Liza Berdychevsky

Dr. Berdychevsky’s work revolves at the nexus of health and wellbeing in leisure and tourism contexts, adopting a gender-sensitive and a life span-grounded approach. She focuses on risky behaviors (e.g., sexual risk taking, violence, and delinquent practices) and sexual leisure and positive sexuality across the life span and among vulnerable populations (e.g., older adults because of the ageist stereotypes portraying them as asexual, transgender people, high-risk young travelers, and people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic). She implements a mix of creative and cutting-edge methodologies in her research, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods designs.

Her research contributes to a deeper understanding of the issues related to health and sexual leisure and offers directions for tailored health education programs and effective prevention and intervention methods. The umbrella goal of Dr. Berdychevsky’s research program is to contribute to people’s health and well-being and to address various disparities and injustices (e.g., healthism, racism, classism, sexism, ageism, transphobia). Her studies contribute to social and sexual justice by revealing the needs of the marginalized populations and offering practical recommendations for health education programs. Hence, her research program spans a portfolio of projects that address several axes of discrimination.

Therefore, Dr. Berdychevsky’s specific research interests include:

• Health and wellbeing in leisure and tourism contexts
• Sexual leisure as a coping mechanism with personal and public health crises
• Sexual health and positive sexuality across gender and throughout the life span
• Sexual leisure and health among vulnerable populations whose needs have been marginalized by the societal bias
• Sexual risk taking in high-risk leisure and travel contexts
• Tailored health education, prevention, and intervention methods
• Research methods: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods