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A Qualitative Exploration of Parents’ Perceptions of Risk within an Adventure Playground
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- Author / Creator
- Bourque, Anthony Stephen
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Risk-aversion is prevalent in North America, and the literature (Brussoni et al., 2012) has suggested that Adventure Playgrounds may be an appropriate intervention to re-introduce risky play into children’s lives. However, even within spaces that allow for more risk-taking during play, children’s participation may be restricted due to parental concerns. The purpose of this study was to explore parents’ perceptions of their children’s risk-taking during play (risky play) in the context of an Adventure Playground, the Vivo Play Hub (VPH). Parents who had previously visited the VPH, were recruited online through community Facebook groups and asked to participate in semi-structured interviews with photo elicitation. The method of interpretive description guided the study and elements of narrative inquiry were engaged to present the findings. Three themes were created through analysis, 1) consequences explored the worries parents experienced about their parenting interventions, 2) risky parenting questioned what it meant for parents to support (or not support) risky play, 3) simply play brought attention to the complexities parents face related to play. Conclusions indicated that parents felt the VPH was a safe environment that allowed their children to have a quality play experience, however it also revealed the complexity of parenting in attempting to embrace risky play.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2021
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Arts
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.