Diversity in healthcare, psychopathology, complementary, crisis,

Research Blog #1: Finding and Understanding Your Sources

Research question

Could legally recognizing female sex work in Florida reduce the incidence of sexual diseases in this population due to free access to the health system?

Could legally recognizing female sex work in Florida increase the sexual health indicator of this population due to free access to the health system?

Bias questions

Can the quality of life of female sex workers be improved by allowing free access to the health system?

Could legalizing female sex work improve the quality of life of this population?

Could sexually transmitted diseases be preventable in sex workers if they have access to sex education?

Would the legalization of female sex work offer health resources for STD evaluation?

Rhetorical summary

Source 1

Link:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6424363/

Author (s): Sawicki et al

Year: 2019

Tittle: Culturally Competent Health Care for Sex Workers: An Examination of Myths That Stigmatize Sex-Work and Hinder Access to Care.

In the first source, Sawicki et al. (2019) sought to examine the myths that prevent sex workers from access healthcare due to stigmatization. The authors highlight the issues surrounding the provision of quality care for sex workers. The genre of the article is academic research. The audience is targeted at researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The purpose of the article is to examine the myths that lead to the stigmatization of sex work preventing sex workers from accessing care and to advocate for culturally competent health care for this population (Sawicki et al., 2019).

Source 2

Link:

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002680

Author (s): Platt et al

Year: 2018

Tittle: Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies.

In the second source, Platt et al. (2018) comprehensively reviewed the existing literature on the association between sex work laws and sex workers’ health. The genre of the source is academic research. The audience for this source is primarily medical professionals, researchers, and policymakers. The purpose of the article is to present a comprehensive overview of the existing literature on the subject and to inform policy decisions that impact the health of sex workers.

Sources Summary

The first source argues that the stigma against sex work prevents sex workers to access to health care services. In some ways, it advocates for sex workers to access culturally competent care, which is in line with what has been learned on the topic. Equal rights for sex workers are important as they are humans and should receive care services just like any other person (Welch, 2021). In the second source, the authors conducted a meta-analysis and systematic review of existing research on the relationship between sex work laws and sex workers’ health. The authors found that laws governing sex work have a significant impact on determining sex workers’ 25health outcomes. Criminalization of sex work is associated with a greater risk of violent attacks and negative health outcomes (Argento et al., 2020).

Research questions: source 1

The questions to be answered are: What are the current benefits available to sex workers as professionals? How does stigmatization affect the lives of sex workers? What are some potential barriers or challenges to treating sex workers? What resources can be used to support sex workers? This source answers the questions fairly because it addresses the impact of the stigma surrounding sex work on the access to healthcare services for sex workers (West et al., 2021). Additionally, it gives recommendations for the promotion of culturally competent care for all.

This source is useful for answering the research question because it provides insight into the importance of according sex workers’ competent healthcare services. The source focuses on the issue of stigma and how it affects health services provision for sex workers and what can be done to provide quality and fair treatment for sex workers (Sawicki et al., 2019). Legalization of sex work can lead to improved health outcomes and access to healthcare services.

This source does not discuss sex workers in Florida, and neither does it discuss sexual health in terms of diseases. The new and surprising information that came up in this source is the extent to which sex work should be understood and not just prostitutes (Sawicki et al., 2019). Additionally, it highlights that even economic and political factors in the use have contributed to the challenges that sex workers face.

Research questions: source 2

The authors found that decriminalization or legalization of sex work is associated with improved access to healthcare services and reduced risks of sexually transmitted infections (Platt et al., 2018). This source provides evidence that recognizing female sex work in Florida would allow women in this industry to access the health system and improve their sexual health. (b) The authors found that the criminalizing sex work exposes sex workers to increases the risk of violent attacks and poor health outcomes.

This source is particularly useful for answering the research questions because it provides a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the subject and draws conclusions based on a review of multiple studies (Platt et al., 2018). The authors have also used a meta-analysis to combine the results of multiple studies, providing a more robust analysis of the data. The focus of this source is the relationship between laws governing sex work and sex workers’ health outcomes. The authors aim to analyze the findings of previous studies on the topic and draw conclusions based on the data they analyzed (Platt et al., 2018).

This source does not discuss the broader social and economic implications of recognizing female sex work in Florida. The authors have focused specifically on the health outcomes of sex workers rather than the broader social and economic implications of sex work recognition (Welch, 2021). One surprising finding from this source was the association between the criminalizing sex work and greater risk of sex workers being violently attacked and negative health outcomes. This highlights the importance of recognizing female sex work in Florida to improve the safety and health of women in this industry.

