ECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH07
Introduction Social connection is critical to the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and societies. Within walking football (WF), a modified format for middle-aged and older adults, social connection is frequently reported as a central outcome of participation. However, despite its prominence within the WF literature, there remains a paucity of theoretically informed qualitative research examining how social connections are formed, experienced, maintained, and sometimes constrained. This study addresses this gap by examining how WF activates and develops social connection and social wellbeing among its participants. Methods This study adopted a qualitative research design. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve current WF players, generating 17 hours of data. Transcripts were analysed using a thematic, iterative approach, with sociological theories of identity, social ties, and social support acting as primary sensemaking frameworks. Results Preliminary analysis identified five key, interrelated mechanisms through which WF promotes social connection and social wellbeing. Participants described how WF facilitated: (1) the development of a role-based identity that provided purpose, meaning, and behavioural guidance; (2) access to emotional, practical, and informational support from similar others; (3) opportunities for passive social comparison that positively influenced sustained engagement; (4) a sense of belonging; and (5) positive self-esteem and confidence. Discussion This study makes an original contribution by moving beyond descriptive accounts of social benefits to provide a theoretically informed explanation of the identity- and social-based mechanisms underpinning the formation and maintenance of social connection and social wellbeing. These findings have important implications for the design of WF and other sports-based programmes aimed at improving health and quality of life. They highlight the need to deliberately cultivate inclusive and supportive cultures that affirm participants’ identities, facilitate meaningful and supportive relationships, and promote self-worth, belonging, and embeddedness.
Read CV Egan GoodisonECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH07
Introduction As human–place relation research shifts to micro-lived experiences, embodied practice and spatial meaning-making are central. Older adults, with physiological vulnerability, growing health needs, and intertwined emotional-social demands, make meaningful spatial choices. Despite public views of open water as hazardous, some older adults prefer it over safe indoor pools—this tension initiates the study. Existing literature focuses on open-water swimming’s health/safety, with little engagement from human geography or human–place theory. As a structurally risky environment, open water frames risk as an experiential element interpreted through practice. This study asks: How do older adults transform their understanding of open water via sustained engagement? How does “space” become “place”? Methods A constructivist qualitative paradigm explored “space-to-place” transformation. Purposive sampling recruited 20 older swimmers (mean age = 67.3 years) in City C, China, with long-term open-water experience. Two rounds of semi-structured, in-situ interviews collected data: the first explored motivations, initial risk perceptions, bodily adaptation, and early experiences; the second examined risk redefinition, self-challenge, and emotional attachment. Six-step thematic analysis identified three core dimensions (Time, Experience, Emotion) integrated into a Human–Place Relational Cognitive Construction Framework. Iterative dialogue with Yi-Fu Tuan’s theory ensured rigor. Results Findings show a progression from functional spatial perception to meaningful place construction. Initially, open water is a functional space with objective attributes and no emotional attachment; repeated practice brings risk experience and control; sustained participation endows it with meanings, transforming it into an emotional "place".Over time, open water gains meanings (health, self-transcendence, identity, belonging), becoming emotionally embedded. The framework highlights three interactive dimensions: (1) Time provides continuity; (2) Experience strengthens environmental mastery via risk negotiation; (3) Emotion drives place-making through challenge-satisfaction cycles. These facilitate the space-to-place transition. Discussion Open water’s “risky” nature does not inhibit practice. Temporal continuity and experience reframe risk as negotiable and meaningful. Older adults recalibrate bodily capacity and risk perception, redefining “risky space” as emotionally/symbolically valuable. This research advances Yi-Fu Tuan’s Space–Place framework: (1) applying it to urban sport to ground abstract concepts; (2) structuring its core elements into a visualizable framework; (3) demonstrating constructivist qualitative analysis for modeling human–place relations in risky environments.Findings suggest public sport space risk governance should move beyond avoidance and incorporate practitioners’ meaning-making and emotional attachment.
Read CV YUXIN HUAECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH07
Introduction Although China has met its per capita life expectancy target ahead of schedule, the growth in healthy life expectancy lags behind, and issues such as "survival with illness" and "multiple chronic conditions" among the elderly are prominent. This study aims to explore, using China as a case, the role of physical exercise in extending healthy life expectancy. Methods This study utilizes data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey spanning 2008 to 2018, with weighting adjustments based on the gender-age structure reported in China's Sixth National Population Census. First, a multi-state life table method is applied to calculate healthy life expectancy among older adults. Second, an interpolated Markov chain approach is used to estimate transition probabilities between the states of “healthy”,“disabled”, and “death”. Finally, building on these estimates, the study examines gender and urban-rural differences to assess how physical exercise influences healthy life expectancy across various subgroups of older adults. Results The study found that physical exercise not only effectively reduces the risk of older adults transitioning from a “healthy” state to a “disabled” state but also increases the likelihood of recovery from a “disabled” state back to a “healthy” state, while significantly lowering the risk of transitioning from a “disabled” state to “death”. Additionally, physical exercise can improve the healthy life expectancy of older adults. The healthy life expectancy at age 65 for older adults who engage in physical exercise is 20.0 years, compared to 18.8 years for those who do not. Moreover, older women who participate in physical exercise have a higher healthy life expectancy across all age groups compared to older men. The beneficial effect of physical exercise on healthy life expectancy is more pronounced among urban older adults, while its impact is relatively limited among their rural counterparts. Discussion These findings indicate that physical exercise is not only an important approach to individual health promotion but also a key strategy for mitigating health inequalities among older adults and advancing the equalization of national fitness public services. Future policies should focus on lowering various barriers to older adults’ participation in physical exercise. Through age-friendly modifications, empowerment via digital technologies, and the promotion of a lifelong exercise ethos, an inclusive, precise, and accessible sports service system for older adults should be constructed. In particular, resource allocation should be tilted toward disadvantaged areas such as rural communities. By establishing urban-rural sports resource-sharing mechanisms, the fairness of health and well-being among older adults can be tangibly enhanced, offering valuable insights from China's experience for the global effort to proactively address population aging.
Read CV Wang FubaihuiECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH07