Objectives
Leisure-time is an important part of young people’s lives. Despite this, leisure-time settings have hitherto had a minor role in setting-based health-promotion initiatives. Improving adolescents’ quality of leisure-time activities can reduce social differences in health. Youth-centers can therefore be appropriate settings for promoting health. However, young people with immigrant backgrounds participate less in organized leisure-time activities.
The aim of the study is to increase awareness of the importance of young people's leisure-time activities in a health-promotion perspective. Further questions like who participate and why, what they gain, and what particular strategies the different youth-centers use in their everyday work will be presented.
Methods
In this practice-based longitudinal study data were collected 2012-2014 at two youth-centers in multicultural, socially deprived suburbs using surveys with 12-16 year old adolescents (n=207). Individual interviews with staff (n=7) and group-interviews with adolescents (6 groups, 50 % girls). Moreover individual interviews (n=3) were made with cooperation partners in the neighborhoods. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods were used for analysis.
Results
Most of the participants are second generation immigrants. They feel healthy, enjoy school, and feel quite safe in their neighborhoods. They participate in youth-centers to do fun and interesting activities, to see friends as well as to have leaders that care about them. The youth-centers’ proximity is also of importance for participation, in these types of neighborhoods. Strategies for recruiting youth to youth-centers are central to succeeding. Who the participants are and in what neighborhood the leisure-time activity is placed in are closely connected to the motives.
To be a health-promoting setting, a youth-center needs to be open and inclusive, foster supportive relationships, emphasize youth empowerment, and integrate family, school and community in their strategies.
Conclusions
Youth-centers can be health-promoting settings when their strategies include some important factors, both in theory and in daily practice.
2016.
8th Nordic Research Conference in Health Promotion (NHPRC), Jyväskylä, Finland, June 20-22, 2016