Recreational & Leisure Activities Research Project One-stop access subgroup of the Recreation Table of the Calgary Ability Network Presented by Sylvie Mullen, University of Calgary Hi there, My name is Sylvie Mullen and I am currently in my 4th year at the University of Calgary in Community Rehab and Disabilities Studies. Since the end of January/Beginning of February I have been working with the One-Stop Access subgroup of the Recreation Table of the Calgary ability network. Today I am going to go take you through our committee’s project and show you what I have done.

Agenda Research Plan Overview My practicum Project Initial Research Goals (done by Dana De Bok and committee) My practicum Project Data Analysis (key findings) Next Steps For new student? Questions? The Agenda for today will be: Research overview initial research goals (done by Dana De Bok) My practicum Project To gain over 100 survey response and complete analysis Data Analysis (key findings) Next Steps For new student? Questions? I hope to tell you all a little bit about what I have done for the committee and what needs to happen next- I will also be sharing some of the key findings/themes I found

Research Plan Overview Purpose Determine if a centralized database of recreational activity is needed within the community and if it will be used Problem Recreational information does exist but in many forms and locations; since recreation may be seen as less important if the information is not easily accessible people will not look for it, and therefore will not participate in recreational activities Hypothesis A centralized database will be seen as beneficial and useful because it will allow for quick and efficient access to localized recreational activities Originally Dana De Bok, a CRSD student from last year- started this project with the CAN recreation subgroup. Dana was able to not only design the Research Plan but also design the survey. To refresh the group, here is the overview of the project. (READ) For research reasons, we felt that it was the best idea to keep all of the work the same to keep the project validity. What you will find though, is that, in our key findings of the survey results, we have found that some of these should maybe change…

Research Plan Overview Objectives Create a ‘One-Stop Access’ for children/youth/adults and supporting individuals/families To allow for easier access to information to a variety of recreational options in the community, and to build a central database/website for all REFERECE DANA

Research Method & Design Survey- with a total of 133 participants -The survey was conducted by Dana and committee – Due to the distribution of the survey- we don’t have the exact number of surveys handed out. This causes problems for funding applications because technically our survey and research study so far doesn’t follow research guidelines and therefore would need to be done differently. total of 133 participants however doesn’t fit proper research standards because it was sent out via email, posted on websites and brochures, open-ended etc.

My Research Project Attain over 100 survey responses Analyze data Create data analysis Present to Calgary Ability Network Attain over 100 survey responses- the survey was created however it had very few participants and data so we needed to gain more -we worked as a group to attain the survey responses, however I was able to attend some fairs and network through my friends and old practicum supervisors to receive more data Next was to analyze the data and create a data analysis -I was able to also meet with the vecova research team to get ideas and help with project -and specifically I met with Donovan from Vecova’s research team to create the data analysis, he gave me ideas and pointers on how to create the analysis and explained to me what our research was missing

Data Analysis Results Common themes Unorganized information Importance of recreational and leisure activities Database/website Problems with activities/programs Themes: Unorganized information- 52% agreed that information is somewhat hard to find, with 33% saying it was hard to find. When Questions: YES! Go to next slide of hypothesis

Unorganized Information 52% said information was “somewhat easy to find”, 33% said it was “hard to find” When found- 72% said it was somewhat useful Participant comments: “It's not clear even when I do read about them if it is suitable for my son's diagnosis.” “Extremely difficult to find anything for ages 18+ that he would fit in” “It can be very easy to find leisure activities, however not always so easy to find COST EFFECTIVE (e.g. free or low cost) activities”

Importance of Recreational and Leisure Activities Participant quotes- what do you like about rec and leisure activities? Important to maintain life balance and fitness. getting out of the house and spending time with other people It unifies our family it strengthens our relationships. It is very important for our child with an invisible disability to be with kids he can make friends with and have fun. Gets us active and allows my son to experience things that don't come as easy to him due to his disabilities

Database/Website 85% of the participants agreed that if there was a central location- it would increase the amount of time they spend participating 70% said it would be very likely they would use the one-stop location Other ideas were things like brochures, an smart phone app, etc

Problems with activities Participant quotes: “crowds and parking”  location/facility “Our difficulty is finding a program that will administer his as needed drugs. And have trained staff to manage seizures if they occur.”  lack of training “presently--transportation, times available don’t match with schedule, cost, appropriate level of supervision, the competency of supervisors”  transportation “Lack of accessibility or information regarding accessibility for some activities/events.”  accessibility “facilities sponsorship/costs”  costs

Did we answer our questions? Hypothesis “A centralized database will be seen as beneficial and useful because it will allow for quick and efficient access to localized recreational activities” Well if we look at our hypothesis- the results do agree with our initial thoughts. It was obvious that individuals would use a one-stop access location to find more information on recreational and leisure activities -we know that it would be helpful and beneficial however- it needs to be restarted because it didn’t follow standards but at least it was a start

What next? Research needs to be taken on by one supervisor Research needs reevaluated and restarted I suggested if a practicum student come in again, they need to be under a supervisor who is also doing the research and can keep in contact with committee if need be. This will give the student the opportunity to make the connections within the committee but also have the supervisor with the research background to support their work. The research will have to be restarted due to survey not meeting proper standards- if they want funding, etc -the survey results unfortunately did not follow research standards so they will not be able to be used for a literature review to gain funding however, they prove to us that there is an interest in the disabilities community

Thank-You! Questions??