EuroSpeleo 2016
Project-based Serious Leisure in Adventure Sports: Older adult male cavers and positive adjustments to health related adversity – a small case study.
Oral|Mrs Sharon Rosser

Abstract
This presentation will report preliminary findings from a current study investigating ways in which a group of older adult male cavers aged 65+ relate to their adventure sport. Specifically, it will explore some of the ways these men use caving as a vehicle to ameliorate and positively adjust to health-related adversity.
Mainstream trauma psychology has traditionally focused on distress and pathology but recently there has been a trend towards understanding the causes and consequences of positive functioning (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), with a growing number of scholars now considering how strengths such as optimism, resilience and savouring function in the face of hardship (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). However, much of this research has been quantitative, has not given voice to the human experience, and hard-to-reach groups remain under represented.
Led by an insider-researcher who has been a caver for over thirty years, this presentation uses qualitative findings that bring a very human voice not only to the often ignored and marginalized older adult but also to the varied ways that caving can enrich our lives.
Themes that will be considered include:
• Turning space into place.
• Project-based serious leisure.
• Legacy.
More from 2016
Oral|Mr Martin Holroyd
Vietnam, '25 years of exploration'
Oral|Mr Robin Weare
Cave Exploration in Ethiopia
Oral|Dr Nadja Zupan Hajna
Life and water in karst regions
Oral|Ms Antoniya Vlaykova
Hidden wonders of the underground world
Oral|Miss Laura Deeprose
Caves, climate change and Neanderthals: ongoing palaeoclimate research in Matienzo, northern Spain
Oral|Dr Joerg Dreybrodt
Kayah- the new caving frontier in South-East Asia
Oral|Dr David Gibson
How Earth-Current Antennas Really Work
Oral|Mr Pete Allwright
Nicola 3 Cave Radio
Oral|Mr Alex Pologea
A geographical web content management system for cave and surface data
Oral|Mr Pete Talling
Crocs, cocks and karst - caving adventures in East Timor