Risk in Adventure

1. Risk in Adventure/Outdoor Education Activities Jessica Howe ESS-777-772 Seminar in Adventure/Outdoor Physical Education December 7, 2007

2. Definitions of Important Terms Outdoor Pursuits Adventure Education Risk Perceived Inherent

3. Outdoor Pursuits Knowledge and skills associated with moving through the natural environment (non-competitive, non-motorized, non-mechanized). Dr. Jeff Stephen

4. Adventure Education Placing kids in unique situations, creating disequilibrium. It's about the process participants go through. Example: ropes course

5. Risk Perceived the risk a participant believes exists in the activity whether or not a risk actually exists. Inherent A risk which it is impossible to manage or transfer away. What is perceived as challenging and risky by oner person, may not be so for another. Environment-originate from the surroundings and can impact on the activity, such as weather, terrain, availability of shelter, remoteness, etc. People-(both leaders and participants) bring to an activity, such as skills knowledge, experiences, health and fitness, age, fears, etc. Equipment-resources that impact on the activity, such as clothing, buoyancy aids, kayaks, tents, climbing ropes, helmets, motor vehicles, etc.

6. Risk

7. What is the role of risk in Adv. Edu.? If the challenge is too great, there can be no accomplishment; too little and not enough risk taking is involved to stimulate growth. Is the outcome of adventure education to encourage participants to take a more adventurous approach to life in general, or is it limited to introducing them to socially acceptable forms of risk-taking? Is the scope of adventure education to use risks being reduced? If it is, is this because of a greater general risk aversion in society, or a greater aversion to the risks associated with particular activities? If the scope of adventure education to use risks is being reduced what is being lost? If the scope of adventure education to use risks is being reduced will it have to accept this? Allow participants to engage in situations with uncertain outcomes to enhance an individual's intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.

8. Benefits of taking risks Risky situations teaches you about yourself, increases your self-confidence, and helps you better manage life's inevitable uncertainties. Emotional Social Physical

9. Emotional Berman & Berman (2002) suggest that emotional safety be given the attention in the literature similarly devoted to elements of physical safety. Rubendall (1988) suggests that if someone is forced to take positive steps forward this can make their experience so negative. Bring about awareness and personal growth

10. 5 Conditions of Challenge 1. Exploration and experimentation 2. Adventure 3. Peak adventure 4. Misadventure 5. Devastation and disaster

11. Emotional Continued... Positive Feedback Loop Example: A rock climb. There is a discrpancy between the facilitator's view, that it is an easy climb, and that of the participant's, creats an argument within the participant's mind. 1. Participant completes the climb successfully 2. Individual experiences personal competence 3. Success to self 4. Success is accompanied by praise from peers 5. More positive instrinsic feelings such as joy and pleasure 6. Enjoys an increase in competence 7. Task boredom could result if participant does same climb 8. Therefore, they will likely select a higher level of risk 9. If succesful again, adventure exists

12. Emotional Cont... Negative Feedback Loop Example: a rock climb. 1. Participant is not successful 2. Misadventure, perceived risk wins out 3. Attributes failure to self 4. May be accompanied by negative responses like blame from peers 5. Bring about negative intrinsic feelings such as sadness 6. Decrease in competence 7. May lead to not climbing 8. If repeat same climb, may result in task anxiety

13. Based on 97 studies of the effects of outdoor education programs, representing 12,000 participants (Hattie, et al., 1997)? Based on 97 studies of the effects of outdoor education programs, representing 12,000 participants (Hattie, et al., 1997)?

14. Social growth = challenge x support Being in a learning environment which is both challenging and supportive is a powerful formula for growth which can be utilized in outdoor education programs.

15. Kurt Hahn Kurt Hahn observed that Outward Bound was a double-edged sword � it cut and it healed. Challenge and support work together to "stress" and "heal"

16. Physical The perception of risk triggers a cascade of physiological changes that are experienced as high arousal and unpleasant anxiety. This explains why we are motivated to avoid risks, and begs the question why people take risks at all.

17. Physical Spectrum of Choice

18. Risk vs. Safety Risk is reality, safety is a fantasy. �There are no completely safe outdoor and adventure activities.� (Neill, 2003) One example of how we've become more aware of the lack of safety is that "life jackets" were renamed during the last 10 to 15 years as "personal flotation devices". The term "life jackets" was seen to falsely imply that they would "save your life" by preventing drowning. But many people have drowned whilst wearing "life jackets".

