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With many social workers already using or working in sport, understanding available learning opportunities is critical to enhance competency-based practice, a cornerstone of the profession. To meet this need, this study explored learning opportunities used by social workers using or working in sport. In total, 15 social work professionals were interviewed, representing different professional backgrounds and demographics. Findings demonstrate that social workers engaged in several learning opportunities, including formal education, informal learning opportunities, and personal experiences as an athlete. With this new knowledge, organizations such as the National Association of Social Workers and Council on Social Work Education may consider the development of specialty practice areas and social work specializations, further allowing social work students to individualize their education.

Youth involved in the child welfare system need creative ways to meet their needs. One type of active group intervention, adventure therapy, is currently gaining momentum as an additional support for youth with trauma histories. The Ohio Adventure Therapy Coalition (OATC) developed an implementation model to support youth workers in facilitating adventure therapy groups across the state with a focus on trauma-informed care and involving providers in a parallel process, so they can personally understand the process of adventure therapy. A pilot study collected data from youth, parents and providers looking at overall mental health functioning and trauma symptoms. Overall, youth reported significant improvements in overall mental health functioning, while parents reported significant overall improvements as well as improvements on five subscales as measured by the Youth Outcomes Questionnaire. Providers reported significant decreases in youth trauma symptoms, behavioral and emotional needs and risk behaviors as captured by the CANS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Due to the ethical concern around involuntary treatment, this study sought to investigate if youth participants in wilderness therapy who were transported to the program experienced different rates of change than those not transported. Methods: Multilevel modeling techniques were used to investigate rates of change for youth between transported and nontransported youth over 5 points until 6 months postdischarge. In addition, repeated measures analyses of variance investigated parent reports of change over time across transport status, gender, and diagnosis. Results: The findings showed no differences between transported and nontransported youth in changes over time. Overall, all youth improved significantly with changes maintained postdischarge regardless of transport status. Discussion: This study shows that transporting youth to treatment does not appear to interfere with the treatment outcome; however, more research is needed to understand clients' perception of the transport process.

Background: Participation in youth sport is often associated with a variety of positive development outcomes. In order to effectively utilize sport as a context of learning and development, the sport must be intentionally designed and programed. One often-used approach is known as sport-based positive youth development (PYD). Recently, to further enhance the intentionality of a sport-based PYD approach, several researchers have posited the potential benefits of applying experiential learning theory to youth sport programing. Through utilizing experiential learning within a sport-based PYD approach, it is believed youth sport can be designed to intentionally promote desired PYD outcomes. Purpose: Experiential learning theory offers a deep understanding and history of effective youth programing. However, within the field of experiential learning, many different pedagogical approaches exist. To date, sport-based PYD has yet to identify a specific pedagogical approach within experiential learning. In order to be accessible and applicable for youth sport leaders, a more definitive pedagogical approach is needed. One specific application of experiential learning which offers specific programing techniques that are compatible with a sport-based PYD approach is adventure pedagogy. Conclusions: Adventure pedagogy draws from adventure-based learning and adventure-based groupwork. Thus, adventure pedagogy is defined as a participant-centered approach consisting of intentionally designed and sequenced challenging group activities, which, when processed and debriefed, can lead to a shared opportunity for growth and development related to the intrapersonal development and interpersonal skills. Specifically, to enhance the programing and practices of the youth sport leader, this paper identifies key tenets of adventure pedagogy and highlights their applicability within a sport-based PYD approach. These tenets include the promotion of PYD outcomes, physical and emotional safety, intentionally designed activities, sequencing of prescribed activities, a novel learning experiences, intentional facilitation, challenging group activities, real and immediate consequences, and debriefing to transfer learning. Through the integration of adventure and sport-based PYD, youth sport leaders can effectively program and facilitate youth sport to promote desired PYD outcomes.

