SCHOLARSHIP

PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH

*Introduction/Background:

During my master’s degree classes, I recall a lecture made by a professor who told a story of his visit to a new type of program for youth with problems in behavior that had recently opened nearby. Groups of adolescents were receiving counseling and education while living for a year or so outdoors, camping and backpacking. Since I was a psychologist and enjoyed outdoor recreation, the idea was intriguing. He mentioned that each group had to accomplish an impossible task, explaining this as part of the program. One group had met the challenge by moving a huge boulder the size of a large truck without the aid of mechanical or power equipment. They had solved it by spending months slowly shoveling more deeply around the edges of the gigantic rock and keeping a balance such that the pull of a support stick was all that was necessary to "move" the boulder about an inch or so. That sounded impressive.

I eventually decided to research with a master’s thesis after looking into this type of program and not finding much data to verify adventure programming with troubled youth. The growth in number of programs around the US was beginning to increase. The same program just described had gained an enviable reputation but then the director was arrested for sexual activities with a student. These practices begged some preliminary research to substantiate a basis for implementation. That master’s study investigated the therapeutic wilderness experience, examining historical change processes in outdoor cultures and relating this to specified practices in existing programs as well as comparing outdoor and facility based programs to describe possible factors. The qualitative study triangulated with an archival document analysis, participant observation in both types of programs, and comparative organizational assessment.

Since that paper, I have had the opportunity to work at a wilderness program as well as other types of adventure programs, the larger term indicating the wide variety of recreational and therapeutic activities in the out of doors. Wilderness programs more precisely refer to residential schools for children and youth that provide longer-term counseling and education with clientele having some significant kind of psychological concern. In addition I have worked for many years in regular residential programming from psychiatric hospitalization to residential treatment centers and outpatient counseling services. Another opportunity also has materialized in the construction of climbing towers as well as a comprehensive challenge course here at ETSU. Alpine Towers, a company that specializes in structures for adventure activities, has constructed their largest unit, combining a multitude of elements usually found on a ropes course as well as other devices used in survival training exercises. ETSU has purchased one of these thru the gift of a benefactor and added more events that complement the large fabrications. These types of adventure elements constitute a significant aspect of adventure based programming and are commonly found at wilderness programs.

As an instructor in the Department of Human Development and Learning for ETSU, I teach adolescent psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, and cross-cultural psychology courses where I spend an extensive amount of time reviewing research on these subjects. I have maintained an interest in this type of research and have recently intensified that literature search to ascertain the current level of research as noted later in this proposal. I am a member in the Association for Experiential Education, the National Association for Therapeutic Wilderness Camps, the North American Association for Environmental Education, and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. The reason I mention these professional associations is to emphasize my intent and background in focusing on issues related to adventure programming. A major interest of my professional endeavors has been involved with this form of psychological growth and development. It therefore emphasizes my continuing fascination with further research into the processes of adventure-based programming.

The hypothesis to adventure programming is directional in presuming that effective counseling and personal growth activities coupled with the quality of experience from the natural environment fundamentally substantiates any recognized benefits reported by participants. This statement is succinct in global terms but makes generalizations that recommend more specific predictions. This research project anticipates combining a number of smaller studies conducted throughout a period of several years to form a composite of indicators as well as establish ongoing research in this and related areas. Any particular piece of the research may hopefully make a contribution to the field and the continuing investigation may add more understanding to the mechanisms of effective therapeutic programming.

Research questions related to adventure programming are integral to this project. Specific hypotheses will vary according to the particular design at any given phase of the research. The major research questions formulated here are based on the currently available research settings which may adjust some in number and type depending upon program access as it develops. For example, the ETSU challenge course (Alpine Towers) presents many elements or group exercises with physical equipment and procedures for specified outcomes, e.g., balancing two groups of 7 people each on both sides of a large see-saw. Each element opens opportunities for identifying exactly what is experienced and determining degree of effectiveness.

In the practice of educational research, program evaluation as a specific type of research has long been used and has become increasingly important over the last 30 years as marked by growing concern with accountability and outcomes measures. A Joint Committee from several professional organizations in educational research was established in the early 80’s to determine Standards as criteria for conducting evaluation research. The American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Educational Association, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development are just a few of the American and International professional bodies to endorse best practice in evaluation research. Such standards have lessened the use of this kind of research for political and personal gain as well as improved the professionalism of educational evaluation.

