Idræt som intervention for socialt udsatte børn og unge,

The thesis statement of this dissertation is: which conditions and processes influence the mental health of socially vulnerable children and young people through participation in health promoting communities in Go-Active focusing on physical activity (idræt) as an interventional tool? The thesis statement is examined through the use of own qualitative studies including interviews and observations of children, young people, and project workers involved in the project “Piger på Tværs” as well as leaders and social educators in youth clubs certified using physical activities (idræt). The clubs concerned have been chosen through of their affiliation with Go-Active.

The theoretical part of the dissertation opens in a health educational theoretical frame taking its starting point in the health educational perspective of the Go-Active project. The issue of participation is central and to illustrate this perspective, Wenger’s theory on social learning is used with particular emphasis on the issue of participation in communities of practice. Including Bourdieu’s theory of practice, special attention is paid to the positioning taking place in the field in terms of domain and power, and to the forms of capital and habitus that dominate the fields in question. In line with the dissertation’s focus on physical activity (idræt) as an interventional tool in relation to the mental health of socially vulnerable children and young people, the importance of the physical and mental processes in the development and well-being of the individual is analyzed, drawing on the theories of Merleau-Ponty.

The analytic section of the dissertation is divided into three themes based on the user experience design of the empiricism: 1) Well-being and mental health, employing physical activity as an interventional tool, 2) participation, and 3) the importance of structure. It can be concluded that the pleasure of movement as well as the forming of relationships are important factors in the development of mental health and well-being. To this end, physical activity has proven a useful field in the development of the participants’ ability to act. Finally, the project has shown that the role of adults in forming relationships is of vital importance for the mental health, and that implementation and anchoring are depending on a number of factors such as financial priorities, structure, organization, involvement, and joint responsibility.