Health-Buffering Features of Self-Selected Leisure Activities: A Pilot Study in an Ambulatory Context

Recent research highlights that engagement in leisure (i.e., self-enriching behavioral pursuits like Tik Toking or golfing that occur during non-work intervals) is beneficial for mental and physical health. Using ecological momentary assessment (i.e., tapping activity in real time in the natural environment) in our pilot research, we wanted to: 1) establish which daily activities may be self-selected leisure activities (SSLAs, i.e., enjoyable activities reported as relaxing or stress reducing) by interpreting specific psychosocial features or dimensions of daily activities and 2) achieve the goal of a participant-friendly environment by denoting relevant concerns and summarizing the most interesting momentary relationships between leisure dimensions and moods. For two straight days, four members of our research team used Qualtrics surveys to complete ecological momentary assessments every three hours at each of the four assigned time points. At each measurement, participants indicated if they were engaging in leisure and reported on their current moods (e.g., sleepy, activated, stressed). If a leisure activity was reported, then the participant was asked to make subjective ratings of that activity for 13 preliminary dimensions (e.g., mental absorption, relaxation, distraction, difficulty, hecticness, guilt, and social support). Forgetting of assigned survey times, personal issues, and physical activity precluded completion of some assessments. Thus, we will need to identify issues related to compliance (e.g., providing researcher-initiated prompts). For SSLA items, participants reported some confusion about what specific activities might apply best. Hence, we will need a more refined and colorful preamble for that instruction set, plus more assessment days. For the longitudinal data of one selected participant, most of the dimensions had a suitable range of scores; and on a positive note, higher absorption score was associated with drops in sleepiness and increases in activation around similar intervals