A focus group investigation of a wilderness adventure programme

• Main Author: Bartel, Wesley James
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4316

The focus of this masters thesis was to examine wilderness adventure programming from the perspective of the participants through use of the focus group technique. This study has revealed that the field of wilderness programming as a therapeutic intervention has a great deal of work to do in the areas of theory and research. Researchers need to begin using qualitative methods such as the focus group technique to build a theoretical base that can guide practice. Furthermore, programme descriptions must become more detailed so that research can be adequately evaluated and compared. The results of this study indicate that there are critical factors such as group work and difficulty that are crucial to the design of wilderness adventure programmes. They further suggest that the programmes examined help to build the self esteem of participants and to deter them from further involvement with the criminal justice system.