19. Accident Ratio Study

20. # of recorded incidents (1996-2000)?

21. Fatalities

22. Risk and Safety Statistics In England in 2003, there were between 7 million and 10 million pupil visits but only one death, the report notes. BBC News California(Urban Pioneer Academy)? (2003)2 17-year old students died from blunt trauma to their heads from lost footing on a dirt path and fell into a ravine (2001) 19 year-old volunteer and a group of students were arrested for trespassing (1994) Forest rangers rescued students and staff during a wilderness trip after getting caught in a blizzard without appropriate gear. South Australia 2 leaders and 2 students drowned when kayaking due to gale force winds 6, 595 people in the UK that 5.1% reported having sustained an injury in the previous month; 46% of the male injuries and 14% of the female injuries were sport or exercise related. Montalvo et al (1998) examined case incident report files from eight National Park Service parks within California over a three year period. The overall occurrence rate was 9.2 people per 100,000 visits. More than 70% of all nonfatal events were related to musculo-skeletal or soft-tissue injury. The most frequently involved body area was the lower limbs (38%). Seventy-eight mortalities occurred during the three years studied, resulting in an overall mortality rate of .26 deaths per 100,000 visits. Men accounted for 78% of the deaths. Heart disease, drowning and falls were the most common causes of death. Brookes (2002, 2003, 2004), in a series of reviews of approximately 60 outdoor-related deaths than occurred in organized outdoor group experiences in Australia (1960-2002), the most common causes of death were height-related and water-related.

23. What is a good rule of thumb when dealing with liability and risk? 1. You need to identify and analyze what risks you have 2. An analysis of your activities calls for more than simply identifying what you are doing (rafting, for example). 3. It includes the hazards (water, rocks and other obstructions); the risks of the activity (that one might fall overboard, be struck while in the raft, etc.); and the potential for death, injury or other loss (drowning, hitting something, losing gear, etc.). 4. In the event of an injury and lawsuit, courts will examine your management of these program elements, and in reviewing the protection provided by your assumption of risk and release documents, the client's knowledge of them.

24. Resources BBC News, 2005 Bird, F. E. & Germain, G.L. (1989). Practical Loss Control Leadership (4 ed.). Loganville, Georgia: Institute Publishing. Brookes, A. (2002). Outdoor education fatalities in Australia 1960-2002. Part 1: Summary Of incidents and introduction to fatality analysis. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 7(1). Brookes, A. (2003). Outdoor education fatalities in Australia 1960-2002. Part 2. Contributing circumstances: Supervision, first Aid, and rescue. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 7(2). Brookes, A. (2004). Outdoor education fatalities in Australia 1960-2002: Part 3: Environmental circumstances. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 8(1). Davis-Berman, J. &, Berman, D. (2002). Risk and anxiety in adventure programming. The Journal of Experiential Education, 25(2), 305-310 Davison, G. (2002). Exploring the myths: Analysis of incidents and accidents in professional outdoor education in New Zealand, 1996-2000. Paper presented to SPARC 2002: New Zealand on Outdoors Risk Management. Montalvo, R., Wingard, D. L., Bracker, M., & Davidson, T. M. (1998). Morbidity and mortality in the wilderness. West J Med, 168, 248-254. Neill, James T. Where has the Adventure Gone? Keynote presentation to the Annual Outdoor Recreation Industry Council (ORIC) Conference, Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia, October 11-12, 2003 Nichols, G. (2000). Risk and adventure education. Journal of Risk Research, 3(2), 121-134. Outdoor Network Volume VIII, Issue 3 - Fall 1997ISSUES IN OUTDOOR RECREATION LIABILITY By Charles "Reb" Gregg, Esq. Priest, Simon (1994). A New Model for Risk Taking. Bungee.com Rubendall, R. (1988). A Humanistic Approach to Emotional Risk Management. Social Support Helps People Grow James T. Neill Horizons, 17, Spring, 32-34, 2002 The Concept of Safet yin Outdoor Education:A Hypothetical "Ideal"James Neill22 Sep 2003 Uitenbroek, D. G. (1996). Sports, exercise, and other causes of injuries: Results of a population survey. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 67(4), 380-385.