This pilot resources page is in progress.
The interdisciplinary scholarship and deep wisdom connecting culturally and regionally relevant physical activity to wellbeing is vast and wide, across the world. A project goal is to amplify this scholarship.
We wish to showcase the tremendous existing evidence base on the importance of these topics. We hope this will help connect, support, and inspire more of this work and also support grassroots programs and policies for these practices.
This resources page is a work in progress to this goal, currently sharing a small sample of this work. You are able to search by Categories like: Activity Type, Region, Where Activity Is Practiced (Land, Water, Ice/Snow). New tags and categories will be added as we grow this resources page.
Archives for this research will be shared on the Open Science Framework (OSF), coming soon.
We welcome your feedback about how these resources could be most useful at PHResonance@gmail.com
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Exercise is recreation not medicine
Andy Smith
Journal of Sports Health and Science, 5(2), 129-134, 2016
About
Purpose: This paper responds to the question, is exercise medicine? It does so using a qualitative case study that proposes that exercise is recreation. The study (1) describes and reflects upon an exercise is recreation metaphor, (2) establishes the principles and processes used to develop a sport park within which exercise is recreation, and (3) presents a comparative analysis of the exercise is recreation approach with a UK quality framework for “exercise referrals”.
Methods: Four years of documentation were collated and placed into 14 categories: (1) university strategies, (2) plans of the site, (3) policy documents, (4) minutes of a steering group, (5) contemporary documents, (6) organisational charts, (7) responses to local government policies on sport, (8) consultation documents, (9) operational procedures, (10) facility specifications, (11) partnership agreements, (12) material relating to the university’s work on events, (13) notes on the universities sport department, and (14) timetables. These data were analysed through a 4-stage process which used recreation as the analytical theme for a comparative analysis.
Results: The characteristics of the exercise is recreation metaphor in this case are (1) a focus on the experience of the user, (2) the promotion of well-being, (3) the importance of community, (4) embracing inclusivity, (5) sport, (6) aesthetics, and (7) leisure time. The principles and processes used to develop the sport park were (1) custodianship, (2) partnerships, (3) values, (4) inter-professional working, (5) local heritage, (6) change, (7) the natural park environment, and (8) “riding the bike as you build it”. The comparative analysis with a UK quality framework for “exercise referrals” clearly shows a difference from an exercise is recreation approach.
Conclusion: Exercise is recreation and may enable individuals and communities to reach a state of well-being.
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Spearfishing for the Soul
Spearfishing is a dangerous and often violent sport … but for some people, it’s also spiritual.
Brittany Moya del Pino
Hakai Magazine: Coastal Science and Societies, 2015
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Qualitative Analysis as Ho‘oku‘iku‘i or Bricolage
Teaching Emancipatory Indigenous Research in Postcolonial Hawai‘i
Julie Kaomea
Qualitative Inquiry, 22(2), 2015
About
For centuries, Indigenous and historically oppressed communities have been studied by Western researchers whose claims have been accepted without question and, in many instances, have led our communities’ continued oppression. With increasing numbers of individuals from historically marginalized communities entering higher education and becoming researchers and teachers of research ourselves, we are challenged to consider whether and how the research stories that we tell will be different from the research that precedes us. In this article, I draw from the Hawaiian concept of ho‘oku‘iku‘i (to stitch or piece together) and the French notion of bricolage to discuss how my graduate course in qualitative data analysis equips researchers from Native Hawaiian and other Indigenous and historically oppressed communities with new analytical tools to challenge oppression and tell both more critical and more empowering stories about the schools and communities in which we work and live.
