Rural Recreation for Resilience: Youth Development and Life Skill Outcomes in 4-H Ontario Horse Clubs Application of a resilience and rural lens to physical activity for psycho-social wellbeing by Heather R. Sansom A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Rural Studies Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Heather R. Sansom, July, 2018 ABSTRACT RURAL RECREATION FOR RESILIENCE: YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND THERAPEUTIC OUTCOMES IN 4-H ONTARIO HORSE CLUB Heather Ruth Sansom Advisors: University of Guelph, 2018 Dr. Harry Cummings Dr. John Fitzgibbon Committee: Dr. Leah Levac Dr. Linda Liebenberg Canada has widely acknowledged deficits in population physical and mental health, especially for marginalised populations such as those in rural areas. Low scores on youth wellbeing create a need for new options to promote physical activity and psycho-social skill development. While there are lower health indicators for rural areas, they are rich in assets for contextually relevant physical recreation and youth development activities. Equine activity, that is an Olympic sport, leisure activity, and physical and mental health therapy, is one such option. This study examined resilience and other life skills through participation in 4-H horse clubs. 4-H is an international youth development organization that has been in Canada for over 100 years. Arising at the same time as Scouts and other established youth development organizations, 4-H was uniquely dedicated to the needs of rural communities. Today clubs are in urban and rural areas, with a variety of topics. They are community-based, low-cost, and often inclusive of persons with different abilities. Horse clubs were targeted because of the wealth of literature available on therapeutic equine activity, and because of 4-H’s unique use of this form of physical recreation within a positive youth development framework. The study used a three-phase, mixed-method approach within a resilience lens: 1) an online survey to all horse club members (536, n = 56) and leaders (105, n = 4) across Ontario incorporating the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28) and Schwarzer and Jerusalem Self-Efficacy Scales; 2) key informant interviews (n = 10); and 3) group youth interviews with image elicitation (5 clubs, n = 30). Youth with different needs due to disability, cognitive ability, family situation, social status or other risk factors were included. Findings indicated high levels of resilience resources. Participants described resilience, together with other outcomes such as confidence and transferrable social and workforce skills. They also discussed processes that they felt facilitated these benefits. Findings are relevant to sport for positive youth development, therapeutic recreation, animal and nature-based programming, equine programming specifically, and to rural community development. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to a very wide network of people who have supported me through the process. To Dr.s John Fitzgibbon and Al Lauzon who were instrumental in my acceptance and receipt of funds and scholarships term after term at SEDRD. I appreciate your commitment to a formative teaching process, patience and practical help. To Dr. Linda Liebenberg who was co-director of the Resilience Research Centre at Dalhousie University, and a very busy person at the time I emailed her about her book that I had just read, and asked if she would consider joining my advisory committee. Your kindness and generosity with a student several thousand kilometres away opened a whole new world for me. I am particularly grateful for the opportunities to attend two resilience research conferences and workshops in Halifax that you helped to facilitate, and for timely and practical writing suggestions as needed. To my advisor Dr. Harry Cummings, I am not sure I can adequately express my gratitude for your straight up and sometimes tough coaching style and willingness to take on a new doctoral student at the eve of your retirement. Thank you for coaching my development as a social scientist. To Dr. Leah Levac, who, despite your full advising and teaching load in a completely different department, found time to coach writing and research details, provide examples, encourage me over coffee, and bring important perspectives from your experience in feminist and participatory action research, and youth outdoor leadership to the conversation. To Debra Brown of 4-H Ontario, and the entire 4-H team of staff, volunteer leaders and study participants (including the team in Stockholm): thank you for believing in this project and in me, inviting me into your world, rolling up your sleeves, and learning to do by doing. Without your belief in the value of the research and collaboration, there would have been no 4-H Resilience Study. Also to Mitacs: the research wouldn’t have been possible without your timely decision to include non-profit organizations in your model, and guidance through the application process. To my academic peers- students in SEDRD, students and professors in other schools and countries, who exchanged ideas, encouraged and challenged by phone, email, in meetings and at conferences: you created a community and helped me stay on track. I am especially grateful to equine therapy and Green Care practitioners and researchers in Scandinavia and the UK who opened their lives, took me on site visits, shared ideas and generally believed in my project, youth who need help, and me. To family for giving me freedom and believing that a person has to follow their heart, even though you didn’t understand, and to dear friends who lent me their couches travelling for the research and academic work, crowd-funded donations to 4-H so they could partner with Mitacs, and generally supported my spiritual, physical and mental health as I took on the adventure: God bless you forever. I’m there for you, and I promise to pay it forward. This project was conducted on un-ceded Algonquin land. Miigwetch. v Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................iv CHAPTER 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Study Overview .................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Purpose of the Study – Rural Recreation for Resilience ....................................................... 7 1.4 Relevance ............................................................................................................................ 7 1.4.1 Rural studies.......................................................................................................... 7 1.4.2 Health promotion. .................................................................................................. 7 1.4.3 Youth intervention. ................................................................................................. 8 1.4.4 Equine activity. ...................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................... 9 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Rurality, Wellbeing, and Youth Resilience ............................................................................ 9 2.2.1 Foundational definitions. ........................................................................................ 9 Rurality: economy, people, place. ....................................................................... 9 Economy: ................................................................................................ 9 People: ...................................................................................................10 Place: .....................................................................................................11 Youth. ................................................................................................................13 Wellbeing. ..........................................................................................................14 Resilience. .........................................................................................................15 Self-efficacy. ......................................................................................................16 2.2.2 Canadian youth and wellbeing. .............................................................................17 2.2.3 Rurality and wellbeing profile. ...............................................................................19 2.2.4 Rural barriers to wellbeing. ...................................................................................20 Housing. ............................................................................................................20 Training. .............................................................................................................20 Adult support. .....................................................................................................21