Communal therapeutic mobility in group walking: A meta-ethnography

Pollard, Tessa M.; Guell, Cornelia; Morris, Stephanie Laura

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113241

Cited by 13 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…There are concerns that they may not be reaching those in society that would benefit the most (South et al, 2017: 25). Pollard et al (2020) state that 'walking interventions tend to recruit well-educated, middle-aged white women' (p. 8). Studies also note there can be a lack of consideration given to practical issues such as walking location and walk accessibility (Pollard et al, 2020;South et al, 2017: 22).…”

Section: Walking Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pollard et al (2020) state that 'walking interventions tend to recruit well-educated, middle-aged white women' (p. 8). Studies also note there can be a lack of consideration given to practical issues such as walking location and walk accessibility (Pollard et al, 2020;South et al, 2017: 22). As recommended in the NICE guidelines, thought needs to be given to allow maximum accessibility and inclusivity to all groups within a community (NICE, 2012: 21).…”

Section: Walking Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Library based walking groups in Scotland: Exploring benefits, challenges and opportunities

Allan

Innocenti

2023

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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Public libraries support a range of health and wellbeing activities, however little research has been done into the provision of library adult walking groups. This paper reports on a unique study exploring how widely adult walking groups are provided through Scottish public libraries, as well as library staff perceptions of the benefits, challenges and opportunities of these services. A rich qualitative research approach was used, involving Freedom of Information requests to the 32 Scottish local authority regions, an online questionnaire with 106 complete responses, and 8 follow-up interviews with Scottish public library staff, with and without walking group experience. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes from collected data. Results show that adult walking groups are not widely provided through Scottish public libraries. However, respondents identified benefits for user groups, including but not limited to: improvements to participants’ health and social wellbeing; and increased engagement with library services. A range of opportunities for public libraries were highlighted, including staff interest, partnership working and a current focus on health and wellbeing. Challenges encompass resource restrictions, variations in partnership working and lack of effective networking. This original study provides valuable insights into the provision of public library walking groups in Scotland. It suggests that many factors can potentially influence the success of this library health and wellbeing service, with a range of different possible approaches. Results indicate that successful provision of a public library walking group may require close partnership working; adequate networking and information-sharing between public library staff; as well as sufficient resources; and staff interest. This exploratory study provides transferable insights and a basis for future research.

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Section: Walking Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Walking Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Library based walking groups in Scotland: Exploring benefits, challenges and opportunities

Allan

Innocenti

2023

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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“…penitential and obligatory) purposes. Some walk for ‘self-healing’ or ‘self-therapy’ ( Egan, 2010 ; Jørgensen et al, 2020 ), a notable feature of walking groups practicing ‘shared or communal therapeutic mobility’ ( Pollard et al, 2020 ). Pilgrim routes are geospatially mapped (and, via smartphone, digitally tracked), of varying terrain and difficulty, testing individual differences in engagement, motivation and strain.…”

Section: Pilgrim Walking As a ‘Living Laboratory’ – From ‘Inside→out’ To ‘Outside→in’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biopsychosocial Functions of Human Walking and Adherence to Behaviourally Demanding Belief Systems: A Narrative Review

O’Mara

2021

Front. Psychol.

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Human walking is a socially embedded and shaped biological adaptation: it frees our hands, makes our minds mobile, and is deeply health promoting. Yet, today, physical inactivity is an unsolved, major public health problem. However, globally, tens of millions of people annually undertake ancient, significant and enduring traditions of physiologically and psychologically arduous walks (pilgrimages) of days-to-weeks extent. Pilgrim walking is a significant human activity requiring weighty commitments of time, action and belief, as well as community support. Paradoxically, human walking is most studied on treadmills, not ‘in the wild’, while mechanistically vital, treadmill studies of walking cannot, in principle, address why humans walk extraordinary distances together to demonstrate their adherence to a behaviourally demanding belief system.Pilgrim walkers provide a rich ‘living laboratory’ bridging humanistic inquiries, to progressive theoretical and empirical investigations of human walking arising from a behaviourally demanding belief system. Pilgrims vary demographically and undertake arduous journeys on precisely mapped routes of tracked, titrated doses and durations on terrain of varying difficulty, allowing investigations from molecular to cultural levels of analysis. Using the reciprocal perspectives of ‘inside→out’ (where processes within brain and body initiate, support and entrain movement) and ‘outside→in’ (where processes in the world beyond brain and body drive activity within brain and body), we examine how pilgrim walking might shape personal, social and transcendental processes, revealing potential mechanisms supporting the body and brain in motion, to how pilgrim walking might offer policy solutions for physical inactivity.

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“…In contrast with other forms of literature review, meta-ethnography enables a focus on process as well as content, placing context-dependent findings within broader and more up-to-date clinical and social discourses (France et al, 2016). It is thereby ideally suited to the study of social prescribing projects and similar social initiatives seeking specific health improvements for particular populations (Pollard et al, 2020). Meta-ethnography may therefore identify findings and generate conclusions which may differ from those of the individual authors of the original sources (Lamb et al, 2012;Smithson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Meta-ethnographymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘To more than I can be’: A phenomenological meta-ethnography of singing groups for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Yoeli

Macnaughton

2020

Health (London)

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Anecdotal experience and qualitative accounts suggest that singing groups, classes or choirs specifically for people with COPD (henceforth referred to as COPD-SGs) are effective in improving health. However, this is not reflected in the quantitative evidence. This meta-ethnography deployed phenomenological methods to explore this discrepancy. Analysis identified the phenomena of being together, being uplifted and being involved as central benefits of COPD-SGs. When viewed through the phenomenological lens of body-social as distinct from body-subject and body-object, findings demonstrated that the qualitative effectiveness of COPD-SGs is greatest on a collective basis. Qualitative research into the effectiveness of COPD-SGs offers more favourable results because phenomenological approaches can identify collective benefits that quantitative methods cannot. COPD-SGs should seek to maximise these collective benefits by rediscovering their cultural and artistic heritage within the national and global Arts in Health (AiH) movement, which has long emphasised the radical creative and healing power of group activity.

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Communal therapeutic mobility in group walking: A meta-ethnography

Cited by 13 publications

References 64 publications

Library based walking groups in Scotland: Exploring benefits, challenges and opportunities

Library based walking groups in Scotland: Exploring benefits, challenges and opportunities

Biopsychosocial Functions of Human Walking and Adherence to Behaviourally Demanding Belief Systems: A Narrative Review

‘To more than I can be’: A phenomenological meta-ethnography of singing groups for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

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