"It's a healthy social thing": recreation managers' perceptions of community health promotion.

This study explored perceptions and experiences of municipal recreation managers to assess the congruency between a health promotion approach and their delivery of community recreation services. Responses gathered through face-to-face interviews and a focus group, indicated that their community development model of recreation service delivery is consistent with many core health promotion values and principles. Emergent themes illustrated how managers viewed their work through a relational lens and believed that authentic leadership development, ongoing collaboration with communities and enhanced positioning of municipal recreation services, have the potential to build the capacity of recreation departments to promote community health. Further interpretation suggested that applying community health promotion models to address social determinants of health could enhance the impact of community recreation services on quality of life. Current practices and recommendations for building community health promotion capacity, may be of interest to municipal recreation departments, specifically, those working with diverse urban communities.