Topic summary

Based on the research thus far, the lessons taken by the student are that sex workers can highly benefit from having free access to healthcare services and that discrimination affects their profession and themselves in social life (Sawicki et al., 2019). However, the confusing part still is about how recognizing sex work would affect the stigma surrounding this industry and how the safety of sex workers can be guaranteed. The remaining question is on the sexual health of sex workers.

The questions asked now include: what are the potential challenges and drawbacks of recognizing sex work, and how can these be addressed? And what is the status of sex workers in other states? Next, a person would want to compare the status of sex workers in different states, which can help understand the differences in the challenges faced by sex workers across different states (Welch, 2021). This information can be vital in policy implementation.

Overall, the student understands that recognizing female sex work in Florida could have positive impacts on the sexual health of this population (West et al., 2021). However, there are still some potential challenges that need to be addressed. The most interesting aspect of the topic is exploring the potential benefits of recognizing sex work and how it could improve the lives of female workers in this industry.

References

Argento, E., Goldenberg, S., Braschel, M., Machat, S., Strathdee, S. A., & Shannon, K. (2020). The impact of end-demand legislation on sex workers’ access to health and sex worker-led services: A community-based prospective cohort study in Canada. 
PloS One, 
15(4), e0225783.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225783

Platt, L., Grenfell, P., Meiksin, R., Elmes, J., Sherman, S. G., Sanders, T., … & Crago, A. L. (2018). Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies. 
PLoS Medicine, 
15(12), e1002680.

Sawicki, D. A., Meffert, B. N., Read, K., & Heinz, A. J. (2019). Culturally competent health care for sex workers: an examination of myths that stigmatize sex work and hinder access to care. 
Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 
34(3), 355-371.

Welch, B. M. (2021). Public Health and Sex Work: Using History to Motivate Change. 
Journal of Legal Medicine, 
41(1-2), 95-108.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01947648.2021.1935633

West, B. S., Liz Hilton and Empower Thailand, Montgomery, A. M., & Ebben, A. R. (2021). Reimagining sex work venues: Occupational health, safety, and rights in indoor workplaces. 
Sex Work, Health, and Human Rights: Global Inequities, Challenges, and Opportunities for Action, 207-230.

How Does the Environment Stimulate Self-Determination?
Self-determination occurs when people take control of their freedom. The
environment encourages self-determination by being responsive and informa-tional, or it discourages self-determination through controlling and unpredict-able responses to behaviors.

Older adults exposed to responsive environments maintain their sense of mastery by adjusting their standards for competence. When we inter-viewed older adults, we found that they continue to identify competence, autonomy, and relatedness as needs they hope to meet. They recognize achievement of these needs to be important outcomes of their leisure.

A responsive and informational environment reacts to a person’s initiatives, pro-vides information about the person’s competence, and encourages further action. It fosters intrinsic motivation and internal causality, resulting in self-determined behavior.

Events involving choice and positive feedback provide information to the person, thereby enhancing self-determination. By creating environments that are option-rich, responsive, and informative, we increase the likelihood of par-ticipants becoming self-determined.

How Is Self-Determination in Leisure Facilitated?

Self-determination involves a lifelong interplay between the individual and
the environment. A supportive, responsive context is important when encour-aging people to become self-determined. Optimal environments offer peo-ple opportunities to express and further develop self-determination. To pro-mote self-determination, we shift from services directed by professionals to services directed by participants. Research supports the connection between self-determination and participation in recreation activities.

Researchers found an increased amount of time spent by adolescents and young adults actively engaged in recreation predicted higher levels of self-determination (McGuire & McDonnell, 2008).
Our challenge is to structure services to encourage self-determined leisure participation. Many strategies facilitate self-determination. An environment that fosters self-determination requires us to do the following:

• Provide opportunities for choice

• Promote communication

• Respond to preferences

• Foster active participation

• Encourage empowerment

• Increase competence

• Advocate goal setting

Provide Opportunities for Choice

Choice refers to the act of selecting one option, ideally a preferred one, from among others that are simultaneously available. The characteristic of choice is common to most discussions of self-determination; however, some families and professionals act in a paternalistic manner and make choices for people rather than allow participants to decide for themselves. As described, paternalism in-volves an approach to relationships in which the desire to help, advise, and even protect may result in neglecting individual choice and personal responsibility. Though the intention to care for others is responsible, disregarding people’s ability to take control of their lives is often disrespectful. Opportunities to ex-press interests and preferences have been prevented by people who incorrect-ly assume that participants such as older adults, people who do not speak the dominant community language, or those who have a disability are incapable of making informed choices.