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Transdisciplinary synthesis for ecosystem science, policy and management
The Australian Experience
A Jasmyn J Lynch, Richard Thackway, A Specht, Paul J Beggs, Shantala Brisbane, Emma L Burns, Margaret Byrne, Samantha J Capon, Michelle T Casanova, Philip A Clarke, Janet M Davies, Stephen Dovers, Ross G Dwyer, Emilie Ens, Diana O Fisher, M Flanigan, Éric Garnier, Siddeswara Mayura Guru, Kieryn Kilminster, John Locke, Ralph Mac Nally, Kathryn M McMahon, Patrick J Mitchell, Jennnifer C Pierson, Essie M Rodgers, Jeremy Russell-Smith, James Udy, Michelle Waycott
Science of The Total Environment, 534, 173-184, 2015
About
Mitigating the environmental effects of global population growth, climatic change and increasing socio-ecological complexity is a daunting challenge. To tackle this requires synthesis: the integration of disparate information to generate novel insights from heterogeneous, complex situations where there are diverse perspectives. Since 1995, a structured approach to inter-, multi- and trans-disciplinary1 collaboration around big science questions has been supported through synthesis centres around the world. These centres are finding an expanding role due to ever-accumulating data and the need for more and better opportunities to develop transdisciplinary and holistic approaches to solve real-world problems. The Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS http://www.aceas.org.au) has been the pioneering ecosystem science synthesis centre in the Southern Hemisphere. Such centres provide analysis and synthesis opportunities for time-pressed scientists, policy-makers and managers. They provide the scientific and organisational environs for virtual and face-to-face engagement, impetus for integration, data and methodological support, and innovative ways to deliver synthesis products.
We detail the contribution, role and value of synthesis using ACEAS to exemplify the capacity for synthesis centres to facilitate trans-organisational, transdisciplinary synthesis. We compare ACEAS to other international synthesis centres, and describe how it facilitated project teams and its objective of linking natural resource science to policy to management. Scientists and managers were brought together to actively collaborate in multi-institutional, cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary research on contemporary ecological problems. The teams analysed, integrated and synthesised existing data to co-develop solution-oriented publications and management recommendations that might otherwise not have been produced. We identify key outcomes of some ACEAS working groups which used synthesis to tackle important ecosystem challenges. We also examine the barriers and enablers to synthesis, so that risks can be minimised and successful outcomes maximised. We argue that synthesis centres have a crucial role in developing, communicating and using synthetic transdisciplinary research.
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An online spatial database of Australian Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge for contemporary natural and cultural resource management
Petina L Pert, Emilie J Ens, John Locke, Philip A Clarke, Joanne M Packer, Gerry Turpin
The Science of the Total Environment, 534, 110–121, 2015
About
With growing international calls for the enhanced involvement of Indigenous peoples and their biocultural knowledge in managing conservation and the sustainable use of physical environment, it is timely to review the available literature and develop cross-cultural approaches to the management of biocultural resources. Online spatial databases are becoming common tools for educating land managers about Indigenous Biocultural Knowledge (IBK), specifically to raise a broad awareness of issues, identify knowledge gaps and opportunities, and to promote collaboration. Here we describe a novel approach to the application of internet and spatial analysis tools that provide an overview of publically available documented Australian IBK (AIBK) and outline the processes used to develop the online resource. By funding an AIBK working group, the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS) provided a unique opportunity to bring together cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary and trans-organizational contributors who developed these resources. Without such an intentionally collaborative process, this unique tool would not have been developed. The tool developed through this process is derived from a spatial and temporal literature review, case studies and a compilation of methods, as well as other relevant AIBK papers. The online resource illustrates the depth and breadth of documented IBK and identifies opportunities for further work, partnerships and investment for the benefit of not only Indigenous Australians, but all Australians. The database currently includes links to over 1500 publically available IBK documents, of which 568 are geo-referenced and were mapped. It is anticipated that as awareness of the online resource grows, more documents will be provided through the website to build the database. It is envisaged that this will become a well-used tool, integral to future natural and cultural resource management and maintenance.
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Engaging South Asian women with type 2 diabetes in a culturally relevant exercise intervention
A randomized controlled trial
Alamelu Natesan, Vani C Nimbal, Susan L Ivey, Elsie J Wang, Kristine A Madsen, and Latha P Palaniappan
BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care, 3:e000126
About
Background: We examined the efficacy of a culturally relevant exercise program in improving glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) among South Asian women with type 2 diabetes, compared with usual care.
Methods: This was a randomized controlled 8-week pilot study of Bollywood dance among South Asian women with type 2 diabetes. The intervention consisted of 1 h Bollywood dance classes offered twice per week. The primary outcome was change in HbA1c. The effect of attendance on this outcome was also examined.
Results: The intervention group demonstrated a decrease in HbA1c from baseline (−0.18% (0.2%); p=0.018) compared with a non-significant increase in the usual care group (+0.03% (0.2%)); p value for difference between groups was 0.032. Participants attending at least 10 of 16 sessions had a statistically significant reduction in weight (−0.69 kg (0.76 kg)) compared with those attending fewer sessions (+0.86 kg (0.71 kg)).
