Thesis (M. Ed.)--Bowling Green State University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-78).

The purpose of this study was to understand what the professionals experiences are of stressed youth. We did a qualitative study with interviewing three school nurses, one welfare officer and two recreation leaders. Research is saying that stress is increasing among the youth and that girls are more stressed than boys. It also says that medium is a big consequent for that (ex. Brun M. Sundblad, 2006). In our study we found out that the professionals thought the same thing and they meant that Internet and mobile telephones was the biggest problem for being stressed. We analysed the results with the help of Giddens (2007), Frank (2009) and Marmot (2006) theories. Giddens (2007) is saying that our society is changing and that we are becoming more self-centred individuals. He also says that our society is moving very fast and that the communications and information is spreading fast all over our world. Frank (2009) means that people are always comparing them self’s with people around them. It is the rich groups that are increasing the consumption in our society, not medium. Marmot (2006) is saying that people’s health has a big deal to do with if you are living among the same kind of people, with the same amount of  material welfare or not. If you have a lot of money and lives on a street with the same kind of people, you’re health will be better, then if it would be big differences among you. These aspects was something that we found out during our study, which the professionals did not mention, they blamed the medium for allot of the stress.

<p>The purpose of this study was to understand what the professionals experiences are of stressed youth. We did a qualitative study with interviewing three school nurses, one welfare officer and two recreation leaders. Research is saying that stress is increasing among the youth and that girls are more stressed than boys. It also says that medium is a big consequent for that (ex. Brun M. Sundblad, 2006). In our study we found out that the professionals thought the same thing and they meant that Internet and mobile telephones was the biggest problem for being stressed. We analysed the results with the help of Giddens (2007), Frank (2009) and Marmot (2006) theories. Giddens (2007) is saying that our society is changing and that we are becoming more self-centred individuals. He also says that our society is moving very fast and that the communications and information is spreading fast all over our world. Frank (2009) means that people are always comparing them self’s with people around them. It is the rich groups that are increasing the consumption in our society, not medium. Marmot (2006) is saying that people’s health has a big deal to do with if you are living among the same kind of people, with the same amount of  material welfare or not. If you have a lot of money and lives on a street with the same kind of people, you’re health will be better, then if it would be big differences among you. These aspects was something that we found out during our study, which the professionals did not mention, they blamed the medium for allot of the stress.</p>

Youth recreation centres in Sweden are significant venues for youth to engage in meaningful activities, as a way to counteract increased segregation and social tension. The professionals promoting young people’s social inclusion and fostering positive personal development in this context, are youth recreation leaders. Since young people’s informal learning is construed in relation to youth recreation centre attendance, a question of these leaders’ professionalism is actualized. What knowledge and competencies are needed - and valued as important - to be a ‘good’ youth recreation leader? The aim of this thesis is to explore how the youth recreation leader is shaped and governed through discourses on youth recreational work. How is the discourse shaped, and what kind of subjectivity emerges through it? Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concepts discourse, subjectivity, governmentality, and technologies of power and the self, the thesis analyses policy texts on youth recreation leader education and professional practice, as well as youth recreation leader educators’ talk about the youth recreation leader. The analysis illustrates how four subject positions emerge and are made possible through current discourses on youth recreational work - the democratic, relational, recreation-anchored, and reflective youth recreation leader. These subjectivities are enmeshed in power-relations through which they are fostered into governing themselves and others, i.e. the conduct of conduct. Government operates, for example, through students’ use of portfolios and personal reflection as confession.

This investigation dealt with the relationships between three main variables: (1) a camp director's prior experience with handicapped individuals and in the field of recreation; (2) a camp director's attitudes toward handicapped persons and their integration into regular camp settings; and (3) a camp director's perception of barriers to integration. The study was carried out via a mail-out questionnaire to 149 Texas camp directors. A return rate of 51% was achieved (66 returned surveys). Questionnaires were scored, and the data were punched on computer cards for analysis. The analysis indicated high reliability of the attitude and barrier scales. Results of the correlational analyses indicated a significant relationship (p = .0001) between a camp director's attitudes and his/her perception of barriers to integration.