When people are given choices, they engage in activities more, increase their interest, become more enthusiastic, increase their participation, and reduce challenging behaviors. We encourage participants to make choices within activi-ties when we present multiple and diverse options such as what materials to use, with whom to participate, and when to stop an activity.

We can facilitate opportunities for participants to make choices during the course of an activity by simply following the person’s lead and interests. To en-courage self-determination, we should support initiation of activities by pro-viding participants with opportunities to express preferences, allowing them to make choices regarding their leisure participation, and providing opportunities for them to experience outcomes based on their choices

Freedom of choice is vital to the pursuit of enjoyable, satisfying, and mean-ingful experience. Personal autonomy for people is an essential aspect of inde-pendent functioning and self-reliance. When we encourage people to choose activities, they are more enthusiastic about learning skills needed to participate, more readily apply those skills to other settings, and are more likely to continue to participate in those activities

The ultimate goal of any leisure program is to facilitate self-initiated, inde-pendent use of free time in meaningful, enjoyable, and acceptable recreation ac-tivities. When we provide opportunities for people to make self-determined and responsible choices that reflect their needs to grow, explore, and realize their potential, they are more likely to experience leisure.

Amy’s favorite activity is doing artwork. When she attends art class, she selects paper; she chooses between colors, sizes, and textures. She decides to use watercolors today rather than chalk or markers. After she has her materials, Amy positions her easel where she prefers and begins her cho-sen project while carefully selecting her color scheme.
It is important to maintain a delicate balance between providing opportuni-ties for choice and encouraging socially acceptable leisure behaviors. Sometimes people choose to exhibit behaviors that society has identified as being offensive or detrimental. It is helpful to redirect these people to participate in socially ac-ceptable activities of their choosing that do not bring psychological or physical discomfort to themselves or others.

Helping people determine appropriateness of behaviors is useful. All people must learn that they are rarely completely free to do anything they wish. To ex-perience leisure on an ongoing basis, people must learn to assert their rights and to respect other people they encounter. The appropriateness of behaviors may vary according to the location such as the bedroom versus a public swimming pool, frequency such as asking once versus asking several times, timing such as laughing when someone is making a joke versus when someone is crying, and relationship of people present such as a brother versus a teacher.

Encouraging participants to make choices and take charge of their lives is an important aspect of leisure services. The earlier we present opportunities for choices to people, the more likely they will acquire self-determined behaviors. We can support participants to become more self-determined by inviting them to try new experiences, while continually offering opportunities for them to make choices.

Promote Communication

Effective communication facilitates involvement with others. However, for a variety of reasons, some people take considerable time to formulate a commu-nication turn. At times, when responding to these individuals, we do not provide them with adequate time to respond. This unwillingness to wait for people to take their turn results in us taking control of the conversation and often the en-tire situation.

Because choosing to initiate involvement is critical to the leisure experience, it is helpful if we encourage people to initiate interactions and share conver-sations. Construction of a supportive environment responsive to the commu-nicative attempts is important. A supportive environment is created when we approach the person, attend to the person, and wait at least 10 seconds for that person to initiate interaction. This will encourage leisure involvement and, more important, demonstrate respect for that person.

Because a perception of freedom to choose to participate in meaningful, en-joyable, and satisfying experiences is fundamental to leisure, independent lei-sure participation is stifled when we rely on a directive approach to service de-livery. A directive approach to leisure services occurs when we maintain control and limit choice for participants.

A directive approach to hiking is to have hikers follow the leader and to remain on the blue-marked trail.

When we provide leisure services, it is helpful to take a nondirective ap-proach. A nondirective approach occurs when we encourage participants to pro-vide input freely, resulting in us strongly considering the individual’s prefer-ences and choices. Nondirective instructional strategies help us avoid instilling a sense of dependency within our participants.

