Faculty & Staff

Yoshitaka (Yoshi) Iwasaki
Ph.D., Professor

Dr. Iwasaki’s research examines health, life quality, and cultural/diversity issues including the roles of leisure (as a key context for active living) in coping with stress, healing from trauma, and promoting wellness. Among a number of mixed methods used such as a longitudinal field design, his research team has conducted Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) that values mutual respect and capacity-building, power-sharing, and co-ownership of research to gain in-depth insights into the lived experiences of various underserved populations including ethnic minorities with disabilities. The voices of those marginalized cultural groups are integrated with academic and professional perspectives to advance understanding about holistic and humanistic aspects of active living and its pathways to health and life quality across various life domains (e.g., family, community, leisure, work). People-oriented and community-based knowledge and outcomes from rigorous trans-disciplinary research are being translated into culturally sensitive and strengths-based practical solutions (e.g., an active living, health promotion intervention) with the aim of community empowerment, social change, and health care system transformation.

With total research funding of approximately $5 million, Dr. Iwasaki has over 60 publications to his credit in the past 10 years in the form of referred interdisciplinary journal articles, book chapters, and guest-editor reflection papers. His CBPR team currently conducts a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research project to examine the role of actively engaged, enjoyable, and meaningful leisure as a key context for active living in its pathways toward recovery, health, and life quality among cultural groups (including African, Hispanic, Asian, and Caucasian Americans) with mental illness. Currently, Dr. Iwasaki serves the editorial board of International Journal of Stress Management (IJSM), and is an Associate Editor of both Journal of Leisure Research (JLR) and Therapeutic Recreation Journal (TRJ). Dr. Iwasaki has received a number of honors and awards in recognition of his scholarly achievements including a Fellow/Inductee into the Academy of Leisure Sciences.

Areas of Specializations:

Culture, Diversity, and Health

Stress/Trauma and Coping/Healing

Leisure, Active Living, and Quality of Life

Education: 

University of Waterloo, Canada, Ph.D. (1998) & M.A. (1995)
University of Maryland, USA, B.Sc. (1993)

Selected Recent Publications:

Iwasaki, Y., Coyle, C., & Shank, J. (accepted, in press). Leisure as a context for active living, recovery, health, and life quality for persons with mental illness in a global context. Health Promotion International.

Iwasaki, Y., Bartlett, J., Gottlieb, B., & Hall, D. (2009). Leisure-like pursuits as an expression of Aboriginal cultural strengths and living actions. Leisure Sciences, 31, 1-16.

Iwasaki, Y. (2008). Pathways to meaning-making through leisure in global contexts. Journal of Leisure Research, 40, 231-249.

Iwasaki, Y., Bartlett, J., MacKay, K., Mactavish, J., & Ristock, J. (2008). Mapping nondominant voices into understanding stress-coping mechanisms. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(6), 702-722.

Iwasaki, Y. (2007). Leisure and quality of life in an international and multicultural context: What are major pathways linking leisure to quality of life? Social Indicators Research, 82, 233-264.

Bartlett, J., Iwasaki, Y., Gottlieb, B., Hall, D., & Mannell, R. (2007). Framework for Aboriginal-guided decolonizing research involving Metis and First Nations persons with diabetes. Social Science & Medicine, 65(11), 2371-2382.

Iwasaki, Y., & Ristock, J. (2007). The nature of stress experienced by lesbians and gay men. Anxiety, Stress and Coping: An International Journal, 20, 299-319.

Iwasaki, Y. (2006). Counteracting stress through leisure coping: A prospective health study. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 11, 209-220.

Iwasaki, Y., MacKay, K., & Mactavish, J., Ristock, J., & Bartlett, J. (2006). Voices from the margins: Stress, active living, and leisure as a contributor to coping with stress. Leisure Sciences: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 28, 163-180.

Iwasaki, Y., Bartlett, J., & O’Neil, J. (2005). Coping with stress among Aboriginal women and men with diabetes in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Social Science and Medicine, 60, 977-988.

Iwasaki, Y., & Mactavish, J. (2005). Ubiquitous yet unique: Perspectives of people with disabilities on stress. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 48, 194-208.

Iwasaki, Y., Mactavish, J., & MacKay, K. (2005). Building on strengths and resilience: Leisure as a stress survival strategy. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 33, 81-100.

Iwasaki, Y., Mannell, R. C., Smale, B. J. A., & Butcher, J. (2005). Contributions of leisure participation in predicting stress coping and health among police and emergency response services workers. Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 79-99.

Mactavish, J., & Iwasaki, Y. (2005). Exploring perspectives of individuals with disabilities on stress-coping. Journal of Rehabilitation, 71(1), 20-31.

Iwasaki, Y., Bartlett, J., & O’Neil, J. (2004). An examination of stress among Aboriginal women and men with diabetes in Manitoba, Canada. Ethnicity and Health, 9, 189-213.

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