relation to other actors in those spaces. I have conceptualised this process by means of an analogy with the modulation of sound such that each person adjusts the balance between treble (conventionally feminine behaviours, attitudes and attributes) and bass (conventionally masculine behaviours and attributes). Rather than being ‘the man’ or ‘the woman’, or even displaying a single form of gay masculinity or lesbian femininity, lesbians and gay men can be seen to perform varying degrees of masculinity and femininity in the private space of the home, and in relation to their intimate partners, by the way they engage with domestic labour. Finally, I reflect on how the socio-geographical specificities of being situated in Southeast Queensland may have impacted on this research.


Poligrafi ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 177-200
Author(s):  
Ozge Onay

This paper critically examines the diminishing agency of the first-urbanised Alevi generation vis- à-vis the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and their sectarian agenda mediated by political Islam. The conceptual position is underpinned by Foucault’s concept of governmentality and theory of agency in broader cultural terms. These theoretical frameworks interweave to present a rich and complex set of snapshots that document the first-urbanised Alevi generation’s decreasing possibilities of action in the urban context. Accordingly, the empirical data that informs this piece has been collected by a series of qualitative and semi-structured interviews with the first-urbanised Alevi generation, children of those who migrated to urban areas in the 1960s and wittingly or unwittingly kept their identities undisclosed to varying degrees. Those interviewed come from a range of different professional backgrounds, with the only common point being that they have spent their childhoods and adult years in Istanbul, Turkey. Through a close engagement with the empirical material, this paper addresses the effects of the AKP’s Sunnification process centring around political Islam on the first generation urbanised Alevis and to what extent the systemic nature of this process attenuates or takes away their agency in the urban context. The account is focused around three key themes including daily life, institutional forms of discrimination and the workplace.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-258
Author(s):  
Christian Benedict ◽  
Luiz Eduardo Mateus Brandão ◽  
Ilona Merikanto ◽  
Markku Partinen ◽  
Bjørn Bjorvatn ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions, such as stay-at-home-orders, have significantly altered daily routines and lifestyles. Given their importance for metabolic health, we herein compared sleep and meal timing parameters during vs. before the COVID-19 pandemic based on subjective recall, in an anonymous Swedish survey. Among 191 adults (mean age: 47 years; 77.5% females), we show that social jetlag, i.e., the mismatch in sleep midpoint between work and free days, was reduced by about 17 min during the pandemic compared with the pre-pandemic state (p < 0.001). Concomitantly, respondents’ sleep midpoint was shifted toward morning hours during workdays (p < 0.001). A later daily eating midpoint accompanied the shift in sleep timing (p = 0.001). This effect was mainly driven by a later scheduled first meal (p < 0.001). No difference in the timing of the day’s last meal was found (p = 0.814). Although our survey was limited in terms of sample size and by being cross-sectional, our results suggest that the delay in sleep timing due to the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by a corresponding shift in the timing of early but not late meals.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Michel Beaudoin ◽  
Marie-Eve Dufour ◽  
Eve Desroches-Maheux ◽  
Luc Lebel

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to better understand the factors influencing the attraction of Indigenous workers to the Quebec forestry sector.Design/methodology/approachUsing a collaborative approach, 64 semi-structured interviews were conducted between 2016 and 2018 with workers and stakeholders from three Indigenous communities in Quebec, Canada.FindingsThe results highlight the motivations for choosing a job in the forestry sector, including family and friends, attachment to the territory, financial necessity, the search for a challenge and a sense of pride. They also show some of the obstacles to holding a job in forestry, namely work–life conflict, transportation, job insecurity, education and personal problems.Social implicationsIndigenous people have a lower employment rate than non-Indigenous people, which can be explained by a number of factors that hinder their integration into the labour market. They nevertheless represent an interesting labour pool for companies working in the natural resources sector. This study sheds light on the opportunities and barriers to attract this workforce.Originality/valueThe study is one of the few to use theoretical frameworks focused on motivation and a qualitative approach to data collection in order to examine to examine the attraction of Indigenous workers to the forestry sector in Quebec (Canada) from a worker's perspective.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas K.F. Chiu ◽  
Ching-sing Chai

The teaching of artificial intelligence (AI) topics in school curricula is an important global strategic initiative in educating the next generation. As AI technologies are new to K-12 schools, there is a lack of studies that inform schools’ teachers about AI curriculum design. How to prepare and engage teachers, and which approaches are suitable for planning the curriculum for sustainable development, are unclear. Therefore, this case study aimed to explore the views of teachers with and without AI teaching experience on key considerations for the preparation, implementation and continuous refinement of a formal AI curriculum for K-12 schools. It drew on the self-determination theory (SDT) and four basic curriculum planning approaches—content, product, process and praxis—as theoretical frameworks to explain the research problems and findings. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 teachers—twelve with and twelve without experience in teaching AI—and used thematic analysis to analyze the interview data. Our findings revealed that genuine curriculum creation should encompass all four forms of curriculum design approach that are coordinated by teachers’ self-determination to be orchestrators of student learning experiences. This study also proposed a curriculum development cycle for teachers and curriculum officers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliraza Javaid