A nondirective approach to hiking is to have hikers examine a map and plan a hike that includes taking various color-marked trails. Hikers work with the leader to estimate trip distance and length of time and assess plan feasibility. Once the plan is initiated, at occasional rest periods a dis-cussion is held to determine if the group wants to revise the e group wants to revise the plan

Because much daily communication is not verbally prompted, encourag-ing people to initiate communication is an important goal. As people engage in reciprocal exchanges stimulated by them initiating interactions, their abil-ity to communicate preferences, make meaningful choices, and experience lei-sure is enhanced. When communication is reciprocal, the interaction is mutual; the conversation is shared relatively equally between two people. Reciprocal communication happens when comments and thoughts of both parties are ex-pressed, listened to, and respected.

Simply providing people who have limited communication skills with an al-ternative form of communication is not sufficient. It is valuable to respond to their conversational attempts. We must be as responsive as possible to commu-nicative attempts made by all people.

If people do not initiate communication, they are still supported. Their initiations are supported when we complete actions such as providing them with objects they request, returning greetings to them, and extending and ex-panding their comments. When people do not initiate interactions, we can ask open-ended questions beginning with what and how as opposed to questions forcing them into a yes/no response.

Respond to Preferences

The most common way to determine someone’s preferences is to ask. How-ever, some individuals do not have verbal skills to communicate, and others feel pressured to identify certain preferences that correspond with expectations of privileged individuals. Consequently, it is helpful to observe people when they are presented with choices to determine if there is pattern in their selections. Preference refers to a desire for an option following a comparison of that op-tion against a continuum of other options. The distinction between choice and preference is subtle but important.

Arbitrarily providing an option that is preferred by someone removes the chance for that person to experience the joy of making the choice, such as taking Alonzo to his favorite playground without asking him to choose a playground. Conversely, helping someone to choose among options that are not preferred is problematic, such as offering Tonia the chance to choose between tap, ballet, and jazz dance classes even though Tonia does not enjoy dance and would prefer to choose among playing sports such as soccer, basketball, or field hockey.

When providing leisure services, it is valuable to determine a person’s pref-erences and create supporting opportunities for the person to choose among preferred options. Each day presents many opportunities to express preferences and make choices about leisure. These choices include not only what to do, but also where, when, and with whom to perform the activity. To respond to the needs of diverse participants, we can assess their preferences and develop strate-gies for determining preferred activities.

Foster Active Participation

People who have been oppressed are often excluded from recreation activi-ties, at times because of their assumed inability to participate independently. However, a person deemed unable to engage in an activity independently should not be denied a chance for partial participation.

Partial participation involves the use of adaptations and assistance to facili-tate leisure participation regardless of skill level. This approach affirms the right of people to participate in environments and activities without regard to degree of assistance required.

Through partial participation, individuals may experience the exhilaration and satisfaction associated with the challenge inherent in a particular recreation activity. The following is an example of partial participation:

Miguel and his friends entered a softball league. At the start of the season, a few rules were adjusted to facilitate Miguel’s league play because he uses a walker. Instead of the ball being pitched to him, he hit it off a tee. After he hit the ball, a teammate, Nicole, ran the bases. When Nicole touched home plate, the team congratulated Miguel and Nicole.

The principle of partial participation ensures that even those people who might never be able to acquire a large-enough complement of skills to completely par-ticipate in recreation activities independently could still learn enough to par-ticipate to some degree. However, challenges arise when we attempt to promote partial participation.

First, we might narrowly define participation as simply presence. When pas-sive participation such as keeping score on the sidelines is the dominant form of participation, this is problematic. It is helpful to encourage active participation by all participants regardless of skill level.

Second, sometimes we fail to consider the person’s preferences, his or her long-term learning needs, family priorities, reactions of peers, and other socially validated, community-referenced guidelines. It is important to solicit this infor-mation from participants and their families.

Third, we may interpret “doing things independently” as doing them alone, which results in too narrow a prescription for performance. The supportive presence of another person offers a way to enhance a person’s participation. This supportive person performs those parts of the activity that a participant deter-mines to be burdensome, overly time consuming, stressful, or exhausting.

Encourage Empowerment Empowerment

is the transfer of power and control over the values, deci-sions, choices, and directions of services from external entities such as service providers to consumers of services. This results in increased motivation to par-ticipate and enhances feelings of dignity. Unfortunately, we do not always allow people and their families the right to make decisions and therefore fail to em-power them.

People who experience communication barriers such as recent immi-grants who do not effectively know the dominant language or those with cognitive, physical, communicative, or sensory impairments encounter challenges in expressing preferences and being understood by others.

