Every year, nearly one million staff work seasonally at summer camps. Although little research has investigated staff experiences compared to campers’ experiences, literature does exist. Understanding the breadth and depth of this literature is an important way to guide future investigations and employment practices regarding seasonal summer camp staff experiences. The purpose of our scoping review was to synthesize the literature about seasonal summer camp staff experiences. Using two scoping review manuals as guides, we systematically retrieved and reviewed the corpus of literature produced from 1900 to 2020 regarding seasonal summer camp staff experiences. We reviewed 116 documents, including peer-reviewed journal articles, theses and dissertations, and refereed conference abstracts. We extracted and analyzed documents’ topics, methods, sample and setting characteristics, major findings, and future research suggestions. We present our analysis of literature in two sections: staff outcomes and administrator/staff concerns. Findings from our review may inform future research and practice.
It is important to consider multiple factors (attitudes, interests, needs, motivations, and barriers) for various participants depending on the type of program they enroll in (e.g. adventure-based, environmental education, day or overnight). Outdoor organizations would benefit from a deeper understanding of their types of participants, what prompts and prevents them from participating, and how best to connect with each type of participant through specific programming and marketing efforts.Psychographic profiles are created from a combination of demographic variables and information about consumers' attitudes, interests, and motivations behind a purchase decision (Giddings, 2010). In a systematic review of the literature on psychographic profiles, Wells (1975) explained that this approach to categorizing customers offers new insights that may be not made from demographic information alone. A profile developed from a deep understanding of customers allows an organization to shift marketing and programming strategies, resulting in more uniquely targeted positioning and messaging, and services offered based on customers' needs (Giddings, 2010).One context in which psychographic user profiles can be explored is summer camp, as parent demographics and barriers, motivations for their children, and child interest are important factors to be considered. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify key consumer psychographic profiles via a case study approach. Outdoor programmers can consider using similar typologies or developing their own that are suited to their participants and program. Method
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