Friluftsliv in residential youth care: a resilience perspective on character-forming outdoor experiences

Abstract

We explore care workers’ descriptions of friluftsliv (outdoor life) in Norwegian residential care homes in the context of child and youth care. Tracing a brief history of friluftsliv in Norway, we describe how it is appreciated for its health benefits and character-forming qualities. We also touch upon barriers to friluftsliv, which largely follow socioeconomic patterns, and situate friluftsliv in a broader international context of outdoor approaches. The data consists of nine semi-structured interviews describing care workers` experiences with friluftsliv at residential care. Using thematic analysis based on descriptive phenomenology, we generated two themes that depict what care-workers describe as character forming qualities of friluftsliv that are relevant for the adolescents: ‘coping with challenges’ and ‘becoming familiar with culturally valued pursuits.’ We use resilience theory as a framework to examine these qualities of friluftsliv.