TITLE:
Camping and quality of life
AUTHORS:
Frank H. Fu, Linxuan Guo, Yanpeng Zang
KEYWORDS:
Lifestyle Management Practices; Outdoor Activities; Wellness
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Preventive Medicine,
Vol.3 No.3,
June
10,
2013
ABSTRACT: Attaining health and
quality of life is universal among global citizens. Since its introduction by
Dr. Halbert Dunn in 1962 the term wellness was used to reflect qualify of life
and has been widely accepted and defined in the Western culture. In adapting
this concept to the Chinese community, the components of adaptation and
homeostasis should be considered in addition to physical, mental, social and
health fitness. Camping is a common activity among the Western Culture which
provides purposive leisure, social, education and therapeutic activities. It
allows campers to escape from city life and enjoy Nature. In the Chinese
community, the challenges remain to promote and develop camping to an
attractive activity in the pursuit of quality of life and wellness. The
present study would report the effects of selective camping programs on campers,
the lifestyle management practices of Hong Kong residents and a profile of Hong
Kong campers. The study was limited with data obtained from surveying 975 Hong
Kong secondary school children from 11 - 18 years old using a questionnaire
developed earlier [1]. Also, the case study on the effects of camping on
anxiety was based on data collected from 130 campers who went to a 3-day camp.