Background: The intense nature of the camp experience and the unique role of camp counselors can be a rewarding experience for camp counselors and campers alike. However, to experience compassion satisfaction necessitates evaluation of a number of factors that may enhance or decrease compassion satisfaction. Purpose: To better understand the camp…

Recent leadership research has demonstrated a need for better understanding the process of becominga leader because it might be qualitatively different to being a leader. If so, there is likely to be a need for pedagogies designed deliberately to support first-time outdoor leadership experiences and any such pedagogies must be informed by the…

The outdoor leadership field is maturing in its understanding of activity safety and objective measures of risk exposure. Patterns of injury, relative exposure between related activities, and risk profiles per user group are only just beginning to accumulate academic findings from which a collective understanding of managing adventure-based risk…

The outdoor community has long been used to study motivation and sensation seeking. While sensation seeking is related to the personality traits extraversion and openness there has been little research conducted on the whole personality profile of this community. This study used the Five Factor Model and the Big Five Inventory to measure the…

Forty-nine formal research studies have been conducted on participants of college outdoor orientation programs. Although many variables have been examined for the incoming students, only one study has focused on the impact on the student leaders. The goal of this study was to understand how student leaders in outdoor orientation programs…

This study examined trust development between participants of outdoor education programs and outdoor leaders. Participants were college students enrolled in outdoor education courses. Using a factorial survey design, the technical ability, interpersonal ability, benevolence, integrity, and gender of an outdoor leader was displayed randomly in a…

A critical element in lifelong learning is the self-regulation of motivation to learn. Learners without motivation to learn lack the drive to actively engage with ideas and content, even if they have the ability to learn. Motivation for sustained engagement can be considered a combination of goal-relevant motivation and experience-defined…

The Wilderness Education Association (WEA) helps people enjoy and protect our nation's most precious resource: Our wilderness areas. They have been training and certifying outdoor leaders around the world for nearly 30 years, teaching students safely and effectively to lead groups in the outdoors without harming the environment. In addition,…