For many people who have been oppressed, opportunities for learning and practicing decision making and self-direction are limited. Reasons that these individuals experience such powerlessness and lack of self-direction have less to do with their lack of ability than with attitudes and practices of service providers, funding agencies, and social institutions.

Every person has the right to be empowered by communicating with others, expressing everyday preferences, and exercising some control over life. We need to give each individual the choice, education, technology, respect, and encour-agement to do so. It is valuable if we create empowering environments in which people and their families are given information to make choices and chances to exercise their choices.

Learning to make good choices requires experience with the process of decision making, which involves choosing among viable alternatives and deal-ing with consequences of decisions. When independent choice making is not feasible or safe, we can adapt or support choice making, and individuals can partially participate in decision-making processes. Development of autonomy, the importance of choice making, opportunities for self-initiation, and environ-mental manipulation all facilitate learning, enjoyment, and empowerment.

Making timely and correct decisions leads to a sense of personal effective-ness and interest that promotes investment of attention and enjoyment. People who do not possess the decision-making skills needed for activity involvement are more likely to acquire these skills if they participate in recreation activities and are given considerable autonomy to do so.

We should encourage participants to evaluate their decisions, determine the effects of their decisions, and decide whether they would act in a similar way in a similar circumstance. Teaching people to locate facilities, learn about participa-tion requirements, and obtain answers to questions stimulates decisions about leisure and empowers them. To empower participants to be self-determined, we should give them as many opportunities as possible to practice making manage-able decisions.

Increase Competence

Perceived competence refers to people’s evaluation of their own ability to achieve tasks when compared to others of the same age and gender. Perceived competence is an important feature of leisure because it results in feelings of personal control.

Psychological comfort is perceived when people compare their perfor-mance to standards adopted internally and feel satisfied with their performance. This comfort is important because it allows the option that people use a crite-rion other than social comparison to judge their competence.

People who perceive they are competent in many available activities are in
a better situation to experience leisure than those who do not. Participation in activities in which people perceive themselves as competent throughout their lives is important for us to consider when planning services

A
leisure repertoire includes the breadth of activities that people do for en-joyment and fun. Expanding a person’s leisure repertoire tends to increase a sense of competence. Activities that people do frequently for their leisure they do well, and what they do well in their leisure they do often. Though expanding a person’s leisure repertoire is often valuable, it is helpful to consider some people prefer frequently engaging in a few meaningful and enjoyable recreation activi-ties. So rather than focusing solely on expanding people’s leisure repertoire, we can help people have meaningful choices to engage in preferred pursuits.

Advocate Goal Setting

Self-determination includes attitudes and abilities that lead people to define goals and to take the initiative to achieve those goals. Activities with clear goals are more likely to lead to participant enjoyment. In many activities, the goals are implicit, and therefore goal setting is not important.

For a person to complete a painting, the main concern is to develop skills that result in recognizing an aesthetically pleasing finished product.

One of our roles as service providers is to encourage participants to set goals
when they are not apparent and work toward achieving them. Participants usu-ally problem solve when an environment fosters interdependence. It is impor-tant that these goals are challenging and individualized so that they are relevant to the person who works to achieve them. Different people may have different goals associated with the same activity.

Elena and Bassem chose to build a birdhouse. Elena’s primary goal is to challenge herself to make the birdhouse more quickly than the last time she made one. In contrast, Bassem’s primary goal is to make it as attrac-tive as possible.

There are many strategies to use when facilitating self determination as seen
in Figure 12.4. Leisure contexts are ideal for implementing these strategies.

Final Thoughts

Self-determination is necessary for the optimal experience of enjoyment. It
makes effort and investment of attention worthwhile for a person. This experi-ence of enjoyment serves in turn to develop competence, thereby reinforcing self-determination.
All people need to have opportunities to take charge of their own lives. Their
experiences are organized by principles that promote self-determination. If people are supported to make choices, participate in decisions, set goals, and experi-ence control in their lives, they become more self-determined. As people become more self-determined, they are more likely to assume greater control, make more c

What Are Benefits of Social Inclusion for Participants?

Inclusive leisure participation prepares all people for life in a diverse society
and prepares society to accept individual diversity. Inclusion has many benefits, and greater social acceptance by peers and social inclusion in the community are among the most important. Benefits of inclusion include accepted social behav-iors, increased interactions with others, positive feelings, increased friendships, and improved communication.

