In Britain, as elsewhere, over the past two or three decades there has been growing concern over the extent to which sport and physical activity are becoming increasingly rare features of contemporary youth lifestyles. One corollary of this growing concern with youth lifestyles has been the widespread acceptance of a number of common sense assumptions about the nature of young people's sporting and leisure lives. Notwithstanding these concerns, Coalter (2004: 79) has noted recently that, at present, much of the existing research on young people, sport and leisure has consistently failed to explain adequately or provide 'any clear understanding of sport's (and physical activity's) place in participants' lifestyles'. The central objective of this sociological study, therefore, was to enhance our understanding of the place of sport and physical activity in the lives of a sample of 15-16-year-olds, and of the relationships between various aspects of their lives. More specifically, the thesis reports upon data generated by questionnaires completed by 1,010 15-16-year-olds who attended six secondary schools in the north-west of England and one secondary school in the north-east of Wales, as well as focus groups conducted with a sub-sample of 153 of these young people. The findings revealed that for many 15-16-year-olds, participation in sport and particularly 'lifestyle activities', was an integral aspect of both their school and leisure lives. In school physical education (PE) and extra-curricular PE, young people's participation - which was significantly related to sex and school attended - was largely dominated by competitive team-based sports that are typically gendered and stereotypical. The data also indicated that although there were no significant school- or age-related differences in participation in leisure-sport and physical activity overall, more males than females participated in sport and physical activity in their leisure time. Males were also the more frequent weekly participants and spent more time doing so than females. In addition, the data revealed that the leisure-sport and physical activity repertoires of 15-16-year-olds were characterized by involvement in more informally organized sports and highly-individualized recreational 'lifestyle activities', as well as a small number of team sports that were played competitively. It was also clear that participation in leisure-sport and physical activity was part of young people's quest for generating sociability and excitement in the company of friends and because it enabled them to do what they wanted, when they wanted and with whom they wanted. For many young people, however, and particularly the more frequent participants, playing sport and doing physical activity was just one component in their generally busy and wide-ranging leisure lives, which did not prevent them from engaging simultaneously in more sedentary activities (such as prolonged TV viewing and playing computer games) and commercially-oriented leisure activities, as well as consuming legal and illegal drugs. In this regard, it is argued that it is only possible to understand adequately where sport and physical activity fit into the multi-dimensional lives of 15-16-year-olds by examining those lives 'in the round', and by locating young people within the various networks of relationships to which they have belonged in the past, and which they continue to form in the present.

Bakgrund: Delaktighet i aktivitet påverkar människans hälsa och välmående. Att förlora arbetet som är en central roll i livet, kan ha en negativ effekt på människans upplevelse av delaktighet i aktivitet. Tidigare studier har visat att arbetsterapi är effektivt för att hjälpa människor att övervinna eller minska hälsoriskerna som arbetslöshet kan orsaka. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka upplevelsen av delaktighet i aktivitet hos människor i åldrarna 20-64 år som varit utan arbete i minst tre månader. Metod: En kvantitativ webb-enkätstudie genomfördes med inspiration av bedömningsinstrumentet OCAIRS-S. Vid analys av data tillämpades en kvantitativ bearbetning för att beskriva och förklara forskningsresultat på ett objektivt sätt. I studien deltog 161 deltagare. Deltagarnas svar på enkätens påståenden jämfördes för att ta reda på vilka likheter, skillnader och samband som fanns i det insamlade materialet. Resultat: Arbetslösa skattade tillfredsställelsen av delaktighet i aktivitet övervägande lågt. Det som arbetslösa skattade lågt var på påståenden kopplade till miljö. Däremot visade studien att arbetslösa skattade högst tillfredsställelse vid påstående gällande ansvar och hantering roller. Studien visade även signifikanta skillnader inom grupperna med eller utan barn i hushållet och åldersgrupperna 20-40 år och 41-64 år. Konklusion: Arbetslösa upplever minskad delaktighet i aktivitet. Idag finns det brist på aktuell forskning gällande hur delaktighet påverkas vid arbetslöshet samt hur arbetsterapeuter på bästa sätt kan bistå denna målgrupp. / Background: Participation in activity affects human health and well-being. Losing work, which is a central role in life, can have a negative effect on a person's experience of participation in activity. Previous studies have shown that occupational therapy is effective in helping people overcome or reduce the health risks that unemployment can cause. Aim: The purpose of the study was to investigate the experience of participation in activity in people aged 20-64 who have been without work for at least three months. Method: A quantitative web survey was conducted with inspiration from the assessment tool OCAIRS-S. When analyzing data, a quantitative process was applied to describe and explain research results in an objective way. The study involved 161 participants. The participants' answers on the survey were compared to find out what similarities, differences and connections could be found in the collected material. Result: Unemployed people rated the satisfaction of participation in activity predominantly low. What the unemployed estimated the least were claims related to the environment. On the other hand, the study showed that the unemployed valued the highest satisfaction with claims regarding responsibility and management roles. The study also showed significant differences within the groups with or without children in the household and the age groups 20-40 years and 41-64 years. Conclusion: Unemployed people experience reduced participation in activity. Today, there is a lack of actual research regarding how participation is affected by unemployment and how occupational therapists can best assist this target group.