The standards focus on four major criteria: utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy. Utility stresses useful information to the right people in a timely fashion. Feasibility mandates appropriate research design that is efficient and cost-effective. Propriety demands consideration of research ethics, especially open agreements, full disclosure, balanced communication, and human rights protection. Accuracy expects the research to produce valid and reliable information. For this research project, remaining within the specific guidelines of these standards will be documented by listing them and describing research compliance.

Elucidating the factors related to adventure programming has received vastly more scrutiny since my master’s thesis done in the late 80’s. The review of publications reveals more extensive research since then, taking a revolutionary approach closer to mainstream practice. In that vein, I hope to contribute to understanding the specific processes that underlie adventure programming. It has been established that adventure programming can bring about desired results...the question is what exactly is it that works. Since the past research has been primarily explorative during earlier phases and has added more quantitative as well as qualitative results later, this research intends to combine qualitative and quantitative studies in creating a more accurate and comprehensive look at adventure programming.

The qualitative aspect of this research project contributes by acknowledging the essential experiential aspects of wilderness adventure. These components to the triangulation include the phenomenological bias and hermeneutical methodology as referred in my master’s thesis, the Therapeutic Wilderness Experience. However, an expansion of the qualitative methodology detailed by Miles and Huberman as well as Le Compte and Preissle plus inclusion of standard practice in field research, ethnography, and evaluation studies substantiates this direction of inquiry. In this qualitative aspect, reading the literature becomes focal, visiting the programs implies evaluative research intent, and processing outcomes characterizes the emphasis.

The quantitative aspect of the research is crucial to establish significance and correlations with at least quasi-experimental conclusions to infer causations. The predictive value will be ascertained thru analysis to determine validity and reliability where data allow. Statistical programs with electronic data processing will be utilized, primarily SPSS. Consultations with specialists in these types of calculations will both instruct me in the process and verify the computations.

Another very important aim of this research project is to instigate a Center of Adolescent Studies at ETSU. There is very little research focus on issues related to adolescence at ETSU while early childhood has several formal research designations such as the Center for Early Childhood Development and its annual conference at ETSU, an Early Intervention Program, and a child care center with a laboratory emphasis. There is a real need for more of a balance in the College of Education and this project is the stimulation and basis for a larger, continuing research endeavor. There are conference facilities just built at ETSU, including a hotel adjoining the university and an accompanying conference center, the Center at Millennial Park. I’ve joined the Society for Research on Adolescence for the purpose of increasing collaborative knowledge and assessing the need for a research intensive orientation.

Research ethics are of paramount importance and adherence to generally recognized procedures will always be of the utmost consideration. The National Research Act preserves the right of participants in research to receive protection against physical, emotional, or mental harm as well as inquiry into sensitive matters without advised consent. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (the Buckley Amendment) mandates confidentiality, requiring anonymity without express permission. Any research which has any possibility of violating these issues must pass an Institutional Review Board before further implementation. Moreover, the research will exemplify beneficience, honesty, and accurate disclosure as principles of enlightenment, forthrightness, and truth. Manipulation of data is inexcusable because lives are at stake and money can be wasted, possibly promoting reprehensible outcomes. The only valuable research sheds light on the human condition and advances opportunity for all people at the expense of no one.

Initially, this research focus is part of a vehicle for tenure and constitutes a significant aspect my doctoral work. That distinguishes it somewhat from research conducted by experienced and sophisticated research practitioners like some of my colleagues in HDAL. So, this is also a learning experience to mentor with experienced researchers in acquiring extensive, expert knowledge. Perhaps it is appropriate here to explain why this research proposal will be more general than any given singular research project. It partially explores direction in pursuit of fruitful endeavor. An overall focus is intended for adventure therapy and concurrently environmental education with circumstances adding instructional technology as an inexorable undercurrent. With the intention to fully appreciate the mentoring aspect in receiving feedback in this research will emerge more succinct approach. At this point, formal mentoring has been activated with the mentoring committee composed of Cecil Blankenship, Martha Coutinho, and Graham Disque. Informal mentoring relationships have been established with Ron Lindahl, Jim Mclean, Andi Clement, and Marilyn Heath. Of course, any guidance is certainly welcomed in planning and directing this relationship of achievement.

This research plan manifestly derives justification for a number of compelling reasons and pressing concerns. Adolescents in the United States have experienced increasing rates of violence, substance abuse, school shootings, suicide, depression and similar problems over the last several decades. Even though there have been recent fluctuations in the rates, the overall incidence remains a serious social problem. Schools have been increasingly burdened with problems and have sought solutions such as alternative schools, boot camp programs, and after school programs with varying degrees of success. Traditionally site-based programs like psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers, or juvenile detention facilities have not been shown as the most successful approaches to combating the problem of troubled youth. They tend to rely upon punitive methods, warehousing larger numbers of youngsters with high recidivism rates that relegate counseling and rehabilitation to minimal priority.

