Returning to the River: The Salutogenic Model as a Theory to Explore the Relation between Outdoor Activities and Health

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Returning to the River: The Salutogenic Model as a Theory to Explore the Relation between Outdoor Activities and Health
Language: English
Authors: Mikael Quennerstedt (ORCID 0000-0001-8748-8843), Erik Backman (ORCID 0000-0003-3717-2431), Jonas Mikaels (ORCID 0000-0001-9141-3318)
Source: Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. 2025 25(1):245-260.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 16
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Evaluative
Descriptors: Outdoor Education, Educational Benefits, Health, Models, Well Being, Learning Activities
DOI: 10.1080/14729679.2024.2342305
ISSN: 1472-9679
1754-0402
Abstract: An ongoing discussion is a debate about the benefits of outdoor activities for health, where a narrowness regarding the benefits as a matter of curing or preventing disease has been questioned. Hence, there is an urgent need to theorize further the relationship between outdoor activities and health with robust theoretical frameworks that can guide research and practice, taking different aspects of human-nature relations into account. In the paper, a critique of pathogenic perspectives of health is forwarded, as well as a critique of an anthropocentric human centeredness of health. Instead, a salutogenic model and the metaphor of the swimmer in the river is used to discuss the relation without being restricted to health as the absence of disease or to human health and wellbeing. In the paper, seven different relations, or salutogenic questions, are provided, moving from the swimmer in the foreground, to swimmers in the river to finally foregrounding the river.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1467610
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:An ongoing discussion is a debate about the benefits of outdoor activities for health, where a narrowness regarding the benefits as a matter of curing or preventing disease has been questioned. Hence, there is an urgent need to theorize further the relationship between outdoor activities and health with robust theoretical frameworks that can guide research and practice, taking different aspects of human-nature relations into account. In the paper, a critique of pathogenic perspectives of health is forwarded, as well as a critique of an anthropocentric human centeredness of health. Instead, a salutogenic model and the metaphor of the swimmer in the river is used to discuss the relation without being restricted to health as the absence of disease or to human health and wellbeing. In the paper, seven different relations, or salutogenic questions, are provided, moving from the swimmer in the foreground, to swimmers in the river to finally foregrounding the river.
ISSN:1472-9679
1754-0402
DOI:10.1080/14729679.2024.2342305