Conclusions: These results support culturally relevant dance as a successful exercise intervention to promote HbA1c control, compared with usual care.
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A Review of the Social Impacts of Culture and Sport
Research and Analysis Report
Peter Taylor, Larissa Davies, Peter Wells, Jan Gilbertson and William Tayleur
Case: The Culture and Sport Evidence Programme, 2015
About
This systematic review, commissioned as part of the Culture and Sport Evidence (CASE) strategic research programme and undertaken by a consortium led by the Sports Industry Research Centre (SIRC), draws together the existing international literature on the range, nature and extent of social impacts resulting from engagement and participation with sport and culture. Although the social value of sport and culture is widely acknowledged, this report draws together a robust literature of identified wider impacts of culture and sport. The review concludes that existing evidence demonstrates a diverse range of social benefits are derived from engagement with sport and culture, both for society generally and when used within interventions targeted at particular groups in society.
This report provides a strong foundation from which to build a strong case for the wider social impacts of sport and culture.
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Reflections of a Practitioner
Purely a Journey of the Heart
Siautu Alefaio
Pacific Health Dialogues, 15(1), 171-6, 2009
About
32 years ago a man from the villages of Manunu (Upolu) and Fagamalo (Savai’i) and a woman from the inner-town village of Matautu tai-Apia (Upolu) gave birth to their middle child and only daughter Siautu Tiomai Alefaio. The man left a prominent position in the police department’s CIB in Samoa to become a factory worker in Hellaby Meats of Mt. Wellington, New Zealand. The woman, a beautiful dancer in Aggie Grey’s dance troupe and also an upcoming photographer at the age of 12, left all her aspirations of education to attain a job in order to make enough money for the prospective dream of ‘making it big’ in the ‘land free-flowing with milk and honey’–Aotearoa New Zealand. For some years Aotearoa was exactly that, with money enough to bring over all their other siblings and eventually their mothers. My father (now a Parish minister of a Presbyterian church) and mother (an Early-Childhood educator) both self-sacrificially gave up their own hopes and dreams to pursue a bigger one–of prosperity for future generations. As a registered psychologist I have seen many journey stories similar to mine, and it is my own hope and dream that our contribution as people from “Le Vasa Pasefika” (vast ocean of the Pacific region) will inevitably pave the way for future generations to embrace all that they are and become all that they have been called to be.
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Chapter 8. An Indigenous Narrative of Resilience
Malama ko Aloha
Jeannette L. Johnson, Keola Beamer
Substance Use & Misuse, 48(13), 1369-76, 2013
About
Many indigenous cultures use storytelling as the foundation for the transmission of important cultural information. Stories passed down from generation to generation sometimes teach, record history, provide examples, or inform. One important function of storytelling is the transmission of stories about cultural resilience illustrating how a cultural group has kept strong in the face of adversity. This article shows how storytelling in the Hawaiian culture has been used for this purpose and how the Beamer family has served as the master storytellers of their culture, keeping the culture and traditions alive through their music, dance, and stories.
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A Systematic Review of the Psychological and Social Benefits of Participation in Sport for Children and Adolescents
Informing Development of a Conceptual Model of Health Through Sport
Rochelle M Eime, Janet A Young, Jack T Harvey, Melanie J Charity, Warren R Payne
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physcial Activity, 10, 98, 2013
About
Background: There are specific guidelines regarding the level of physical activity (PA) required to provide health benefits. However, the research underpinning these PA guidelines does not address the element of social health. Furthermore, there is insufficient evidence about the levels or types of PA associated specifically with psychological health. This paper first presents the results of a systematic review of the psychological and social health benefits of participation in sport by children and adolescents. Secondly, the information arising from the systematic review has been used to develop a conceptual model.
Methods: A systematic review of 14 electronic databases was conducted in June 2012, and studies published since 1990 were considered for inclusion. Studies that addressed mental and/or social health benefits from participation in sport were included.
