ABSTRACTAN EXPLORATION OF ADVENTURE-BASED PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE: A QUALITATIVE THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF PROVIDER INTERVIEWSByDaniel Liam CavanaughIntroduction/Background: Young people today face increased behavioral health risks that include: mental illness, substance abuse, exposure to traumatic events, bullying, criminal justice involvement, internalizing/externalizing behaviors, and suicide/self-harm. Prevention programs offered by mental health professionals have demonstrated some efficacy in the prevention of challenges. More recently, prevention programs have emerged that use adventure therapy techniques to attempt to prevent these challenges. However, little is known about how adventure-based prevention services are delivered to young people facing behavioral health risks. Purpose: This purpose of this study was to attempt to answer the following research question and three sub-questions: How are adventure therapy techniques reportedly used by prevention services providers in adventure-based prevention programs for young people? (1) How do adventure therapy prevention providers describe specific interventions that they utilize in their programs?, (2) How do adventure therapy prevention providers describe how they integrate ethics, equity, and inclusion into their adventure-based prevention services?, and (3) How do adventure therapy prevention providers describe training and evaluation in their adventure-based prevention services? Methods: An exploratory qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with adventure-based prevention providers (N = 23) was conducted. Interviews were conducted via phone, video conferencing, and in person and recorded. Recordings were transcribed and coded to attempt to answer the research question and three sub-questions. The researchers applied strategies to attempt to increase the trustworthiness of the data. Findings: Thirteen themes emerged following analysis. Five themes about specific interventions were, “engagement;” “connecting;” “reflection, processing, and metaphor;” “building resilient kids: to do better in life;” and “program and intervention structure.” Three themes about ethics, equity, and inclusion were, “ethical approaches/ethical challenges;” “collaboration and oversight;” and “diversity.” Five themes about training and evaluation were, “mentorship;” “providers’ lived experiences leading to adventure-based work;” “education and training;” “evaluation;” and “adventure-based prevention research.” Discussion & Implications: Findings from this study were compared to what is known about adventure-based prevention and adventure therapy services. New findings included more extensive descriptions of what happens in adventure-based prevention practice; ethics, equity, and inclusion in adventure-based prevention; provider preparation for adventure-based prevention practice; and outcome evaluation in adventure-based prevention practice. Recommendations were offered for social work practice, education, policy, and research. Social work practice recommendations included calls to identify interventions and theory used. Recommendations for education included increased mentorship and instruction for social work students. Policy recommendations included the need for increased funding and access to services. Research recommendations were for longitudinal outcome research and qualitative research with consumer perspectives.
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