De vraag naar nieuwe innovatieve wellnessproducten was in 2010 de aanleiding tot het onderzoek waarvan u hier het eindresultaat voor u heeft. Docente en research fellow Roos Gerritsma van de minor Sports, Wellness & Lifestyle had vele afstudeeronderzoeken en stages begeleid en was mede daardoor goed op de hoogte van het aanbod op wellnessgebied. Een onmoeting met wellnessgoeroe Dirk Jan Meijer van Living Well SPA & Wellness Group was de katalysator om te komen tot dit onderzoek. Samen constateerden zij dat er een verschuiving van ziekte en zorg naar gezondheid en gedrag ingezet was. Bovendien diende zich de vraag naar preventie aan. En zij signaleerden een verschil in kennis en ervaring op de Nederlandse wellnessmarkt vergeleken met die van de zogeheten wellnessgidslanden Duitsland en Oostenrijk, en dan vooral op het gebied van preventie. Voldoende basis voor toegepast onderzoek naar preventieve wellness.
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Chapter 39 in Health, Tourism and Hospitality: Spas, Wellness and Medical Travel, 2nd Edition takes an in-depth and comprehensive look at the growing health, wellness and medical tourism sectors in a global context. The book analyses the history and development of the industries, the way in which they are managed and organised, the expanding range of new and innovative products and trends, and the marketing of destinations, products and services.
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This paper introduces a creative approach aimed at empowering desk-bound occupational groups to address the issue of physical inactivity at workplaces. The approach involves a gamified toolkit called Workplace Vitality Mapping (WVM) (see Figure 1) designed to encourage self-reflection in sedentary contexts and foster the envision of physical vitality scenarios. This hybrid toolkit comprises two main components: A Card Game (on-site) for context reflection and a Co-design Canvas (Online) for co-designing vitality solutions. Through the card games, participants reflect on key sedentary contexts, contemplating their preferable physical vitality scenarios with relevant requirements. The co-design canvas facilitates the collaborative construction and discussion of vitality scenarios’ development. The perceptions and interactions of the proposed toolkit from the target group were studied and observed through a hybrid workshop, which demonstrated promising results in terms of promoting participants’ engagement experience in contextual reflections and deepening their systemic understanding to tackle the physical inactivity issue. As physical inactivity becomes an increasingly pressing concern, this approach offers a promising participatory way for gaining empathetic insights toward community-level solutions.
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Interactive design is an emerging trend in dementia care environments. This article describes a research project aiming at the design and development of novel spatial objects with narrative attributes that incorporate embedded technology and textiles to support the wellbeing of people living with dementia. In collaboration with people with dementia, this interdisciplinary research project focuses on the question of how innovative spatial objects can be incorporated into dementia long-term care settings, transforming the space into a comforting and playful narrative environment that can enhance self-esteem while also facilitating communication between people living with dementia, family, and staff members. The research methodologies applied are qualitative, including Action Research. Participatory design methods with the experts by experience—the people with dementia—and health professionals have been used to inform the study. Early findings from this research are presented as design solutions comprising a series of spatial object prototypes with embedded technology and textiles. The prototypes were evaluated primarily by researchers, health professionals, academics, and design practitioners in terms of functionality, aesthetics, and their potential to stimulate engagement. The research is ongoing, and the aim is to evaluate the prototypes by using ethnographic and sensory ethnography methods and, consequently, further develop them through co-design workshops with people living with dementia.
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In dit verslagboek is getracht een compleet en divers beeld te schetsen van het SIA RAAK-project rond de Limburgse bezinningsmarkt voor toerisme. Vanuit de meest uiteenlopende invalshoeken, corresponderend met de diversiteit aan betrokken bij dit project, wordt er feedback gegeven op het procesverloop en de onderzoekresultaten.
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In the troubled times in which we currently live, the tourism industry has called into question a need for more responsible social practices and more mindful utilisation of natural environments. The Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, has not only become a new wellness trend, but also a great potential for deeply immersive tourist experiences. While there is a wealth of studies examining the positive effects of forest bathing focussing principally on its medical benefits, this qualitative study extends these debates through documenting lived experiences of forest bathers. In so doing forest bathing suggests its latent potential to offer a profoundly mindful experience, and aims to situate this practice more prominently within the tourism discourse.
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