Background: Key findings from the literature on treatment interventions with youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) indicate that the most successful approaches allow frequent opportunities for uncontrived social interactions and are customizable to the needs of individuals and the group. Adventure therapy meets these criteria while providing opportunities for processing here-and-now behaviors in relation to life beyond school. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to present one model of a peer-mediated adventure therapy program with high school students with ASD. Methodology/Approach: A case example is presented to highlight one student's experience in the program over 3 years. The Social Skills Improvement System was administered on an annual basis for this student, and scores were analyzed to assess progress. Findings/Conclusions: Preliminary data for one student over 3 years indicate an overall increase in social skills and overall decrease in problem behaviors. The case example illuminates the rationale for using adventure therapy with youth ASD due to opportunities for uncontrived interaction, a group-driven process, and emphasis on the here-and-now. Implications: While the small evaluation and case example provided preliminary support for utilizing adventure in peer-mediated interventions with youth with ASD, further research is needed for more in-depth program evaluation and understanding.

Adventure programming has seen considerable growth throughout the world. While newly established programs aim to meet the needs of their prospective clients, failing to account for cultural differences when conducting or designing programs may impede this goal. Non-western approaches to implementing adventure programs have rarely been discussed, because there is a lack of a clear theoretical framework for addressing cross-cultural issues in adventure programming. This article seeks to address these limitations by drawing attention to the existing literature on the impact of cultural differences on adventure programming and relevant fields (e.g. education), providing suggestions for how such theories could inform facilitation styles. It is proposed that a model adapted from the work of Hofstede offers one useful framework for assessing groups from different cultural contexts, which can strengthen the practice of adventure programs to better meet the needs of participants.

Background: Considering the sensitive ethical issues related to involuntary treatment of adolescents, research investigating youth transport practices and treatment outcomes is clearly needed. Youth transport is common practice in many private pay programs, including wilderness therapy programs. Objective: This study of 350 adolescents in wilderness therapy sought to answer the following questions: (1) did youth who were transported to wilderness therapy present differently at intake than youth not transported in terms of both readiness to change and functioning? (2) Were there different outcomes for participants who were transported to the program compared to those who were not? (3) Were transport use and readiness to change predictors of overall improvement in the program? Methods: In this exploratory non-equivalent groups quasi-experimental study, youth self-report pre- and post- mean scores of the YOQ and URICA, as well as parent YOQ reports, were compared between transported and non-transported groups. Regression analyses were performed to see if transport use was predictive of overall improvement. Findings: Results suggested that youth improved significantly regardless of transport use; however, transported youth were more likely to have larger decreases in mental health symptomatology than non-transported youth, suggesting that being transported did not have a negative impact on treatment outcomes. Discussion: While these are encouraging findings, the results represent the evaluation of a single wilderness therapy program and are limited by the research design; hence, future research is needed to increase confidence that transport does not negatively affect treatment effectiveness.

Focus groups with youth and their parents were used in this research study to better understand the impact of the On Belay Program, an adventure-based support group for youth whose parents have cancer. Results demonstrated that challenge course programs reduce isolation in youth by creating a caring community and normalizing the cancer experience. Results also showed the importance of providing a place where the youth, not the parent or the parent's illness, is the focus. Finally, the feelings of strength and empowerment gained from successfully accomplishing the physical challenges faced in the program were also applied to challenges faced at home.

Background: There is an increasing need to identify effective mental health treatment practices for children and adolescents in community-based settings, due to current mixed findings of existing interventions. This study looked at adventure therapy (AT) as a viable option to meet this need. Objective: Using a sample of 1,135 youth from a community-based mental health center, this study addressed the following questions: (1) Is AT an effective treatment modality for youth compared to traditional counseling? (2) How do changes in problem severity associated with participation in AT-based interventions compare with those associated with traditional counseling across gender, age, primary diagnosis, and race? (3) What are the predictors of changes in problem severity in clients? Methods: In this exploratory non-equivalent groups quasi-experimental design study, pre- and post- mean scores of problem severity as reported by youth's primary clinician were compared by type of treatment and client characteristics. Treatment and client characteristics were used as predictors of changes in problem severity. Findings: Participants in AT had significant reported mean decreases in problem severity larger than those of clients not involved in counseling with an adventure component with larger decreases in female and African American clients. AT and psychological counseling were found to be significant predictors of decreases in problem severity; however, length of counseling, not length of AT, was a significant predictor. Discussion: These findings suggest that community-based AT may be a viable treatment for youth in community settings; yet these findings should be interpreted with caution due to several study limitations.

