New international research project “Leisure and well-being across countries in the era of coronavirus19: Trends and applications” to be launched soon with the support of WLO

By Teresa Freire, Universidade do Minho and Chair of the Leisure and Well-Being SIG

The international project “Leisure and well-being across countries in the era of coronavirus19: Trends and applications”, awarded by Strategic Priorities Grant, is coordinated by Teresa Freire, Chair of the Leisure and Well-Being Special Interest Group (SIG). The Project, aimed to be implemented at an international level, has taken significant steps into worldwide dissemination. It involves several members from WLO who accepted to be part of the Project by integrating the research team as representatives of their countries, being responsible for implementing the Project locally. Accordingly, 11 partners integrated the team, being from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Hungary, Portugal, South Africa, The Netherlands, Turkey, and the United States of America.

Until now, several methodological meetings have taken place with all partners to present and discuss the main aspects of the Project, as the definition of research instruments for data collection according to rigorous psychometric properties, in parallel with the methodology design that best capture the current conceptualizations of leisure and well-being, and related variables. A particular effort has been made to adapt the research methodology to the cultural specificities and the different pandemic stages that span diverse countries’ realities within daily lives. These steps and procedures will guarantee rigorous results on leisure and well-being variables across ages and countries, considering the course of events brought about by Covid19.

Of note, the great backstage support by the WLO secretariat, being always in line with the coordination of the Project, resulting in the main communication channel to contact and aggregate partners, structuring online team meetings, always doubling each meeting schedule to be possible for everyone to participate, and being attentive to all steps and defined timelines.

The overall purpose is to bring forward trends and applications that may determine a new or revised framework in the leisure field, considering leisure activities, experiences, and contexts, reestablishing desirable well-being, quality of life, and sustainable development. A renewed global partnership and international workforce are also emerging from this collaborative world challenge.