Positive Youth Development and High-Yield, Nature-Based, Outdoor Experiences:

1. Positive Youth Development and High-Yield, Nature-Based, Outdoor Experiences: Family Perceptions and Family Inclusive Opportunities Katie M. Shaw • Youth Development Leadership Graduate Program, College of Health, Education and Human Development, at Clemson University INTRODUCTION RESEARCH QUESTIONS • Participation in high-yield, nature-based, outdoor experiences (HYNBOE) promote positive youth development (PYD) • Families are a prevailing source of information youth rely on for guidance and direction • It is essential to consider and address the entirety of the youth and family environment, to promote viable solutions and practices • Transferable family inclusive efforts within the field of outdoor experiential programming have the potential to improve participation in HYNBOE 1) What are parents' perceived benefits of participation in HYNBOE? 2)What are parents' perceived barriers or constraints to participation in HYNBOE? 3) Do barriers or constraints to partaking in HYNBOE preclude the benefits gained from participation? 4) Do outdoor organizations aim to make the benefits of participation as identified by parents attainable through family inclusive HYNBOE? 5) Do outdoor organizations aim to overcome barriers or constraints as identified by parents , to make participation in family inclusive HYNBOE possible? LITERATUREREVIEW SUBJECTS • HYNBOE afford youth participants traits commonly ascribed to healthy, thriving, and engaged youth: • An area in need of attention in the field of outdoor experiential opportunities: integration of families and communities in outdoor program design and implementation • Youth are taking activities, previously identified as indoor activities, outdoors and are interacting less with nature than previous generations • Constraints Theory: • Intrapersonal • Interpersonal • Structural • Reported constraints to family participation in HYNBOE are time and safety concerns • An exhaustive review of literature provided little insight of efforts to investigate parental perceptions of the benefits attained from participation in HYNBOE • Parents of youth ages 10-15 attending a public middle school in a metropolitan area in upstate South Carolina • Outdoor organizations that offer HYNBOE for youth in the surrounding community PROBLEM • Youth are partaking in fewer nature-based experiences and efforts to promote participation in HYNBOE lack family inclusiveness • Many outdoor or high-yield adventure programs focus on removing a youth from their proximal environment to promote PYD may deter the realization of optimal development and acquisition of internal motivation METHODOLOGY • Qualitative Investigation: Grounded Theory Approach • Random Sampling of Populations • Parents: Semi-Structured Parent Interviews • Outdoor Organizations: Document Review • Inductive Data Analysis • Coding Thematic Organization • Member Checking PURPOSE • The purpose of this study: • Qualitative evaluation of families of youth ages 10-15 to investigate parental or primary adult caregiver perceptions of the benefits and constraints to participation in HYNBOE • Qualitative evaluation of three outdoor organizations and efforts to include families in HYNBOE • Resulting data will help ascertain: • Thematic overlap in parental perceptions • Prevalence of family inclusive programs in the region which may provide insight of programming needs and transferable efforts IMPLICATIONS • Findings may promote PYD in the context of the family and natural environments by familiarizing audiences with better descriptors of: • Parental perceived benefits and constraints to participation in HYNBOE • Family-inclusive programming needs, opportunities, and transferable practices in the regional community that address parental perceptions