Helping families play: Development of a framework for family recreation programming

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Issue Date
2018-02
Authors
Agate, Sarah Taylor
Agate, Joel
Schmalz, Dorothy
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Abstract
Providing experiences for families has become increasingly important over the past several years. Family recreation is an important part of life for many families, but many people may not be participating in as much family recreation as they would like, or may not be enjoying the family recreation activities in which they participate. Although many organizations attempt to offer family experiences, they are often left wondering how to facilitate an experience for such diverse groups of interests and abilities. We set out to develop a framework for providing family recreation activities that can help providers facilitate enjoyable experiences for families. We did this by conducting a collective case study that analyzed three recreation organizations. While the family recreation programming framework we developed is comprised of some general recreation programming principles, it is important to note that it includes specific components that are particularly relevant when facilitating family activities. This framework answers the call for family recreation programming guidelines from previous researchers (Edginton, Hudson, Dieser, & Edginton, 2004; Schwab & Dustin, 2015). While the principles of the framework may be familiar, viewing them in the context of family recreation offers a unique contribution to the literature, both in terms of negotiating constraints and creating affordances for various age groups and genders that compose families. The framework can also be utilized by researchers to explore specific considerations when facilitating experiences for various types of families (e.g., single-parent, LGBTQIA+, adoptive, families of different races, families with a person with a disability, multigenerational families, refugee families). Since no framework for family recreation programming currently exists, the framework presented can give recreation providers a starting point when considering how to create enjoyable recreation experiences for families. It can help them consider and address the different stages involved in preparing for, creating, and evaluating family recreation experiences. The framework may also provide a structure for researchers to use as they seek to further develop and evaluate meaningful experiences for families.
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