Search Results (12)

Middle school students face significant transitions and often do not receive education on important social-emotional learning (SEL) skills. To address this issue, we investigated how middle school students experience an outdoor adventure education program focused on SEL development. Nine students from an urban public charter school participated in the ROVER program, which taught the following SEL skills: resilience, risk management, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and emotion regulation. Students then applied these concepts through adventure sports and were instructed to translate the lessons to their home and school lives. Students completed weekly reflections to explore how students experienced this piloted program. A Structure Tabular-Thematic Analysis (ST-TA) approach was used to investigate thematic coding of reflections. Prominent themes uncovered across the reflections were emotion regulation, experience intensity, social influences, resilience, and self-preservation. We describe program implementation and discuss how using adventure sports after-school programs can impact urban middle school students’ SEL skills development. Implications suggest potential benefits of directly teaching and applying SEL competencies. Full article

Challenge, adventure, and risky play have repeatedly been found to be learning environments that positively shape childhood well-being and development. Extant evidence-based research conveys the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional growth associated with risky play provision. However, understanding the interplay of risky play, injury, and safety is more nuanced and complex. The goal of this paper is to introduce a tool which allows educators, parents, health practitioners, urban planners, playground designers, certifiers, manufacturers, and inspectors to estimate both the benefit and risk of outdoor play and learning settings, such as playgrounds, adventure parks, or risk-taking activities. One of the key challenges associated with societal risk appetite or risk tolerance has been the inability to quantify the inherent benefits of risk taking in playgrounds and educational settings. Historically, the assessment of ‘benefit–risk’ has been dominated by a zero tolerance of incidents, whether in the workplace or road safety settings. Against this backdrop, if playgrounds and outdoor learning settings are boring, children will go elsewhere to seek thrills and adventure, which may often be manifested in antisocial behaviour. In 2023, ‘benefit–risk’ was formally recognised in the area of sport and recreation by the International Organisation for Standardisation, when it published the ISO 4980:2023 benefit–risk assessment for sport and recreational facilities, activities, and equipment. ISO 4980:2023 is a departure from the traditional view of risk management, in that it presents a perspective of risk which is not limited to framing risk as negative, but rather balances the calculation of positive benefits as well as the risks associated with the activity. Correspondingly, hazardous situations which have zero benefit should be eliminated or mitigated. The tool introduced in this paper offers playground inspectors and educators the ability to measure and assess both the benefit and risk of outdoor playgrounds and educational settings where children play, learn, and flourish. Full article

Forest frequentation is associated with benefits for human health, warranting the importance of forest-based health practices. These practices can be classified into four categories: connection with nature (e.g., Shinrin-Yoku, yoga, and meditation); sports, outdoor, and adventure activities; Indigenous health practices on the land; and professional consultations in a natural environment. The aim of this research was to better understand the social representations of the forest supporting these practices and the environmental characteristics that are favorable to them, as well as to examine the effects of these practices on the forests. We interviewed 28 forest-based health practitioners in Quebec and conducted four participant observation activities. Data analysis led us to five forest representations: an entity in its own self, an unfamiliar area, a place of attachment, a land at the heart of Indigenous cultures, and a tool to improve health. The results showed that favorable environmental characteristics varied according to the type of health practice. The presence of water (e.g., drinking water, lakes, and rivers) is favorable to all forest-based health practices and access to nature seems to be an issue for many practitioners. We also found that forest-based health practices were leaving traces in the forest and attempting to redefine the place of humans in nature. Full article

There are many cognitive, physical, and social–emotional benefits for youths from participating in outdoor adventure activities. However, youths with visual impairments are not given the same opportunities to participate in outdoor adventure activities as their peers without disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine the outdoor adventure experiences of youths with visual impairments participating in a week-long sports camp. Thirty-seven youths with visual impairment (ages 9–19 years) attending a one-week sports camp participated in this study. Participants engaged in a variety of outdoor adventure activities throughout the week of camp (e.g., sailing, hiking, rock climbing, biking, kayaking). Participants provided written accounts about their outdoor adventure experiences and were observed throughout the week during each activity to examine instructional strategies and task modifications. Additionally, 10 randomly chosen athletes, their one-on-one coaches, and five outdoor recreation specialists participated in focus group interviews. The data analysis revealed three major themes: (1) Benefits, (2) Support, and (3) Barriers. The subthemes of benefits were enjoyment, independence, and relationships; the subthemes of support were instructional strategies and task modifications; and subthemes for barriers were fear and anxiety, exclusion and low expectations, and lack of equipment. These findings support the inclusion of youths with visual impairments in all outdoor adventure programming with appropriate instruction and modification. Full article

Youth with developmental disabilities (DD) face challenges that may impact their participation in physical activity. One of the biggest challenges is the availability of opportunities to engage in activities that are adapted for youth with DD. In addition, due to challenges with current physical activity assessment methods for youth with DD, the activity levels during modified activities remain unclear. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the activity levels of youth with DD during structured and unstructured activities offered during a therapeutic camp. This camp was a five-day, overnight experience in an outdoor camp center in the southeastern region of the U.S. Youth (n = 29; 14.6 ± 3.9 years) with more than one DD and with varying abilities wore accelerometers while they engaged in 13 activities of varying categories (functional/gross motor, game, sociodramatic, fine motor, free play) and contexts (ropes, horses, outdoor adventure, music and movement, yoga, come on down, sports and games, theatre, cabin challenge, arts, cooking, mad science, free play). Activity level varied by activity category and context and the intensity level of the majority of the camp activities was classified as either sedentary or light. There was a time course effect on activity; most activities resulted in a gradual decline over the session, except for cooking, sports and games, and free play. This therapeutic camp provided an opportunity for youth to engage in physical activity that would be classified as light intensity. The activities available at this camp were designed to address specific goals and objectives and provided enrichment opportunities (e.g., life skills, social skills) for youth to obtain multiple skills while using movement as a framework to deliver the content. Full article

