Beyond flow: temporality and participation in everyday activities

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Occupational Therapy

Background:

• Temporality, or the lived experience of time, is influenced by daily activities.
• Understanding these influences can enhance well-being and inform therapeutic interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how activity qualities and experiences affect the perception of time (temporality).
• To identify specific configurations of factors associated with different temporal experiences.

Main Methods:

• Experience sampling method with 35 students completing electronic surveys.
• Assessed activity novelty, complexity, engagement, attention, and skill demands.
• Utilized configural frequency analysis and narrative response analysis.

Main Results:

• Four composite types of factors were identified across various temporal experiences.
• Habitual activities typically aligned with clock time perception.
• Faster or timeless perceptions of time were linked to complex, novel, and engaging activities requiring skill.

Conclusions:

• Activity characteristics significantly shape the subjective experience of time.
• Occupational therapists can leverage this understanding to design activities promoting positive experiences and managing demands for clients.