Exploring the impact of stressful life events on quality of life: meaning making and narrative reconstruction

PURPOSE

Stressful life events have the capacity to disrupt an individual's worldview and life goals, leading to existential questions and identity loss. The subjective perception of identity is intricately linked with quality of life (QoL), and how individuals derive meaning from these stressful life events significantly influences their well-being. This article explored the impact of stressful life events on individuals' QoL, and examined the potential for enhancing QoL through meaning making and narrative reconstruction.

METHODS

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 individuals reporting diminished QoL and analysed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The study reveals that stressful life events confront interviewees with the vulnerability of their values in life and the limits of their control, leading them to question their own beliefs and purpose in life. Consequently, these events prompt individuals to reconstruction their narratives to adapt to new life circumstances.

CONCLUSIONS

The study suggests that "securing the base," including strong social relations and security in economic and housing conditions, is a prerequisite for enhancing QoL. The insights on "the base" have profound implications for QoL. Recognizing their fundamental importance, policymakers, healthcare professionals, and social service providers can support mechanisms to enhance these foundations, improving overall well-being for individuals and communities.

Associations of types of physical activity with self-rated physical and mental health in Denmark

The purpose of this article is to analyse the association between types of physical activity and self-rated physical and mental health. The analyses are based on data from a Danish 2020 survey of adults' exercise habits. The questionnaire was answered by 163,131 adults of whom 55 pct. were women and relatively evenly distributed by age. The questionnaire included questions about participation in different types of physical activity, self-rate of physical and mental health and sociodemographic and socioeconomic background. The analysis distinguishes between 16 main types of sports and exercise activities, cycling as a mode of transport, and gardening at home. The statistical analysis consists of ordinal regression, where the association between practicing a certain form of physical activity and self-rated health takes into account the adults other physical activity habits and their socio-economic and socio-demographic background. The analyses show, firstly, that the association, for most types of physical activity, is stronger for self-rated physical health than for self-rated mental health. Secondly, there are large differences in the strength of the association between the different types of physical activity. Thirdly, the association is significantly stronger for those who practise an activity type most days of the week than for those who do it less often. Fourthly, the analyses show small gender differences in the association between types of physical activity and self-rated health. Finally, the more different types of activity a person practises during a week, the better the self-rated health, but this primarily applies to self-rated physical health.

Motives for leisure-time physical activity participation: an analysis of their prevalence, consistency and associations with activity type and social background

BACKGROUND

Studies argue that knowledge about motives for physical activity participation can inform activities, initiatives and interventions to promote physical activity. However, most of these studies are based on small sample sizes and only include participants within a few selected types of PA. Further, they have not examined the consistency of individuals' motives across different activity types. As a result, this article examines RQ1: the most prevalent motives, RQ2: the association of motives with activity type and social background characteristics, and RQ3: the consistency of motives across different activity types.

METHODS

We utilised data from a survey of physical activity participation among 163,000 adult Danes (aged 15 + years). In the survey, the participants were asked about their participation in thirteen activity types and about their motives for practising the activity types they reported to do at least weekly. The motive items were operationalised based on the eight dimensions in the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale (PALMS). We conducted analyses of mean values and standard deviations as well as multilevel regression analyses.

RESULTS

We identified large differences in the importance of different motives for physical activity participation. The three most important motives were psychological condition (M = 4.54), physical condition (M = 4.48) and enjoyment (M = 4.36). We also found significant associations between motives and activity types in particular, but also between motives and social background characteristics (gender, age and educational level). For instance, we found that compared to running, physical condition was a much less important motive in outdoor activities (b = -3.01), activities on water (b = -2.44) and street sports (b = -2.38). Finally, our analysis showed how individuals' motives are not consistent across different activity types.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study contributes to the literature on motives for physical activity participation by using a large sample of individuals and by differentiating motives according to a wide range of activity types. The results underline the need to study motives in relation to activity types, as there are large differences in the prevalence of different motives. Our findings suggest that motives are not consistent across activity types, but rather they develop in an interplay between the individual and the activity type practised.