When discussing benefits of inclusion, people often focus on benefits experi-enced by people who have been oppressed, such as those who are not members of the dominant race or religion. Benefits to these individuals are numerous, yet benefits to people who are privileged are also plentiful.

Learning to live and play with people who are different is a critical part of a
person’s development. Inclusive communities provide people with a chance to learn from each other; grow to care for one another; and gain the attitudes, skills, and values necessary for advancing society.

When we include all people in community programs, those who have been
oppressed enjoy life in their community, practitioners improve their profes-sional skills, and overall society operates according to the social value of equity for all people. The following are benefits of inclusion:

• Cultivate friendships

• Acquire social skills

• Develop lifelong skills

• Enhance image

• Improve academic performance

• Improve attitudes

• Increase understanding

• Develop acceptance

Cultivate Friendships

People develop friendships when they participate in inclusive community
leisure programs. Friendship is a social relationship between two people that is reciprocal, rewarding, and enjoyable for both parties and characterized by mul-tiple, voluntary contacts and shared experiences across time.

Friendships are reciprocal because the relationship is mutual and thus pro-vides opportunities to give and receive. People become friends with someone voluntarily; they freely choose who they consider to be their friend. When people are with a friend, they typically enjoy that person’s company; they take pleasure in being with that person. Another characteristic of a friend is that the person shares similar interests. Similar interests create opportunities to bond with that person and engage in conversations and joint participation.

Research supports the conclusion that quality friendships are associated with positive attitudes and reduce the chance of a person being victimized by peers. Often participants develop friendships that emerge out of shared interests iden-tified during inclusive leisure experiences.

Because Eryn made friends while participating in a community recre-ation program, she was invited to birthday parties, received telephone calls from friends, and had friends visit her house to play.

When parents are asked about what they want for their children, often they indicate that they want their child to have friends.

Linda talked about her dreams for her daughter: “Our goals for Katie in-clude wanting her to feel loved. She is a very social child and while I think she has a great capacity to make friends, I wonder how other children will accept her” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administra-tion for Children and Families, 1994, p. 2).

Recreation activities that permit interaction with a person’s peers provide opportunities for shared interests, a sense of accomplishment, feelings of be-longing, formation of a personal identity, and mastery over the environment. Inclusive leisure services help to reduce barriers and create a forum for emerg-ing relationships and making of friends.

Friends usually help us to be better people, because we tend to behave better when we know our friends are watching. An effective way to develop or strength-en existing friendships is to provide individuals with the opportunity to engage in fun yet challenging activities together. Friendship are inspired in times of dif-ficulty and enjoyment.

Acquire Social Skills

People are more likely to develop the social skills needed to develop rela-tionships when participating in inclusive leisure opportunities. Having friends is important to the quality of every person’s life, and people learn best when learn-ing what their friends are learning. Inclusive environments give people a chance to learn to get along with others, interact, seek and lend assistance, understand when assistance is needed, make sense of changing contexts, ask questions, com-municate with others, and behave appropriately.

People who are disenfranchised have a tendency not to learn social skills associated with the mainstream of society. As discussed, people who are disen-franchised have been deprived of certain privileges or rights and are congre-gated in a particular area. When people enjoy leisure in inclusive environments, they tend to interact with one another and develop relationships with their peers.

Researchers have identified that children interact more often with oth-er children and exhibit more socially advanced skills in inclusive set-tings (Dreimanus et al., 1992). Inclusive playgroups facilitate peer in-teraction, whereas segregated ones constrain peer interaction and promote adult–child interaction (Guralnick & Groom, 1988). Social interactions increase during inclusive programs associated with art (Schleien, Ray, Soderman-Olson, & McMahon, 1987).

Researchers consistently find that people’s feelings of self-worth, communica-tion and interaction abilities, leadership skills, and tolerance of diversity are en-hanced when they participate in inclusive environments.

Develop Lifelong Skills

The presence of inclusive options promotes development of lifelong func-tional recreation skills. People learn interdependent behaviors such as asking for assistance by experiencing challenges that are part of inclusive community life. As discussed, behaviors are interdependent when they require people to rely on one another and when there is mutual support for each person’s efforts.

Participants of all abilities feel enjoyment when we, as professionals, value each person’s contribution. A variety of lifelong recreation activity skills are de-veloped in inclusive situations.

