An increasingly popular form of raising funds in the nonprofit sector is the special event that involves some form of physical activity. This paper describes a study that tracked 50 events over nine months in order to explore the phenomenon of physical activity events, their function as a solicitation strategy and as a public awareness/relations tool, and to gauge how these events met the needs of participants who donated their money and energy to a cause. Data were collected by means of participant observation at 12 events and interviews with 12 participants and 12 hosting organisations. Using a social marketing framework and diffusion of innovations theory as an approach to making sense of the data, the results suggest that events serve two main purposes: celebrating

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -This paper aims to describe two phases of a mixed-method study: in phase I, the wellness practices of students at a Canadian university are reported. These data informed the re-development of a first-year health education course. Subsequent to its revision, phase II of the study assessed the impact of the course on students' wellness practices and learnings. Design/methodology/approach -In phase I, 855 students completed a survey rating ten wellness practices relating to themselves. Survey results were explored further in focus groups with 60 students. In phase II, a pre-and post-design assessed the impact of the health education curriculum. Wellness practices were surveyed, at the beginning and end of term, and content analysis was conducted on students' assignments. Findings -In phase I, the mean overall wellness score was 779.7 out of 1,000 or "good". Students scored highest in sexuality and safety, and lowest in physical activity and nutrition. Qualitative analyses revealed four primary themes important to students' wellness: being or holistic health; belonging or feeling connected to others and the campus; becoming or studying to achieve a professional or scholarly degree; and balance -or the search for stability. In phase II, significant changes were found for seven wellness scores when comparing the beginning and end of semester. Analysis of course assignments found that students left the course with enhanced affect and knowledge levels. Originality/value -The results support the argument that a health education curriculum, responsive to students' identified needs, and in conjunction with a healthy campus environment, promises to enhance student wellness.

Limited qualitative research exists on the experiences of outdoor education leaders. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the job-related experiences of outdoor education leaders within and outside the workplace. Five participants who had experience as outdoor education leaders completed in-depth, one-on-one interviews about their experiences. Transcripts of the interviews were coded and analyzed. Five common theme clusters about leader experiences emerged from the data: life cycle, relationships, transition, leadership, and health and wellness. This study is an important contribution to the overall outdoor education literature as it provides an opportunity to add the voices of outdoor education leaders to the quantitative literature currently available.