Profile for W. Thomas Means

Tara Delong, Jennifer Taylor and W. Thomas Means, all Recreation Management & Recreational Therapy, co-authored the article "RT Open Eagles: Answering the call for evidence-based practice" in American Journal of Recreation Therapy published on March 11 by Weston Medical Publishing. The development, implementation, and access to evidence-based practice (EBP) within the field of recreational therapy (RT) is of critical importance. Moreover, measuring the outcomes and efficacy of RT interventions and the establishment of EBP is paramount to the growth and success of the field as an allied healthcare profession. Resolving this deficiency has proven to be a difficult task for a variety of reasons. Considering this deficiency, and a need for a graduate curriculum redesign, the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) designed an integrated capstone project to assess student learning while at the same time generating content for an open-access, web-based repository named RT Open Eagles.

Submitted on: Mar. 31

W. Thomas Means, Recreation Management & Recreational Therapy, co-authored the article "Philosophy of science and leisure research: An exploratory analysis of research paradigms" in Leisure/Loisir published on Friday, Feb. 2 by Taylor & Francis.

Submitted on: Feb. 2

W. Thomas Means, Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, was interviewed by Sherry Bagley of Association of Experiential Education Podcast - It's in the Experience on Tuesday, Nov. 14. Episode 8: Academia & Research. In this episode, Bagley sits down with Joanna Bettmann Schaefer, a professor at the University of Utah College of Social Work, and W. Thomas Means, UWL assistant professor and director of Camp Brosius. The three talk about their career journeys in academia and doctoral work; the difference between wilderness, recreation and adventure therapy; finding research projects and associated researchers; and the importance of being connected in the experiential education community. Listen to the podcast.

Submitted on: Nov. 14, 2023

W. Thomas Means, Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, was named At-Large member of The Academy of Leisure Sciences Board of Directors for TALS on Monday, Sept. 25. The central purpose of the academy is the intellectual advancement of leisure sciences. This purpose is carried out in three ways: First, the organization invites all interested individuals to become members of the academy by joining a network that promotes the intellectual advancement of leisure sciences. Second, through meetings, scholarship, and other activities, the academy establishes forums for exchanging knowledge and ideas to advance the intellectual understanding of leisure. Third, by the activities of committees, individual members, and Fellows, the academy encourages and promotes the scholarly study of leisure among those who have demonstrated interest, potential, and competence. Congratulations, Dr. Means, for this honor!

Submitted on: Sept. 25, 2023

W. Thomas Means, Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, presented "MIND 110: Reflections and Outcomes from Introduction to Mindfulness" at 24th Annual UWL Conference on Teaching and Learning on Aug. 29 in La Crosse, WI. This poster reported outcomes of the Gen Ed course MIND110: Introduction to Mindfulness. Outcomes indicated positive results on 3 pre/post assessments collected over two semesters (n=42): (1) Increases on Self-Compassion Scale, (2) Decreases on Perceived Stress Scale, and (3) Increases on Mindful Attention Awareness Scales. Outcomes were also reported from the Mindfulness Impact Project and the 1-on-1 student meetings.

Submitted on: Sept. 1, 2023

W. Thomas Means, Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, authored the article "Philosophy of science and leisure research: an exploratory analysis of research paradigms" in Leisure/Loisir: Journal of the Canadian Association for Leisure Studies published on March 8 by Taylor & Francis Group.

Submitted on: Mar. 9, 2023

Tara Delong, Jennifer Taylor and W. Thomas Means, all Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, presented "Pedagogy to Practitioner: Developing an Open-Access Evidence Based Recreational Therapy Curriculum Website" at The Academy of Leisure Science Conference; Theme: Leisure and Rights on Feb. 9 in New Orleans. This presentation provided a brief overview of the lack of evidence-based curriculum within the literature of therapeutic recreation and how this serves as a threat to the field as an allied healthcare profession. It further described the integrated curriculum for our therapeutic recreation dual degree students and the benchmarks for completion of an evidenced-based curriculum capstone, and provided a demo of the open-access website designed to share evidence-based work with practitioners in the field.

Submitted on: Feb. 13, 2023

Brian Kumm-Schaley and W. Thomas Means, both Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, presented "Mindfulness, Leisure, and Higher Education: Negotiating Pitfalls, Navigating Benefits" at The Academy of Leisure Sciences Annual Conference on Feb. 8 in New Orleans. The goal of the presentation was to elevate awareness of, and open dialogue related to, the pitfalls of cultural misappropriation as it pertains to mindfulness and contemplative practices while also leveraging those concerns to better design courses that actualize the benefits of such practices.

Submitted on: Feb. 12, 2023

Becca Edel, Therapeutic Recreation and W. Thomas Means, Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, co-authored the article "Mindfully Strong Evidence-Based Curriculum: A Therapeutic Recreation Concept Design " in American Journal of Recreation Therapy published on June 14 by Open Journal Systems. This article examines the possible benefits of a mindfulness evidence-based curriculum and its potential to decrease symptoms of depression in patients with TBIs and increase the use of evidence-based practice in the field of therapeutic recreation. This article also provides a feasible concept design for the development of the Mindfully Strong Curriculum. All session protocols, theoretical foundation, and assessments can be found in the fidelity manual that is open access on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse therapeutic recreation webpage.

Submitted on: Sept. 8, 2022

W. Thomas Means, Recreation Management & Therapeutic Recreation, presented "Meaning Making in Leisure: Integrating a Constructive-Development Theoretical Framework" at the Leisure Studies Association Conference on July 13 online. The conference theme was In Pursuit of Leisure: Inequality, Storytelling, and the Meanings of Place. The purpose of Dr. Means' integrative review was to examine and synthesize current and salient literature on meaning making in leisure and to propose Constructive-Developmental Theory (CDT) as a theoretical framework to better understand meaning making in leisure. This work aims to better understand how developmental stage, based on CDT, may be a moderating variable in outcomes based research as it relates to Therapeutic Recreation and Outdoor Adventure research.

Submitted on: July 18, 2022