Health promoting sports federations: theoretical foundations and guidelines

Background

Researchers and policy-makers have highlighted that the potential for organized sports to promote health has been underexploited. Sports clubs have limited capacity to promote health due to their voluntary nature and have called for support from their national sports federations. The present article provides guidelines, based on the theoretical principles of health promoting sports clubs and an analysis of practical tools and proven strategies, to support national sports federations to invest in health promotion (HP).

Methods

A qualitative iterative study was undertaken, based on five 2-h meetings of a group of 15 international researchers in HP in sports clubs. Notes and minutes from meetings, as well as shared outputs were analyzed based on the health promoting sports club framework.

Results

Guidelines developed for national sports federations to promote health includes a definition of a health promoting sports federation (HPSF), a description of how the settings-based approach to HP adapts to national sports federations, as well as practical applications of health promoting sports club's intervention strategies. The analysis of existing tools also demonstrated that most tools are centered on a single dimension of health (social, mental, physical, spiritual or community), and often on a specific health topic. Furthermore, they do not cover HP as a continuous long-lasting process, but are generally short-term programs. The HPSF clarifies theoretical concepts, their practical implementation via case studies and outlines intervention components and tools useful for sports federations in their implementation of HP.

Conclusion

The guidelines developed in this study are intended to facilitate national sports federations to acknowledge/understand, reinforce/underpin and foster current and further investment in HP.

The Effect of a Parent-Directed Program to Improve Infants' Motor Skills

Poor motor skills are associated with several factors that might delay children's development. Therefore, early programs to promote a child's motor development are essential. Within the first year of life, parents have a critical role in promoting their infant's motor development. However, little research has explored parent-directed programs that promote infant development in a Scandinavian context. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a parent-directed program to improve infant motor development.

METHODS

Parents of infants received a parent-directed program that included guidance from health visitors on ways to promote motor development, videos with motor development activities and a bag with related materials. Two municipalities in Denmark took part in the study (one intervention, one control). Health visitors in both municipalities measured the infants' age-appropriate motor skills once when the infants were between 9-11 months of age. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

No difference was detected in motor development over time in the two municipalities regarding the proportion of children with age-appropriate motor skills.

CONCLUSIONS

A parent-directed program in which parents were guided to play and encourage motor development with their infant showed no effect on infants' age-appropriate motor skills at 9-11 months.

Transferring Knowledge on Motor Development to Socially Vulnerable Parents of Infants: The Practice of Health Visitors

Parents are a determinant factor in a child’s development of motor skills. Studies show that programmes in which health visitors supervise parents may improve infants’ motor skills. This study examines which factors health visitors have found to enhance and hamper the implementation of a motor development programme among socially vulnerable parents of infants. The data consist of three group interviews with 4 health visitors in each (12 health visitors in total) and a subsequent member check with 27 health visitors. All were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, and a thematic analysis was conducted. The results show that according to the health visitors, the programme increases the ability and willingness of parents to engage in co-producing its implementation. In particular, the materials that they hand out to the parents enhance the implementation. On the other hand, they perceive the limited time provided for the implementation, together with the many pressing needs of the families, as hampering the implementation. Consequently, the study can inform future policies and programmes for frontline workers and socially vulnerable parents of infants.

Parental, socio and cultural factors associated with adolescents' sports participation in four Danish municipalities

Despite the well-documented health effects of physical activity, few studies focus on the correlates of leisure-time sports and exercise participation. The present study examined correlations between adolescent sports participation and demographic factors, socioeconomic status (SES) and sociocultural factors. A school-based cross-sectional cluster sample including 6356 Danish fifth- and ninth-grade adolescents from four municipalities were included. Age (younger) and gender (boy) were associated with adolescents' sports participation. Girls were half as likely [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.44-0.55] to participate in sports than boys. Adolescents were more likely to participate in sports if they perceived their parents as active in exercise or sports. Adolescents with one or two unemployed parents were 0.75 (95% CI: 0.62-0.89) and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.56-1.00), respectively, less likely to participate in sports than adolescents with two employed parents. In a gender-stratified analysis, parents' occupational status was only a predictor of sports participation in girls. Differences between municipalities in adolescents' sports participation remained significant when controlled for individual factors such as gender, age, parents' background or parents' physical activity. The association between sociocultural and SES was stronger for girls than boys. In conclusion, demographics, SES and sociocultural factors were the best determinants of adolescent sport participation.