Stephanie Alexander

Au doctorat

Intérêts de recherche : Social inequalities in health, critical public health, play in public health, gender and health.

Stephanie Alexander is a PhD student in health promotion at Uninversité de Montréal. Her current doctoral work aims to gain a theoretical understanding of how “play” is taking root in the modern public health discourse and aims to explore the health and social implications of this.

Projet de thèse ou mémoire en cours

A critical examination of “play” within public health

Some recent public health initiatives have aimed at increasing physical activity and reducing the health burden of obesity among children by promoting “play”. However, the inclusion of “play” into the modern public health discussions around childhood sendentariness and obesity has resulted in the advancement of a predominantly utilitarian view of “play” as a structured, productive and purposeful means to achieve a health end. This utilitarian conception of "play" strays far from the fundamental aspects of "play": these include a focus on the process not outcome; activities pursued for their own sake without promise of external rewards (i.e., unproductive); and activities that are not a part of ordinary life. “Playing” is considered so critical for fostering physical, cognitive, emotional and social well-being that it has been declared a ‘right of every child’. However, by increasingly conceptualising “play” as a means to a health end, public health is threatening to strip “play” of these fundamental aspects. The objective of the study will be to gain a theoretical understanding of how “play” is taking root in the public health discourse and explore the health and social implications of this. Through an analysis of this developing discourse within public health, this proposal will explore the shortcomings of public health and health promotion approaches by contrasting the fundamental tenets of "play" with the objectives of a modern public health.