A Preliminary Exploration of the Influence of Short-Term Adventure-Based Expeditions on Levels of Resilience

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of participation in a three-week adventure-based expedition on levels and types of resiliency. Defined as an individual constellation of characteristics and capacities that mitigate the impact of biological, psychological and social factors that threaten an individual's health (Kaplan, 1999; Ungar, Dumond, & McDonald, 2005), resiliency represents one potential outcome from participation in experiential and adventure-based programs that provides a societal-wide benefit. This study examined two questions: (1) Does the level of overall resiliency change through the adventure-education (AE) experience?; and (2) Do any specific types of resiliency improve as a result of the AE experience? A total of 71 college students who had enrolled in the recreation major were asked to fill out a modified version of the Resilience Scale (Wagnild & Young, 1993) to assess the level of individual resilience. This modified instrument consists of 37 items. Of the total of 45 matched responses, a usable sample size of 37 was formed. For overall scores of the resilience instrument, a two-way repeated measure ANOVA indicated no interaction between pretest and posttest scores across experienced and non-experienced groups. In spite of the small sample size, the results of this study suggest that an expedition may have some effect on the levels of self-reported resilience. A Preliminary Exploration of the Influence of Short-Term Adventure-Based Expeditions on Levels of Resilience (PDF Download Available). Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/234631778_A_Preliminary_Exploration_of_the_Influence_of_Short-Term_Adventure-Based_Expeditions_on_Levels_of_Resilience [accessed Jul 10, 2015].