Even individual counseling in an office has poor outcomes for adolescents who lack a real motivation to honestly self-disclose and make positive changes, besides the enormous expense of basing service delivery on that model. Psychiatric consultations tend to rely upon medication which, though helpful in serious mental disturbances, may still be poorly tested on younger populations and sometimes over-prescribed. And since the majority of teens with problems are not diagnosed with a disorder having recommended psychotropic medications, chemical treatment is only appropriate with a small proportion of the population.

There has been a trend for public schools to create alternative schools, or separate buildings where students are sent if their behaviors are seriously disruptive to the regular schools. Often, alternative schools are designed with a punitive rather than a behavioral approach and are beset with tremendous problems related to staffing, recidivism, and program effectiveness. Many school systems are opting for bootcamp programs with questionable research backing and a potential for abuse. They need accurate information about effective approaches in responding to students who can benefit from guidance and counseling.

Thus the search for effective ways to deal with adolescent issues is on-going and has been taking some intriguing directions. One general trend has been toward community-based, family resource oriented approaches. Family preservation and reunification programs have focused on working with families ecologically to facilitate proper functioning. Use of group homes and foster families as preferential to orphanages and large residential facilities has continued to grow over the years to the present. Community mental health centers have burgeoned as deinstitutionalization has emptied the psychiatric wards and case management has emphasized wraparound, comprehensive services. Various movements such as Re-education and Experiential Education emerged on the scene, captivating professional opinion, and the advent of adventure oriented programs started to proliferate. The time can be considered appropriate to integrate these directions and construct a useful model for effectively assisting adolescents in reaching adulthood successfully.

The United States struggles with its own issues related to race, ethnicity, and similarly diverse cultural concerns like socioeconomic status, religion, and geographical differences. The US imprisons an exceptionally high percentage of its population and has seen racial discrimination in convictions and sentencing. Many urban populations have severe living conditions which foment high rates of crime, violence, gang membership, and unstable family life. The US has one of the highest murder rates in the world and there are too many areas in the country where entrance by outsiders begs imminent danger. The point here is that effective programs to help youth are essential to creating a better society which encourages its citizens to contribute rather than wallow non-productively. It is no longer acceptable to place youth in facilities that see deleterious and dangerous outcomes. Instead of making a third of the black male population into ex-cons, the present task must insist a transformation of younger citizens into productive, contributing members of the community of humankind. It is now of utmost concern that treatment of these kinds of social problems evolves to bring people together rather than separate into factions of disenfranchisement and hopelessness.

The next few paragraphs elaborate upon the probable sources that are anticipated for data collection in this research on adventure programming. It is hoped that this proposal meets the specific expectations of detail in describing the following different research opportunities. The nature of this project visualizes several years of conducting a number of studies that provides a composite of rational proof .

Wilderness programming is typically practiced by public and private organizations with different sites and settings in relatively small programs of under 100 youth and staff. Studying wilderness thru a program evaluation research platform is particularly suitable. From the larger perspective, this type of program is being increasingly used for dealing with today’s troubled youth, especially juvenile delinquency. Taking a closer look at whether or not wilderness programs are responsible for the lowering incidence of that serious social concern is of real importance, especially since the recent popularity of boot camp programs. This fulfills a major purpose for program evaluation, that of assessing the impact of a social intervention.

The state of Tennessee in the United States has collected outcome data for a number of years on wilderness programs as well as other types of therapeutic programs for youth that can be accessed and processed, possibly revealing some intriguing conclusions. The Department of Children’s Services has specific procedures regulating access to information and sufficient data exist to provide significant analysis. Pretest-Posttest designs with nonequivalent grouping can reveal patterns in behavior, especially in the absence of experimental and control groups. Each youth undergoing admission to wilderness programs receives a psychological assessment performed by a licensed psychological examiner. Those attending public schools are assessed every three years. This should generate the data necessary for productive analysis. Quasi-experimental research designs allow nonequivalent control groups to be used for comparability and perhaps some other interesting points to ponder.

The Cedar Creek Learning Center- Environmental Education is located in Greeneville, TN and sponsored by The Upper East Tennessee Educational Cooperative (UETEC), a collaboration governed by the Directors of Schools (all public school systems) in the Upper East Tennessee region and ETSU College of Education. They operate a residential/environmental science program during the school year for grades 4 – 12 and a summer enrichment program for grades 4 – 7, as well as teacher workshops. They feature canoeing, caving, mountain climbing, hiking, backpacking, and similar adventure activities. This facility is readily available and receptive to program research. Some correlational research would be possible in this setting since it permits more effective and stringent measures to eliminate the extraneous. One way to glean some significant relationships might compare participants in the programs with non-participants, controlling demographic factors, as well as comparing lifestyle choices and characteristics after program participation.