This study examined shifts in adolescents' attachment relationships with parents and peers during a 7-week wilderness therapy program. Ninety-six adolescents, aged 14-17, completed three quantitative measurements evaluating attachment relationships with mother, father and peers pre and post treatment. Adolescents reported improved attachment relationships in terms of decreased anger and increased emotional connection towards parents. Results also showed adolescents' more troubled attachment relationships in terms of trust and communication with parents by the end of treatment. Adolescents reported similarly mixed results in both a positive and negative direction regarding peers. These findings indicate the complexity of parent-adolescent relationships particularly considered in the context of out-of-home care and point to the importance of continued exploration in this area.

Although the importance of addressing and evaluating treatment and program fidelity is clearly emphasized in the literature on psychology, education, and health, little attention has been given to fidelity in adventure literature or research. Program fidelity refers to whether or not, and how well, a specific intervention or program was implemented as planned. This article provides a background on fidelity, including program adherence and competence, factors that affect fidelity, and ways that adventure practitioners as well as evaluators can be intentional in addressing and measuring fidelity in adventure programming and research. (Contains 1 table.)

This article presents adventure-based group therapy as one type of activity-based group treatment that can be used to promote social skills in adolescents. Adventure-based therapy groups are a blend of experiential education, outdoor education, and group therapy. Key components of adventure-based therapy groups include activities that provide immediate and concrete consequences of behaviors, reliance on problem solving, their use of novel and unfamiliar environments, and the use of physical trust. The article includes practice examples of bow these factors can be used to promote social skills and discusses limitations and implications for social work group practice. KEYWORDS adventure-based group therapy, wilderness groups, social skills, novel environments, adolescents, teenagers, group work DOI: 10.1080/01609510902874594

Summary: An emerging area of social work practice is within sport and athletics. Due to the complex nature of sport and the diverse needs of sport participants, social workers are optimally positioned to be critical change agents. However, there is a lack of empirical research dedicated to exploring this unique area of practice. The current study explores the unique values, knowledge, and skills social workers use when working in sport, as well as describes the roles that social workers fulfill. Findings: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 social workers who work in youth sport, collegiate athletics, and professional sports. Their occupations ranged from psychotherapists to athletic counselors to coaches. Findings from the thematic analysis provide insight to the values, knowledge, and skills used in sport that social workers developed from their formal education. For instance, social workers, through their commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion, are trained to take a strength-based, person-centered approach when working with individuals and teams. Applications: Findings highlight the dynamic and diverse roles social workers fulfill as change agents who aim to enhance human wellbeing within a variety of sport systems and settings. Social workers not only work in collegiate athletic departments, but they also provide needed services to youth who are socially vulnerable through sport-based programming and strength-based coaching. The current study helps to not only advance the field of social work, but also advocates for social workers in sport settings. Ultimately, social work professionals are optimally positioned to be playmakers in the athletic arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of one type of activity-based group work, adventure therapy (AT) group practice, on youth in a community-based mental health setting. Using data collected from Adventure Works, a nonprofit outdoor behavioral healthcare and adventure therapy counseling center, this article explores treatment outcomes to identify the effectiveness of adventure therapy group interventions. AT has been identified as an effective intervention within wilderness and residential settings, but little research exists focusing on adventure therapy in a community setting. Data collected shows positive outcomes for youth participating in adventure-based group therapy. Research and practice implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Social work has long supported activity-based group work for young people. One such approach includes outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH), also known as wilderness therapy, which often employs nonclinical field staff to lead outdoor activities as part of the overall treatment model. Although men and women both serve as field guides, the culture of OBH has historically been male-dominated, at times obscuring the voices and perspectives of female staff in the field. For this reason, a feminist social work lens was employed in order to engage in a qualitative gender analysis of women field guides' experiences in OBH. Methods: Focus groups were used in this study to better understand gender as experienced by individuals who identify as women working as field guides in OBH. Findings: Results indicated that women experienced gender at intrapersonal, interpersonal, and program levels in ways that contributed to both empowerment and obstacles to leadership roles and longevity in the field. Identified needs included training for all staff on gender, women in leadership roles, and all women's spaces. Practice Considerations: Implications for social work practice are discussed, aimed at supporting women's development and creating work environments most conducive to learning and growth for staff and clients alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]