What is Leisure? The Perceptions of Recreation Practitioners and Others

The purposes of this research were to determine if agreement exists among leisure services practitioners regarding the meaning of leisure and to examine how they describe themselves and the body of knowledge related to leisure services. In addition, these responses were compared with a group of individuals outside the field to determine if these practitioners possess a unique understanding of leisure, leisure practitioners, and the body of knowledge. Members of the Recreation Branch of the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association (n = 108) and a purposive sample of employees of two local adoption agencies (n = 30) completed questionnaires, including a True/False section, a three-part free-list component, and demographic information. Data were analyzed according to consensus modeling theory using Anthropac™ data analysis software and SPSS™. The True/False data indicated high agreement, and thus, “culturally correct” definitions of leisure for each group that support traditional and multidimensional definitions of leisure. When analyzed along with the free-list data, the most frequently reported dimensions of leisure paralleled traditional definitions (i.e., free time, activities). The responses of both groups indicate that professionals need to know about management and activities. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to models of service provision.