Results: A total of 3668 publications were initially identified, of which 30 met the selection criteria. There were many different psychological and social health benefits reported, with the most commonly being improved self-esteem, social interaction followed by fewer depressive symptoms. Sport may be associated with improved psychosocial health above and beyond improvements attributable to participation in PA. Specifically, team sport seems to be associated with improved health outcomes compared to individual activities, due to the social nature of the participation. A conceptual model, Health through Sport, is proposed. The model depicts the relationship between psychological, psychosocial and social health domains, and their positive associations with sport participation, as reported in the literature. However, it is acknowledged that the capacity to determine the existence and direction of causal links between participation and health is limited by the fact that the majority of studies identified (n=21) were cross-sectional.
Conclusion: It is recommended that community sport participation is advocated as a form of leisure time PA for children and adolescents, in an effort to not only improve physical health in relation to such matters as the obesity crisis, but also to enhance psychological and social health outcomes. It is also recommended that the causal link between participation in sport and psychosocial health be further investigated and the conceptual model of Health through Sport tested.
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Talk-Story: A Quest for New Research Methodology in Neocolonial Hawai‘i
Jamie Simpson Steele
Youth Theatre Journal, 26(1), 2012
About
Many elementary schools in Hawai‘i host May celebrations showcasing performance traditions of Hawai‘i and the various ethnic groups that populate the islands. This article focuses on talk-story as an approach to researching and creating dialogue among multiple perspectives of May Day. Talk-story is a Creole English phrase commonly used in Hawai‘i to refer to casual exchanges of personal narratives with a sense of mutuality. I borrowed strategies from collaborative, narrative, autoethnographic and performance traditions to develop a talk-story sensibility that would confront the power and privilege of my voice, the voice of an outside researcher, within the context of neocolonial Hawai‘i.
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Culturally relevant physical education in urban schools
Reflecting Cultural Knowledge
Sara B Flory, Nate McCaughtry
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 82(1), 49-60, 2011
About
Using a three-part theoretical framework, the cultural relevance cycle-which consists of (a) knowing community dynamics, (b) knowing how community dynamics influence educational processes, and (c) implementing strategies that reflect cultural knowledge of the community–we examined teachers’ and students’ perspectives on culturally relevant physical education in urban settings. We observed and interviewed 53 physical education teachers and 183 students in urban districts over 4 years. We identified themes of care, respect, language and communication, and curricular content that explained how these teachers enacted the cultural relevance cycle. Within these themes, teachers and students specified global and discipline-specific components of care, the rflattening of social hierarchies among students and between students and teachers, accommodation of English as a second language and urban communication, and relevant curricular content as necessary for achieving cultural relevance. Enacting the cycle of cultural relevance resulted in respectful learning environments in which students were highly engaged; however very few teachers enacted all three steps of the cycle.
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Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth
Ian Janssen, Allana G LeBlanc
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7, 40, 2010
About
Background: The purpose was to: 1) perform a systematic review of studies examining the relation between physical activity, fitness, and health in school-aged children and youth, and 2) make recommendations based on the findings.
Methods: The systematic review was limited to 7 health indicators: high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, the metabolic syndrome, obesity, low bone density, depression, and injuries. Literature searches were conducted using predefined keywords in 6 key databases. A total of 11,088 potential papers were identified. The abstracts and full-text articles of potentially relevant papers were screened to determine eligibility. Data was abstracted for 113 outcomes from the 86 eligible papers. The evidence was graded for each health outcome using established criteria based on the quantity and quality of studies and strength of effect. The volume, intensity, and type of physical activity were considered.
Results: Physical activity was associated with numerous health benefits. The dose-response relations observed in observational studies indicate that the more physical activity, the greater the health benefit. Results from experimental studies indicate that even modest amounts of physical activity can have health benefits in high-risk youngsters (e.g., obese). To achieve substantive health benefits, the physical activity should be of at least a moderate intensity. Vigorous intensity activities may provide even greater benefit. Aerobic-based activities had the greatest health benefit, other than for bone health, in which case high-impact weight bearing activities were required.
Conclusion: The following recommendations were made: 1) Children and youth 5-17 years of age should accumulate an average of at least 60 minutes per day and up to several hours of at least moderate intensity physical activity. Some of the health benefits can be achieved through an average of 30 minutes per day. [Level 2, Grade A]. 2) More vigorous intensity activities should be incorporated or added when possible, including activities that strengthen muscle and bone [Level 3, Grade B]. 3) Aerobic activities should make up the majority of the physical activity. Muscle and bone strengthening activities should be incorporated on at least 3 days of the week [Level 2, Grade A].
