Leisure Possibilities of Adults Experiencing Poverty: A Community-Based Participatory Study.
Pamela Cantor, Monika Polakowska, Amanda Proietti and 3 others
PMID 35157540WHAT IT FOUND
Adults experiencing poverty valued leisure but faced structural barriers like cost, safety and rigid organizational schedules.
Many had deep local knowledge of free activities. Service providers should partner with users to plan accessible, judgement-free spaces rather than focusing solely on individual skills.
Key findings
01Barriers to leisure were primarily structural, including lack of money, unsafe environments and inflexible organizational schedules.
02Participants possessed significant community expertise regarding free and accessible leisure resources, challenging assumptions of universal social isolation.
03Leisure engagement was modulated by intersecting disadvantages such as disability and homelessness, which further restricted access.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The planned co-researcher with lived experience became unreachable, so service users did not participate in early phases. Time constraints limited service user involvement in later phases like manuscript writing. Large group sizes may have prevented intimate discussion, potentially silencing LGBTQ2S+ and BIPOC participants.
Declared interests
No specific funding source or conflict of interest declaration is provided in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the participants' deep knowledge of local resources as evidence that poverty itself does not restrict access. The study found that while some could navigate these resources, the primary barriers remained systemic issues like cost, safety and organizational rigidity.