When in public, faith-based mandates require practising Sikh men to wear a turban which may not be covered by hats or caps. This makes it impossible for practising Sikhs to wear helmets and other protective headwear, mandatory in many countries and facilities for engagement in recreational pursuits (e.g., skiing) and on adventure outdoor recreation camps mandatorily run for school groups. The result is often social exclusion and ostracisation in the case of school children. Despite studies into the efficacy of protective helmets in some recreational outdoor activity settings, virtually nothing is known about the protective potential of turbans. This paper systematically reviews the extant literature on head injuries in several recreational outdoor activities and sports sectors (aerial, water, winter, wheeled and animal-based sports) and finds that the extant literature is of limited value when trying to understand the spatial distribution of trauma on the cranial surface. As the data do not permit to make inferences on the protective potential of turbans, future systematic, evidence-based epidemiological studies derived from hospital admissions and forensic examinations are required. Failure to do so perpetuates social exclusion and discrimination of religious grounds without an evidentiary basis for defensible public health measures. Full article

The aim of the study was to explore temperamental personality traits as predictors of fu-ture-oriented coping with weather stress in a group of Polish mountain hikers. The subjects were 209 young mountain hikers (M = 21.20; SD = 3.70) who took three temperament–personality questionnaires, i.e., FCZ-KT Temperament Questionnaire, Sensation Seeking Scale IV and NEO-FFI- Personality Inventory, alongside a recently constructed scale for diagnosing future-oriented coping with weather stress in outdoor context, Preventive and Proactive Coping with Bad Weather Scale in Outdoor Sports. The regression analysis indicated that preventive coping with weather stress in hiking was predicted by activity, emotional reactivity, briskness, sensory sensitivity, experience seeking, agreeableness and conscientiousness. In turn, proactive coping with bad weather in hiking was predicted by endurance, activity, thrill and adventure seeking and extraversion. In turn, the cluster analysis revealed three distinct clusters of hikers characterized by diverse re-sults on the scales of preventive and proactive dealing with adverse weather, namely, prudent hikers (high preventive coping/high proactive coping), reckless hikers (low pre-ventive coping/high proactive coping) and wary hikers (high preventive coping/low proactive coping). The hikers in these clusters differed in terms of temperamental per-sonality traits. Full article

Outdoor and adventure sports (OAS) have been linked to positive health and wellbeing outcomes. This Special Edition brings together cutting-edge research and thought on the implications of this link. An analysis of the papers in this Special Edition reveals important insights into (i) the diverse and powerful outcomes derived from adventure experiences, (ii) how adventure experiences facilitate these outcomes, (iii) how best to design outdoor and adventure experiences. The evidence in this edition indicates a need for a more systematic approach to the inclusion of OAS as important to good health and wellbeing. OAS should be included as part of education, health, policy and planning. Full article

This case study used exploratory and descriptive research to look into how stakeholders involved in the organization and practice of adventure races in Brazil perceive impacts related to this outdoor activity. Additionally, questions were posed about whether such impacts have been taken into consideration when planning these sporting events. Finally, the research aimed to understand why racers and adventure race organizers choose a certain time of year and venue to partake and organize a race: whether for more logistical purposes or also considering conservation. Online surveys were set up to target adventure race organizers, racers, and national park managers. Overall, there seems to be very little knowledge among racers and race organizers about social and environmental impacts associated with adventure races. This has led to the organization of events with very few or no specific concerns to the environment. Moreover, racers and adventure race organizers seem to perceive certain ecological issues—i.e., erosion—as challenges to the sport and not a problem to be addressed or avoided. National park managers were the group surveyed with more knowledge about the negative impacts adventure races might have on the environment. Full article

There is a lack of research into green exercise which investigates and compares motivational drivers between the different types of outdoor activities. The current paper addressed this gap by classifying and comparing three types of green exercise: (i) Recreational physical activity, (ii) competitive sport, and (iii) outdoor adventure sport. Using a mixed methodological approach, the present study investigated the motivations for adhering to green exercise and directly compared the differences between these three forms of green exercise. Online questionnaires and face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. The results demonstrated that within all types of green exercise, enjoyment was the greatest motivator. Based on analysis of the qualitative materials, extrinsic motivators such as the environment, family, and friends were highlighted as key factors in beginning and continuing their activity. However, intrinsic motivators were also emphasised as more important in adherence to green exercise. Furthermore, as seen in other research, numerous psychological benefits were reported over time. The results of the study may act as a starting point in understanding how we may increase public engagement in green exercise by prompting participants to select a form of green exercise that best suits them based on their motivational profile. Full article

UK military personnel have faced increased demands over the last three decades; these have affected their wellbeing and caused multiple physical and mental health problems. Currently, bespoke rehabilitation systems may recommend participation in sports programmes. Although research attention has been drawn to the short-term positive effects of these programmes, their long-term impact on psychological wellbeing is unknown. To address this gap, the current study explored the long-term impact of a sports programme on UK military personnel’s ability to make changes in their day-to-day life through the lens of psychological wellbeing. For this purpose, UK military personnel (n = 97) completed an online survey aiming to provide a quantitative and qualitative picture of their experiences of an outdoor and adventure sports programme, underpinned by the basic psychological needs theory, six months following completion. Findings suggest that 75% of respondents found that the course was useful for facilitating adaptive changes. Content analysis suggests that elements of the course seem to satisfy their basic psychological needs of competence, relatedness and autonomy. Activities initiated six months after the course are mostly aligned with improved psychological wellbeing. Useful theoretical and applied implications are discussed. Full article