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The impact of an outdoor adventure program on positive adolescent development: a controlled crossover trial
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posted on 2018-07-01, 00:00 authored by Ian Williams, Lauren Rose, Monika Raniti, Joanna Waloszek, Paul Dudgeon, Craig OlssonCraig Olsson, George Patton, Nicholas AllenThis paper describes a quasi-experimental crossover trial of an outdoor adventure program for Year 9 school students in Australia. Previous studies have reported a range of positive outcomes of outdoor camps and adventure programs, but cautious interpretation of some claims may be warranted due to limitations in research methods. This study examines a purpose-designed, seven-day outdoor adventure program intended to promote positive adjustment in young people. A total of 335 participants (aged 14–16 years) were recruited from across two Victorian secondary schools. In year 1 (2015), students from school A were recruited to the outdoor program while students from school B were recruited to a control group. In the second year (2016) the roles of each school were switched (crossed over). Outcome measures assessed on five occasions included a range of self-reported social and emotional health indicators. While quantitative analyses did not find support for positive, universal effects of our program, qualitative information gathered across the course of the study suggested that the outdoor program may have been both impactful and positive for some students. This complex picture suggests that effects of the outdoor adventure experience were quite variable amongst participants. Reasons for this pattern of findings are discussed, including the possibility that our quantitative measures may have been insensitive to some benefits. Future work should examine salient moderators of the beneficial effects of outdoor adventure experiences.
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Journal
Journal of outdoor and environmental educationVolume
21Issue
2Pagination
207 - 236Publisher
SpringerLocation
SingaporePublisher DOI
ISSN
2206-3110eISSN
2522-879XLanguage
engPublication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2018, Outdoor Education AustraliaUsage metrics
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