Welcome to
HEAL
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In HEAL, we conduct integrated studies of human-environment interactions as they intersect with leisure and impact health and wellbeing. Drawing from knowledge and methods in psychology, public health, environmental epidemiology, leisure sciences, and human dimensions of natural resources, we employ a transdisciplinary approach to examine environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural conditions as well as individual-level factors that contribute to various mechanisms key to human health, wellbeing, and flourishing.
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HEAL NEWS
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Erkkila Endowment Award for Playful Parent
The HEAL lab's research project, Playful Parents: The development and empirical evaluation of a play intervention program to enhance playfulness for parents of children with disabilities, was awarded with funding by Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation John C. Erkkila, M. D. Endowment for Health and Human Performance. Co-PI Megan MacDonald will contribute to the project. Media Report: Adaptive Leisure Engagement Contributes to Mental Health
The HEAL lab's study on pandemic leisure, a part of the Play2Cope project, was featured in The World, Medical Xpress, Mirage (Australia), EurekAlert! (The American Association of the Advancement of Science), NEWSBREAK, UK Today News, and KOIN 6. Invited Talk: The Complexity and Promises of Adult Play and Playfulness
Dr. Shen was an invited speaker at the Health & Development Lab in Florida International University to talk about the complexity and promises of adult play and playfulness. Pandemic Leisure: Findings Published The first set of findings from the Play2Cope project is published in January 2022 in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The paper is open access and can be found here: Leisure Engagement during COVID-19 and Its Association with Mental Health and Wellbeing in U.S. Adult. |
Presentation: Child Outdoor Play and Wellbeing during the Pandemic
Lydia Gorrell gave a terrific presentation on child outdoor play and wellbeing under sustained stress and major disruptions of the pandemic on November14, 2022. This is part of the Play2Cope project and also Lydia's Master thesis presentation. She successfully defended her thesis. Congrats, Lydia! Play Fully: Workshop to Engage in Cross-cultural Play
The HEAL lab presented a play workshop on November 3, 2022 at the Peavy Forest Science Center to offer an opportunity to explore the body sensation, social connections, performance, and transgression. HEAL researcher Leland Masek led the workshop. Graduated: Colby Parkinson Joins Penn State
Colby Parkinson successfully defended his Master thesis in June, 2022 on Outdoor recreation during COVID-19: The role of adaptive strategies and associations with mental health! Colby now joins the doctoral program in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management at Penn State University with a Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. Congrats, Colby! Colby Parkinson Receives Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Congrats to Colby Parkinson for receiving the 2022 Outstanding Graduate Student Award in the FES Department, College of Forestry! This award acknowledges his exceptional scholastic ability, work ethic, and department citizenship. |
