Quantifying the psychosocial outcomes of outdoor adventure education for adolescent learners in a South African setting

Abstract

This aim of this study is to contribute to the existing literature on the psychosocial outcomes of outdoor adventure education. In doing so, it explores the relationship between Journey, a school-based programme and life effectiveness skills, emotional literacy, and resilience for adolescents in a South African setting. Employing a pre–post quasi-experimental design, a purposive convenience sample of 144 Grade 10 learners was recruited for this study. Results of the three measures demonstrated that, after participating in Journey, there were statistically significant increases in self-reports of life effectiveness and resilience, but not of emotional literacy. The importance of the unique contribution of this study to international and South African outdoor adventure education research is discussed, with recommendations for future research and considerations of the practical implications of the findings for programme design.