The unique potential of sport as a site for the delivery of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has received increasing academic attention in recent years (e.g. Smith & Westerbeek, 2007). However, this literature has been said to have held 'relatively static conceptualisations of CSR through sport' (Dowling, Robinson & Washington, 2013, p. 270), and it could similarly be argued that insufficient attention has been given to the broader social contexts in which it has been delivered. This study therefore aimed to understand more about sport - and the Olympic Games - as a site for the delivery of CSR, using the specific context of private sector sponsor-led CSR schemes based upon the sport and physical activity participation legacy of London 2012. Three separate stages of qualitative data collection were conducted. The first comprised a thematic analysis of macro level policy discourse produced by official Olympic 'legacy actors' in relation to the proclaimed sport and activity legacy of the Games. The second stage also used thematic analysis in order to establish how 20 sponsors rationalised their CSR activity around the Games and how six who organised programmes involving either sport or activity participation justified these. The third stage comprised a series of semi-structured interviews with representatives of three Olympic sponsors and three charity delivery partners who co-operated in the delivery of specific CSR schemes. Once data was organised into themes, data analysis was informed by a governmentality perspective in order to help understand the respective roles of public and private sector organisations in not just the delivery of CSR, but also in 'governing' society in the broadest sense of the term.

Syftet med denna studie var att syntetisera äldre personers erfarenheter kring användning av digital teknik samt dess betydelse för äldres delaktighet i vardagen. Studien är en metasyntes som utfördes genom en systematisk sökning av kvalitativ vetenskaplig litteratur och dess analys. Litteratursökningen genomfördes i fyra databaser och resulterade i 12 vetenskapliga artiklar som ingick i studien. Dataanalysen inleddes med en kvalitetsgranskning av artiklarna och avslutades med en syntes av datan som svarade på studiens syfte. Syntetisering ledde till 34 första nivåns teman samt tre andra nivåns teman; 1. Upplevd nytta och viljan av att använda digital teknik i äldres vardag. 2. Teknikens påverkan ger känsla av gemenskap och ökat stöd för delaktighet. 3. Upplevd begränsning och bristande vilja av användning av digital teknik. Andra nivåns teman lyftes upp och resulterade i två tredje nivåns teman; 1. Äldre entusiaster omfamnar teknikens möjligheter för känslan av trygghet och delaktighet i vardagen trots utmaningar kring dess användning. 2. Upplevelse av egna existensen i livet utanför teknikens värld och hinder för eller möjligheter till delaktighet i ett digitalt samhälle. Resultatet påvisade varierande erfarenheter av användning av digital teknik. Äldre personer lyfte upp stora möjligheter att engagera sig i samt att klara vissa vardagliga aktiviteter med hjälp av digital teknik. Positiva erfarenheter som dominerade i studierna var äldres möjlighet att kommunicera med vårdgivare och myndigheter samt att vara delaktig i sociala liv. Utöver detta visade sig att vissa äldre ansåg att digital teknik var onödig i deras liv, vilket berodde på brist på intresse eller svårigheter att hantera den. Att inte kunna eller att inte vilja hantera digital teknik har lett till upplevelse av utanförskap och minskad delaktighet i samhället. / The purpose of this study was to synthesize older people's experiences of using digital technology and its significance in their participation in everyday life. The study is a Meta-synthesis that was performed through a systematic search of qualitative scientific literature and it’s analysis. The literature search was conducted in four databases and resulted in twelve scientific articles that were included in the study. The data analysis began with a quality review of the articles and ended with a synthesis of the data that answered the purpose of the study. The synthesis led to 34 first-level themes as well as three second-level themes;            1. Perceived benefit and willingness to use digital technology in the everyday lives of the elderly, 2. The impact of technology provides a sense of community and increased support for participation, 3. Perceived limitation and unwillingness to use digital technology. Second level themes were highlighted and resulted in two third level themes; Older enthusiasts embrace the possibilities of technology for the feeling of security and participation in everyday life, despite the challenges surrounding its use. 2. Experience of one's own existence in life outside the world of technology and obstacles or opportunity to participate in a digital society. The results demonstrated varying experiences of using digital technology. Older people highlighted great opportunities to get involved in and to manage certain everyday activities with the help of digital technology. Despite functional limitations and physical barriers, there is potential to perform errands digitally. Positive experiences that dominated the studies were elderly's opportunity to communicate with healthcare providers and agencies but also opportunity to participation in their social life. In addition to this, it turned out that some older people felt that digital technology was unnecessary in their lives, which was due to lack of interest or difficulties in dealing with it. Not being able or unwilling to handle digital technology has led to the experience of exclusion and reduced participation in society.