The University School is a K – 12 public school operated by the ETSU College of Education as a laboratory School, a highly rated educational facility concurrently organized for collaboration and research with university faculty. University School teachers are considered faculty members of the ETSU College of Education and meet together officially at the beginning of every semester for all day meetings and a faculty retreats. Since collaboration and research is highly encouraged at all levels of the university, this will provide potential participants for short term adventure programming. More specifically, the anticipated activities relate to researching the effects of adventure games, therapeutic activities with rules, certain types of equipment or materials, and an experiential process with outcomes discussed by participants. This also invites more quantitative methods although an overall descriptive emphasis will transcribe the novel component.

The quantitative approach in this aspect of the research contains a focus on the Alpine Towers, a newly constructed challenge course and its accompanying elements including a massive climbing wall for mountaineering simulation. More experimental design with consequent statistical analysis could be applicable in this potentially well-controllable situation. The aim here would posit degree of benefit, if any, and the effect over measurable time. Additional analysis is might expect to uncover comparative effects of the different elements composing the Alpine Towers. The ETSU Campus Recreation Department is in the process of certifying personnel who can lead and supervise the Alpine Towers and the climbing wall. A schedule will be set and arrangements made to send University School and ETSU students thru the course. This will determine the precise features of the research to conclude the effects of the overall challenge course and the particular devices or elements composing the course.

The East Tennessee State University is located in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern North America which contains a number of different types of outdoor recreational opportunities. One of the tallest mountains in this range, Roan Mountain, stands majestically nearby and is surrounded by the Cherokee National Forest, an extensive federally owned and protected natural area. The Roan Mountain State Park lies at the foot of Roan Mountain and is a mecca for cross-country skiing, hiking, swimming, and similar activities. The Appalachian Trail is an over 2,000 mile-long trail following a north-south pattern thru the states from Georgia to Maine in the US and networks of many shorter trails crisscross the AT throughout the Cherokee National Forest. Whitewater kayaking and rafting are popular water sports including the recreation associated with larger manmade lakes. This more geographical description can substantiate the rationale for centering adventure-based research at ETSU because of its ideal location.

Within this context are several kinds of situations that employ adventure therapy. A number of established wilderness programs are located in the Southern Appalachians including Outward Bound School, Eckerd Youth Alternatives, and Three Springs. In addition, many smaller programs from a variety of groups utilize this area for adventure and therapeutic purposes. Doe River Gorge Summer Program and River’s Way are short term 3 day intensive and summer week-long programs, as examples of adventure programs operating in the local area. Many of the local, site-based facilities traditionally providing counseling and residential programming also offer an adventure-based component to their operations, opening up some fruitful avenues of scrutiny. Frontier Mental Health Center operates a substance abuse treatment program for adolescents that adds a regular adventure component.

An important aspect of adventure programming constitutes individual and small group experiences monitored by independent practitioners that utilize a natural environment and various psychological techniques for personal growth and development. A not uncommon sight on the trails and waterways in this area are religious groups often using church vans to transport youth into outdoor adventure activities. Even the Boy and Girl Scouts, or similar organized hiking and organized clubs, are typically seen. Most of this is purely recreational but some traditional, "primitive" Christian religious worship is occasionally performed in this region such as prayer moments or meetings, outdoor baptismals, foot washings, and even snake worship. A few groups or individuals engage in more mystically experiential practices. For this particular research project, some program evaluation is a possibility but ethnographic research which phenomenologically explains these types of experiences will augment the total investigative project in a larger context and a more spiritual perspective.

The Appalachians have long been considered an isolated, poverty-stricken region characterized by difficult living conditions and populated with a fiercely independent ethnic group distinct from mainstream American culture in both dialect and lifestyle. Although the question may immediately arise, "What does this have to do with adventure programming?", nevertheless, there are reasons for the inclusion. Since so much of the research is environmentally based in the Appalachian setting, traditional practices for psychological growth that take place outdoors occur alongside wilderness programming. The use of herbs to maintain health has long been practiced in these mountains before modern medicine became available. Native American practices are part of the lore and continue within the Qualla Cherokee Indian Reservation as well as numerous pockets of native groups throughout the mountain region. Other modern intentional communities that borrow from native and other spiritual perspectives are also located in some mountain settlements.

