The Social System in Outdoor Adventure Education Programs

Sibthorp, Jim; Jostad, Jeremy

doi:10.1177/1053825913518897

Cited by 37 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Based on Attention-Restoration Theory (ART, Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989), this type of strengths-based therapy proposes that people are restored in natural environments because they escape from usual settings and become fascinated by stimulation in natural ecosystems that take their mind off their day-to-day problems. Outdoor adventure, wilderness therapy, outdoor experience and green space-based ecotherapy (e.g., whitewater river rafting, fly-fishing, educational decision-making in nature, interactions and participation in nature) have been shown to be effective therapeutic media for veterans coping with PTSD (Berman and Davis-Berman, 1995; Hattie et al, 1997; Fredrickson and Anderson, 1999; Ewert et al, 2001; Burls, 2007; Dustin et al, 2011; Mowatt and Bennett, 2011; Sibthorp and Jostad, 2014). For many veterans, being in nature is emotionally calming and helps them manage negative mental health symptoms through immersion in novel, natural environments.…”

Section: Physical and Mental Health Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecotherapy – A Forgotten Ecosystem Service: A Review

Summers

Vivian

2018

Front. Psychol.

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Natural ecosystems provide important services upon which humans depend. Unfortunately, some people tend to believe that these services are provided by nature for free; therefore, the services have little or no value. One nearly forgotten ecosystem service is ecotherapy – the ability of interaction with nature to enhance healing and growth. While we do not pay for this service, its loss can result in a cost to humans resulting in slower recovery times, greater distress and reduced well-being. Losses in these images of nature can diminish our basic happiness. Little is understood or, at least, appreciated concerning the potential ecotherapy benefits of the natural environment and its ecosystem services. The complex and interactive relationship of ecosystems, their services and human well-being is poorly acknowledged in the broad social, philosophical, psychological and economic well-being literature. In this article, we examine the role of nature and its ecosystem services in ecotherapy and its associated enhancement of recovery from physical and mental illness through a review of studies evaluating this ecosystem service-recovery connection.

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Section: Physical and Mental Health Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecotherapy – A Forgotten Ecosystem Service: A Review

Summers

Vivian

2018

Front. Psychol.

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“…Rather than discrete factors that would add up to impacting power, we were observing a web of related factors, gaining power through interconnection-a system of elements and relationships, from which emerged something unique, and ultimately, powerful. Sibthorp and Jostad (2014) make the same observation regarding factors that work together to create the 'complex, dynamic and interconnected [social] system' (p. 69) of outdoor adventure education.…”

Section: Theories Of Learningmentioning

confidence: 92%

Powerful learning at SEA

Rowland

Kitchen-Meyer

2018

FormAkademisk

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The Sea Education Association (SEA) has an international reputation for creating powerful learning experiences in semester-long programs that involve conducting scientific research while sailing tall ships. To what extent, how and why these experiences occur was studied through interviews, extant data analysis, and participant observation of the SEA Semester program Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. Themes consistent with past studies of powerful learning emerged, for example, authenticity, openness, relationships with others, and intense engagement, while outcomes continued to be highly individual. Relationships among these themes point toward complexity, design, and systemic design and suggest seeds of a theory of powerful learning systems.

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“…However, McKenzie also recognised that knowledge about the processes involved is limited, and a better appreciation of the impact of groups is imperative. Given the wide participant remit of AEP (including women-only groups, disabled groups and hard-to-reach groups, as well as ages and diversities across the spectrum), it is surprising how little research has been conducted to address the issues raised, though there are exceptions [44][45][46]. Importantly, in more contemporary place-based practices [30], there has been a call for tailoring delivery to reflect group [5,39] or individual needs.…”

Section: The Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconsidering McKenzie’s Six Adventure Education Programming Elements Using an Ecological Dynamics Lens and Its Implications for Health and Wellbeing

King

Hardwell

Brymer

et al. 2020

Sports

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Two decades ago, McKenzie's meta-analysis of literature provided six fundamental elements of adventure education programme design still used to guide research and practice today. While the value of McKenzie's early work should not be underestimated, adventure education has undergone considerable changes. Adventurous activities are now available in urban and indoor contexts and used to facilitate a growing health and wellbeing agenda. The use of risk as part of adventure education programming has also been critiqued. This paper reflects on contemporary notions of adventure, risk and the emergent narratives emphasising the associated psychological benefits. The Ecological Dynamics framework, along with representative design delivery, are presented as a viable way of building on McKenzie's work. Both consider how effective outcomes in adventure education programmes are achieved through designs that focus on the unique relationship between the individual and their environment. While McKenzie's six elements recognise the importance of human relationships, Ecological Dynamics forefronts relational elements, not just between participants but, importantly, the task and the environment. Individual participant needs in relation to their everyday life therefore become the focus of adventure education expanding beyond the traditional long-standing narratives of risk and danger. Through these two important concepts, this paper advocates an approach to the design of adventure representative of a participant's everyday environment. In this way, adventure education outcomes translate beyond the adventure-specific context and align more holistically with the needs of individual participants while also assuring emphasis on individual health and wellbeing.Sports 2020, 8, 20 2 of 16 environments. Activities referred to the quality of the activities designed into the programme and how well they provide mental, physical and psychological challenges and opportunities for mastery. Processing described the process of making sense of the programme by the participants and how learning in the adventure programme might be transferred to everyday life. The group element focused on the impact of group size, fellow participants and cooperation during learning. The instructor's influence included how they interacted with the group and what they brought to the programme. The participant's characteristics and capacity for autonomy were also considered important.Underpinning these categories was the notion that effective adventure programme design suggested the inclusion of challenge and risk, for example, opportunities for emotional and social risk. Contemporary evidence suggests AEP is still based on activities designed to emphasise the impact of risk (physical and psychological), with little regard for nature and requirements of participants [2][3][4][5][6]. According to Wurdinger [7], it is risk, danger and uncertainty that differentiate AEP from other activities and impacts on the learning outcomes (see Brown and Beames [3] for a contemporary ...

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The Social System in Outdoor Adventure Education Programs

Cited by 37 publications

References 60 publications

Ecotherapy – A Forgotten Ecosystem Service: A Review

Ecotherapy – A Forgotten Ecosystem Service: A Review

Powerful learning at SEA

Reconsidering McKenzie’s Six Adventure Education Programming Elements Using an Ecological Dynamics Lens and Its Implications for Health and Wellbeing

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