Significant declines in outdoor activity and engagement with the natural environment are growing concerns with negative impacts on well-being. We pilot-tested an intervention encouraging outdoor activity among adult mentor and child mentee pairs and families, in partnership with Milwaukee's Urban Ecology Center. The study used a mixed methods…

This paper expands work on professional judgment and decision-making and examines the coping strategies used by adventure sports professionals to manage the cognitive loads of decision-making. A mixed methodology was employed in which a sample of participants completed a Pro Active Coping Inventory and a sub-group then completed an Applied…

Smartphone use in outdoor recreation settings is somewhat controversial. Some individuals claim smartphones engage audiences and promote access to resources. Others claim they distract from the setting and disrupt others' experiences. This study examined the perceptions of 151 outdoor instructors regarding appropriate student smartphone use during…

This paper is a twelve-month follow-up study that explores perceived outcomes from participation in a Norwegian wilderness therapy program. Through a critical realist approach, the authors performed an in-depth analysis of individual interviews with ten adolescent participants. Long-term outcomes included the transfer and adaptation of calming and…

The aim of this paper is to describe the development of the Phased Model of Adventure Therapy. Adventure therapy is the use of adventure experiences to engage clients on cognitive, affective and behavioural levels. Use of adventure therapy has been found to improve psychological wellbeing, self- esteem and behaviour in young people. A UK-based…

The purpose of this study was to gather the thoughts and opinions of students and their teachers around the benefits of outdoor exploration time. Students within three grade 3 classes in one western Canadian province were afforded opportunities to connect with the outdoor elements and each other in designated forested areas near their school,…

This paper presents data from a Forest School project aimed at impacting upon children and young people's emotional wellbeing. It uses a theory of change methodology to evaluate impact and explore the causal processes within the project. Mixed methods data are presented and analysed in relation to how different parts of the Forest School approach,…

This paper presents a mixed-method investigation of client's perceptions of a good adventure sports coach. Semi-structured interviews were analysed thematically, and the findings used to inform a subsequent larger survey that sought to verify the importance of the themes identified in the interviews. The findings draw an alignment between the…

In the current study, the researchers qualitatively explored the life significance of a university summer outdoor education (OE) course. The data included 15 in-depth interviews with alumni who had participated in one of the university's summer OE courses over 20 years ago. The researchers interpretively analyzed the interview transcripts and…

Outdoor education (OE) is a broad term referring to organized outdoor learning . Given Canada's large size, sparse population, varied landscapes and diverse culture , developing a comprehensive understanding of the philosophies, goals and activities of OE in Canada is challenging. While Canada has a long history of OE, scholars struggle to…

Growth in the adventure sector has increased the demands on adventure sport professionals. Satisfying a diverse range of participatory motivations, however, requires an adaptable and flexible workforce. In this discursive paper, we suggested that a narrowing of service skills caused by commodification and sportification are compounded by general…

Rock-climbing has become very popular adventure sport across the globe. Researchers have begun to investigate how adventure sport athletes perform in a manner that reduces the likelihood of serious mishap, injury or even death. In this paper, we utilize a collaborative autoethnographic approach to explicate a serious traditional rock-climbing…

This study was designed to analyse the way in which outdoor education (OE) is implemented at selected elementary schools providing the primary and lower secondary education. To understand the status of OE in the Czechia, a formal framework for implementing OE in national and school curriculum is described in the introduction. The first phase of…

The indigenous Riddu Riddu Festival, organized yearly in the village of Olmáivággi/ Manndalen (Sápmi/Norway), presents the cultures of Sámi people and indigenous peoples across the world. A study of the activities offered at Riddu Riddu over an eleven-year period (2009-2019) carried out. Through fieldwork (forty-six in-depth interviews,…

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) has five competencies: relationship skills, responsible decision-making, self-awareness, social awareness, and self-management. A promising practice to promote positive SEL is school garden programming. There is a need to understand how school gardens impact SEL by consolidating existing research. In this…