A concurrent aspect to the design of wilderness programming ascribes a cultural feature. Each program tends to evolve community norms and identifiable features with much borrowed from other sources. For example, many programs utilize native terms and names to enrich the philosophical perspectives and the imaginations of the adolescent participants. Some programs mimic wagon trains, sail on the oceans, or create their idiosyncratic images and practices. Occasionally a religious quality pervades the programming, especially if there is religious sponsorship, or certainly the local practices tend to be integrated such as prayer, holiday celebrations, and ethical norms. In addition, a major thrust of study collects information from cross-cultural studies of similar transformational experiences in comparative experiential settings. This must be accounted for when investigating the processes inherent to adventure programming.

The overall organization of project dissemination will adopt standard procedures in report writing and follow typical format conventions for theses and dissertations. A Title Page should begin the paper accompanied by Acknowledgements. A Table of Contents would come next with separate list pages for figures and tables. The abstract then summarizes the project, preferably under 300-500 words, followed by an Introduction. This first chapter identifies the problem and its significance, adding sufficient background information. Then the selected hypothesis and relevant subordinate questions are clarified by defining particular terms and stating limitations/delimitations.

The second chapter contains the Review of Literature from the general to the specific and the older balanced by the more recent. The relationship of the selected references to the hypotheses will be established by categorically organizing the existing research in logical support. This is significantly more important in some instances of this research project because of the use of ethnographs and other documentation as substantiation for some assertions.

The third chapter describes the details of the Research Method and Procedures. A step by step analysis of the design will also particularly focus on the participants, any assessment devices, and all specific procedures for data collection. A difference in appearance of data will naturally emerge when employing a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies yet this chapter still serves to place various formats and combinations of either verbal or numerical data for later analysis.

The Findings or results are put into the fourth chapter. The hypotheses and research questions are delineated with subsequent testing of hypotheses and responding to questions. This is done by revealing data analyses, including statistical tests when used, and graphically portraying results. Inferences made at this point in the report are referenced directly to the data as a preliminary process to discussing later the final implications of the research. The data should be expressed in sufficient detail for other people to derive additional or alternative explanations.

Conclusions represent the last chapter, taking the hard evidence of the findings and speculating on the broader implications. By elaborating the meaning of the research, the interpretations can be applied to real-life situations as well as expanded for theoretical justification. In this instance, it is anticipated that the studies will substantiate adventure programming from the fundamental processes of counseling and education as well as provide specific recommendations for types of therapeutic and educational activities. Further research will almost inevitably be indicated.

After the body of the paper, the Bibliography or Reference page lists specifically what publications are cited in the document as well as what is used but not directly referenced. The Appendix (or appendices as needed) can be for attachment of significant material related to the research project but too long or cumbersome to be meaningfully integrated with the main sections.

This is also very similar to the outline of this research proposal, presumably excluding sections relevant to a proposal and keeping those suitable for the research report. A comment about style would suggest the use of one consistent with the expectations of the publications to which the research will be submitted.

This review serves as a preliminary search with additional references to be forthcoming consequent to the research project. For example, Western Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Association represents a consortium of wilderness practitioners mostly from the western United States comparable to NATWC; in fact, they are mutual members of one another. They have a research component operating from the University of Idaho in the western US currently involved in some specific types of research. This should provide a useful source of information. A major anticipation centers around cross-cultural studies of traditional and modern forms of adventure therapy as well as surveying types of wilderness programs internationally. Continuing to add research and program descriptions from around the world would dramatically enlighten the state of the field by maximizing the levels of understanding and effectiveness.

Charles, CM Introduction to Educational Research (1998) New York: Addison, Wesley, Longman, Inc.

Kraft, RJ & Kielsmeier, eds. (1998) Experienctial Learning in Schools and Higher Education

Gass, MS Adventure Therapy: Therapeutic Applications of Adventure Programming (1993) Dubuque, Iowa, US: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Giorgi, AP Psychology as a Human Science (1970) New York: Harper and Row.

Goetz, JP & LeCompte, MD Ethnography and Qualitative Design in Educational Research (1984) San Diego, CA, US: Academic Press, Inc (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich).

Strauss, A & Corbin, J Basics of Qualitative: Grounded Theory, Procedures, and Techniques (1990) London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd.

Warren, K, Sakots, M, Hunt J ( 1999) The Theory of Experiential Education 3^rd Ed Dubuque, Iowa, US: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Websites

www.pa.org

www.natwc.org

www.du.edu

http://advthe.gssu.edu

{dated: 3/18/01}