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Traditional foods and physical activity patterns and associations with cultural factors in a diverse Alaska Native population
Diana G Redwood, Elizabeth D Ferucci, Mary C Schumacher, Jennifer S Johnson, Anne P Lanier, Laurie J Helzer, Lillian Tom-Orme, Maureen A Murtough, Martha L Slattery
International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 67(4), 335-348, 2008
About
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of traditional food and physical activity use and associations with cultural factors among 3,830 Alaska Native and American Indian (AN/AI) people enrolled in the Education and Research Towards Health (EARTH) Study in 3 regions of Alaska.
Study design: Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a cohort study.
Methods: Participants (2,323 women and 1,507 men) completed a computer-assisted self-administered questionnaire that included information on diet, physical activity, life-style and cultural factors.
Results: Over 92% of participants reported eating at least 1 traditional food in the past year. The top 3 traditional foods reported were fish, moose and agutaq (a mixture of berries and fat). The percentage of people who consumed traditional foods varied by region and age but not by sex (p < 0.01). Almost 70% of participants engaged in at least one traditional harvesting physical activity. Picking berries or greens, cutting/smoking fish or meat and fishing were the most common activities. Participation in traditional physical activity was highest in south-west Alaska and was higher among men than women, but did not differ by age (p < 0.01). Both traditional food and physical activity were associated with greater tribal self-identification, speaking a Native language at home, using traditional remedies and participating in or attending traditional events (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The EARTH Study found relationships between traditional food use, physical activities, cultural activities and behaviours. Consumption of a variety of traditional foods and participation in traditional physical activities remain an important part of the contemporary Alaska Native life-style. Efforts to promote and sustain these foods and activities in AN/AI populations may lead to improved health outcomes.
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Water, ecology and health
Ecosystems as Settings for Promoting Health and Sustainability
Margot W Parkes, Pierre Horwitz
Health Promotion International, 24(1), 2009
About
Despite the proposed ecological and systems-based perspectives of the settings-based approach to health promotion, most initiatives have tended to overlook the fundamental nature of ecosystems. This paper responds to this oversight by proposing an explicit re-integration of ecosystems within the healthy settings approach. We make this case by focusing on water as an integrating unit of analysis. Water, on which all life depends, is not only an integral consideration for the existing healthy settings (schools, hospitals, workplaces) but also highlights the ecosystem context of health and sustainability. A focus on catchments (also know as watersheds and river basins) exemplifies the scaled and upstream/downstream nature of ecosystems and draws into sharp focus the cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary context of the social and environmental determinants of health. We position this work in relation to the converging agendas of health promotion and ecosystem management at the local, regional and global scales–and draw on evidence from international initiatives as diverse as the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Using water as a vehicle for understanding the systemic context for human wellbeing, health promotion and disease prevention draws inevitable attention to key challenges of scale, intersectoral governance and the complementary themes of promoting resilience and preventing vulnerability. We conclude by highlighting the importance of building individual and institutional capacity for this kind of integration–equipping a new generation of researchers, practitioners and decision-makers to be conversant with the language of ecosystems, capable of systemic thought and focused on settings that can promote both health and sustainability.
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Youth lead youth in Marshall Islands
G Johnson
JOICFP Review, 15, 35-6, 1988
About
The promotion of family planning and birth control in Pacific countries is often frustrated by traditional and religious beliefs, if not deterred by tremendous funding and logistics problems. In the central Pacific republic of the Marshall Islands, however, youthful health workers are taking a unique approach to health promotion that has spurred acceptance of the once controversial subjects of family planning and birth control. A group known as Youth to Youth in Health is spearheading a family planning outreach drive in the schools and community in the Marshall Islands. Coupling health presentations with traditional island music and dance to produce lively health shows, the group’s programs on family planning, birth control, nutrition, and cancer have struck a responsive chord in a culture known for its religious and traditional conservatism. The group makes creative use of puppet shows, skits, health songs, and pantomimes, interspersed with contemporary renditions of Marshall Islands music and traditional dances. These have rekindled pride in their culture among the group and sparked a sense of urgency about the need to improve health conditions in the islands. As evidence of the group’s impact, family planning staff point to a nearly 4-fold rise in the number of youth clients under 19 years since the Youth to Youth started in mid-1986. Their combination of traditional custom with family planning and other health information has proved to be an innovative and needed program for the islands.
