Understanding the value of events for families, and the impact upon their quality of life

Drawing on previous conceptual and empirical research (Jepson & Stadler, in press) this chapter explores the contemporary issue of Quality of Life (QOL) and opens critical discourse to ascertain how festival and event attendance could potentially improve QOL for families, individuals and communities. The research presented here clearly has overlap with many other areas of investigation such as; leisure provision, constraints and participation levels (see Hinch et al 2005), or designing events to enhance social interaction (see Nordvall et al, 2014). Our focus here though is upon family orientated festivals and events. Our discussions of value are set in the context of what events mean to families and the potential family socialisation value they could gain from attending them which in turn has the potential to enhance a family’s overall QOL.