Leisure experience of Chinese international students: the factors facilitating participation in physical activities
Subject
Abstract
This qualitative study explored the physically active leisure experience of Chinese students studying in Canada. The research focused on the factors facilitating participation in physical activities. In order to achieve the research goal, this research delveled into the leisure facilitators and the motivation of leisure participation, as well as the negotiation strategies used by the participants. Lastly, the relationships between facilitators and other factors were studied. To better understand negotiation strategies, this research also studied the constraints to participation. However, constraints are not the focus of this study. The 14 participants of this study were Chinese students who have been studying in a Master degree for at least one year. All these participants were under 36 years old, half were male and half were female. The study approach used in this thesis was qualitative description. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the method to analyse data was thematic data analysis in a deductive way. The findings of the study showed that these participants experienced different leisure facilitators in physical activities. The common facilitators were friends, parents, natural environment, and good weather. Participants reported both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for physical activities. Furthermore, most of the negotiation strategies used by the participants were behavioural strategies. The findings also demonstrated that leisure facilitators not only directly increase participation, but also can strengthen motivation and evoke the use of negotiation strategies. This study illustrated the significant role of leisure facilitators to the participation in physical activities, and contributing to the inadequate research concerning leisure facilitators.