Ninth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

A laughing matter From 2011 to 2014 the publicly funded intervention Seniors at the Move offered physical activity for a six months period to physically inactive elderly citizens with health issues. 587 participants between the ages of 65 to 86 from five neighbourhoods in greater Copenhagen participated. The research question investigated whether playful activities would create trust and weak social networks and support the aim of the intervention - retention of the participants in physical activity. The intervention was process evaluated during the entire three-year activity period. Mixed methods of both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to document the outcome of the intervention. Findings were identified through participant observation, through fourteen qualitative interviews with participants, ten of those were focus group interviews with gender specific groups as well as with gender mixed groups, two in each neighbourhood. The study focused on the methods of the intervention signalling a paradigmatic shift. Physical activities were organised as play and games creating fun and laughter among the participants. Laughter and play are irrational, unproductive and related to desire, trust and emotional intensity, often with a ridiculous element as compared to the rational work, and the lack of desire produced by the performing body in the dominating health improving interventions. The participants improved both muscle strength and endurance through un-productive play and laughter, and supported by the social activities outside the regular training the intervention maintained 60 % of the participants in regular physical activity after the end of the intervention.