This paper is concerned with the social and cultural constructions of male rape in voluntary agencies, England. Using sociological, cultural, and post-structural theoretical frameworks, mainly the works of Foucault, I demonstrate the ways in which male rape is constructed and reconstructed in such agencies. Social and power relations, social structures, and time and place shape their discourses, cultures, and constructions pertaining to male rape. This means that constructions of male rape are neither fixed, determined, nor unchanging at any time and place, but rather negotiated and fluid. I theorize the data—which was collected through semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires—including male rape counselors, therapists, and voluntary agency caseworkers. The theoretical and conceptual underpinnings that frame and elucidate the data contribute to sociological understandings of male rape.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (spe1) ◽  
pp. 74-80
Author(s):  
Esperança Alves Gago ◽  
Manuel José Lopes

OBJECTIVE: To understand the interaction process between the elderly and the family and the nurses during home care. METHODS: Grounded theory qualitative study in a community where 40% of the population is aged 65 or above. The collection of data was made via the non-participating observation of nursing practice during 41 home visits and semi-structured interviews to nurses, the elderly and the family. RESULTS: the following categories emerged - structural organization of at-home care, diagnostic assessment in context and therapeutic intervention in context. CONCLUSION: the central category was "Building the relationship in an at-home context", due to the fact that the relationship between the nurse, the elderly and the family is central across the entire care process. The relation is, simultaneously, the context for all the care and a therapeutic instrument.


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Rita Monteiro ◽  
Sandra Fernandes ◽  
Nuno Rocha

Children’s exposure to screens has been increasing in recent years and so has the concern about its impact on children’s development. This study aims to analyze preschool teachers’ and parents’ views on the influence of screen-time exposure on children’s development. Semi-structured interviews with preschool teachers (n = 9), as well as data from a previous quantitative study, based on an online questionnaire applied to parents of children in preschool (n = 266) were used for data collection. For this study, eminently of qualitative nature, the following dimensions were analyzed: children’s habits of exposure to screens at home, changes in children’s play habits at school, strategies/methodologies used by preschool teachers, use of technologies at school and children’s language development. The results from the study with parents show that screen-time exposure of children is between 1 h to 2 h of television per day, mostly to watch cartoons. Parents also report that most of the children use vocabulary in other languages at home. Most preschool teachers agreed that children are changing their play habits and mainly their behaviors and attitudes, influenced by screen-time exposure. They believe that language development is also changing, mentioning more language problems in children. Changes in pedagogic strategies and specialized training on educational technology are needed to get closer to children’s interests.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-274
Author(s):  
Aline Neris de Carvalho Maciel ◽  
Francisco Otávio Landim Neto ◽  
Edson Vicente da Silva

O presente artigo objetivou analisar como o povo Jenipapo Kanindé, da Terra Indígena (TI) Lagoa da Encantada (Aquiraz, Ceará), compreende a Educação Ambiental (EA). Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas com membros-chave da comunidade e escolhida a escola local como ambiente favorável à EA crítica. Adotou-se uma adaptação das “Fases de Planejamento e Gestão Ambiental” estabelecidas por Rodriguez e Silva (2013) como percurso metodológico e a divisão da EA definida por Layrargues e Lima (2014) para categorizar as respostas dos entrevistados. Percebeu-se que a etnia possui uma visão não crítica da EA, desde sua conceituação até suas possibilidades de atuação no combate aos problemas existentes na TI. Por fim, estabeleceram-se proposições em EA crítica, com foco na educação indígena diferenciada que é promovida na escola local. O presente artículo objetiva analizar como el pueblo Jenipapo Kanindé, de la Tierra Indígena (TI) Lagoa da Encantada (Aquiraz, Ceará), percibe la a Educación Ambiental (EA). Para tanto, fueron realizadas entrevistas semiestructuradas con integrantes clave de la comunidad y definida la escuela local como ambiente favorable a la EA crítica. Fueron adoptadas y adaptadas las “Fases de Planeamiento y Gestión Ambiental” establecidas por Rodriguez y Silva (2013) como recorrido metodológico y la división de la EA definida por Layrargues y Lima (2014) para categorizar las respuestas de los entrevistados. Fue constatado que la etnia tiene una visión no crítica de la EA, desde su conceptuación hacia sus posibilidades de actuación en el combate a los líos existentes en la TI. Al final, son hechas propuestas en EA crítica, mirando la educación indígena diferenciada que es promovida en la escuela local. The present paper aimed to analyze how the Jenipapo Kanindé people of the Indian Land (IL) Lagoa Encantada (Aquiraz, Ceará) understands Environmental Education (EE). To do so, semi-structured interviews were applied to key members of the community and a local school was chosen as a place favorable to critical EE. An adaptation of “Phases of Environmental Planning and Management” by Rodriguez and Silva (2013) and the classification of EE defined as in Layrargues and Lima (2014) were adopted as a methodological pipeline and to categorize the respondents’ answers, respectively. It was realized that the ethnic group has a non-critical perception of EE, starting from its conceptualization to taking possible measures to fight against the ongoing problems in the IL. Finally, purposes of critical EE focused on the differential education of the indian people promoted in the local school were established.


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