Martial arts including tae kwon do, karate, and judo are engaged in across the life span. Forms of inclusive creative arts such as playing a musical in-strument in a band or being a member of a community theater group are enjoyed throughout life. Lifelong recreation activities promoting social engagement and fitness include golf and tennis.

Enhance Image

Placement of people in a segregated context results in people being viewed
negatively. Conversely, when people are included, their image is enhanced be-cause they become part of a community that is representative of a society.

Researchers examined attitudes of college students toward a woman in either Special Olympics for people with developmental disabilities or in recreation activities in an inclusive setting. The woman was regarded as younger and needing more assistance in the Special Olympics than in typical recreation activities. This study supports the belief that the image of a person is more positive when the person is in an inclusive context as opposed to a segregated one (Storey, Stern, & Parker, 1991).

Improve Academic Performance

Many individuals who are involved in inclusive programs do better academi-cally and socially than do individuals in segregated environments.

Researchers concluded that children in inclusive settings did better than they did in previous years when they were in segregated programs. Par-ents stated that inclusion resulted in removing barriers to learning includ-ing increased vocabulary, use of coping strategies, being less dependent, being more interactive, and reducing inappropriate behaviors (Ryndak, Downing, Jacqueline, & Morrison, 1995).

In summary, people accrue many benefits from participating in inclusive leisure services. The most prominent benefits associated with inclusion relate to participants’ abilities to engage in social interactions with their peers and de-velop meaningful friendships.

Improve Attitudes

People often positively alter their attitudes about diverse individuals as a re-sult of joint participation in selected activities.

Research supports the practice of carefully planning inclusive programs, because this often results in positive outcomes. After children participat-ed in inclusive arts, their attitudes toward their peers improved (Schleien et al., 1987).

If joint participation results in people having positve attitudes toward oth-ers who differ from them in some manner, then they will likely participate in activities with these people again. These people bring a positive attitude to the activity, resulting in them confidently influencing others’ attitudes, thus creating a cycle of positive attitudes.

Increase Understanding

For people of all abilities, enjoyment of recreation opportunities occurs when others value their contribution. Exposure to inclusive leisure services results in a greater understanding and acceptance of individuals with varying backgrounds and ability levels. This exposure creates the potential for inclusion to have a pos-itive effect on social development of all individuals.

When involved in inclusive programs, people become more accepting of dif-ferences and begin to appreciate the capacities of all participants. The following quote from the Georgia Advocacy Office over 25 years ago illustrates the benefits people receive when participating in inclusive programs:

Our world includes an array of people who, we believe, are more alike than different. What children learn from each other about difference and acceptance is equally as important as the technical education that they receive. We all need to learn how to live and work together. Students develop more fully when they welcome people with different gifts and abilities into their lives and when all feel secure that they will receive in-dividualized help when they need it.

Develop Acceptance

We take an active role in reducing social stigmas by emphasizing similarities rather than differences. Such a reduction in stigmatization increases acceptance.

After conducting multiple interviews with youth, researchers found that youth reported positive results when the leisure context emphasized similarities in participant abilities (Devine & Wilhite, 2000).

Long-term interactions between different groups of people facilitate devel-opment of skills, attitudes, and values that prepare these groups to share, par-ticipate, and contribute to their communities. As a result of participation in inclusive leisure services, people learn new ways to solve problems and adapt to difference, develop positive attitudes toward people who are different from them, and increase acceptance of people in general.

Surveying almost 1,500 high school students, researchers found that youth educated in inclusive settings expect and recommend inclusion. However, if they attend schools providing limited inclusion, they expect and recommend segregation; youth with inclusive experiences are better prepared for adulthood when they meet diverse people in their commu-nity (Fisher, Pupian, & Sax, 1998).

As a result of participating in inclusive leisure opportunities, many people report that they experience personal growth and increased social sensitivity, including improved capacity for compassion, kindness, and respect for others. Others report that they develop the skills and attitudes needed to live harmoni-ously in communities that include diverse members.

Research demonstrates that children in inclusive situations achieve at levels equal to or above peers in noninclusive situations. Inclusive expe-riences promote improved response to other’s needs, tolerance of oth-ers, personal values, appreciation of human diversity, and status (Kliewer, 1998).

In summary, benefits of an inclusive leisure opportunity extend beyond lei-sure service providers and participants who have been disenfranchised. All peo-ple benefit from inclusion. Figure 10.1 provides a summary of the many benefits associated with inclusion and making positive contact with diverse people