Naturalistic inquiry methods were used to explore the spiritual dimension of wilderness experiences among 26 participants in wilderness adventure programs. Participants identified their spiritual experiences and factors contributing to or inhibiting such experiences. Program recommendations are offered for planning wilderness trips conducive to…

Describes Robert Terry's ethical principles for leadership that have been adopted by the outdoor adventure organization, Woodswomen, for their leadership training process. Leader tasks correspond to each of the following ethical principles: (1) dwelling (acknowledging one's own history and values); (2) freedom; (3) justice; (4) participation; (5)…

Explains aspects of the design and loading of high-ropes courses and other challenge-course equipment. Discusses the engineer's factor of safety, determined by industry standards or the level of risk considered acceptable; definitions of terms for material strength; and the forces involved in loads sustained by belay ropes and cables. (SV)

Home-built adventure-education courses exhibit refreshing creativity but almost always fall short of their potential due to inadequate construction techniques and materials. A ropes course inspector for the adventure education industry discusses the most common mistakes made in home-built ropes courses and how to prevent or fix them. (TD)

The diverse practitioners in adventure therapy need to be mindful of the assumptions they bring to the genre from their own fields, the interface between the different therapeutic schools and outdoor adventure, the extent to which "deep" psychotherapy will be practiced, how outdoor adventure changes the client-therapist relationship, and…

An adventure educator describes his process of "waking up" to awareness of the role of ethics in professional practice. Four critical incidents in this process involved the obligation to protect clients from undue harm, responsibility to continually assess one's professional competence, duty to share information with peers, and…

Three British outdoor educators point out that the push to license the outdoor industry now means that paper qualifications are favored over experience, thus increasing risk; argue that riskless adventure is impossible and pointless; and suggest returning to the real outdoors, rather than attempting to develop watered-down, imitation adventure…

Outdoor adventure is entering the marketplace and adopting marketplace values, resulting in commodification of the outdoors and commercialization of the adventure experience. This trend is a departure from values of the social movement that gave rise to the field and threatens to disempower participants and dissociate them from their experience of…

Discusses Tikkun Olam--the Jewish tenet of healing the world through individual good deeds--and its applicability to the practice of adventure therapy. Focuses on the therapeutic relationship, as it develops in group settings, and the role of adventure leaders and therapists in nourishing such relationships to provide a vehicle for healing or…

Case studies of the contemporary UK sail training movement are used to illustrate the competing expressions of purpose in this field. Two sail training organisations are described and a case study voyage under the aegis of each is presented. The differences between the approaches are analysed as "traditions" or ideologies, articulated…

Many instructors get a little anxious about working with teenagers; thinking that they will be immature, unmotivated, and argumentative. Add the words "at-risk" or "adjudicated" and most adults get very nervous. At-risk and adjudicated youth know when individuals are nervous and will do their best to intimidate and control them. Instructors need a…

To date, little empirical research has been conducted to support the claim that outdoor adventure education (OAE) develops desirable psychological characteristics in participants. This study examined the effects of an OAE foundation degree curriculum on positive psychological development. Fifty-two students (26 OAE students, 26 controls on an…

Residential treatment programs provide a range of services, including drug and alcohol treatment, confidence building, military-style discipline, and psychological counseling for troubled boys and girls with a variety of addiction, behavioral, and emotional problems. This testimony concerns programs across the country referring to themselves as…

This study evaluated the effects of a one-day ropes course on students' classroom involvement and affiliation. Middle and junior high school students who participated in the ropes course were from classes designed for students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Using the Classroom Environment Scale (CES) Short Form, students evaluated…

This paper examines the relationship between outdoor recreation and environmental education. Observations of resident environmental education centers in Minnesota and of recreational programs on U.S. Forest Service lands found that, to the extent that planned and unplanned outcomes can be equated, the two types of programs seemed to produce the…