Anita R. Tucker

• PhD, MSW
• Professor at University of New Hampshire

With roots in experiential education and Outward Bound, wilderness therapy (WT) is a growing field of mental health care for youth. WT uses outdoor modalities combined with therapeutic interventions to assist youth to promote clinical changes. Previous research has shown it to be effective in improving the mental health of clients; however, little...

Nondeliberative group work allows group members to generate their own solutions and provides experiential opportunities to transfer learning to life outside of a therapeutic setting. Adventure therapy is explored as a tool for engaging groups in a nondeliberative manner. The theoretical underpinnings of adventure therapy are presented and contextua...

Purpose Due to the ethical concern around involuntary treatment, this study sought to investigate if youth participants in wilderness therapy who were transported to the program experienced different rates of change than those not transported. Methods Multilevel modeling techniques were used to investigate rates of change for youth between transpo...

This study examined the longitudinal impact of Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare on youth participants as reported by their parents. This analysis fills a critical gap in past research by including a Treatment as Usual (TAU) comparison group. Findings showed that youth participants who attended an Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare treatment program were, a...

As a new arena in the field, there exists limited knowledge about the available education and training opportunities within the sport social work field. The current study was designed to better understand the learning opportunities utilized by sport social workers to practice competently within the field. A 22-item online questionnaire was administ...

Background: Tall ship sail training, a form of outdoor adventure education, has historically been used with youth to build competency in seamanship and social and emotional skills. However, there is a void in the literature documenting precise program models connected to specific goals. Purpose: This paper presents a case study of the Shenandoah Mo...

Sport social workers operate across all sport systems and settings, from youth recreation to professional athletics. Due to the diversity of ways in which social work practice intersects with sport, the specialization of sport social work remains nebulous. To begin to disentangle this ambiguity, the current exploratory study sough to better underst...

Adventure therapy programs can promote beneficial experiences and attributes that cultivate positive youth development (PYD). This study explores the impact of an urban, outdoor adventure therapy program for underserved youth. Multiple versions of the Positive Youth Development Inventory were given to participants and a comparison group (N = 161) a...

Adventure therapy (AT) settings are diverse and range from school and community settings to outdoor wilderness and bush settings. However, due to the complex and diverse nature of AT, the specific practices associated with the facilitation of AT can be unclear and have been referred to as the black box. To shine light into at least one corner of th...

With many social workers already using or working in sport, understanding available learning opportunities is critical to enhance competency-based practice, a cornerstone of the profession. To meet this need, this study explored learning opportunities used by social workers using or working in sport. In total, 15 social work professionals were inte...

Sport has been recognized as a setting for social work practice for decades, with social workers practicing in diverse sport systems, from community recreation to professional sport. However, as an emerging area of practice, little is known about these social workers. The current study aims to understand how social workers who work in sport underst...

Summary: An emerging area of social work practice is within sport and athletics. Due to the complex nature of sport and the diverse needs of sport participants, social workers are optimally positioned to be critical change agents. However, there is a lack of empirical research dedicated to exploring this unique area of practice. The current study e...

There is a dearth of research in the field of outdoor behavioral healthcare on the direct care staff at wilderness therapy programs, known as field staff. Some research has identified direct care staff as particularly susceptible to burnout and high levels of stress due to personal, organizational, and social factors. Recent research on burnout in...

Women experiencing homelessness have high levels of psychosocial distress related to complex trauma, barriers to mental health treatment, and social isolation. The HOPE Adventure Therapy program utilized outdoor adventure therapy to increase hope and well-being among women homeless shelter residents. Using the Hope Scale and the Outcome Rating Scal...

The damage inflicted on our society by mental health and substance use issues is reaching epidemic proportions with few signs of abating. One new and innovative strategy for addressing these comorbid issues has been the development of outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH). This study compared the effectiveness of three post-acute adolescent substance...

Child abuse is epidemic in the United States and has dire long-term consequences. Innovative interventions are needed to address the negative cognitive, affective and behavioral effects of child abuse. This mixed-method study examined if adventure therapy is 1) an effective mental health intervention for child and adolescent survivors of abuse and...

Child abuse is epidemic in the United States and has dire long-term consequences. Innovative interventions are needed to address the negative cognitive, affective and behavioral effects of child abuse. This mixed-method study examined if adventure therapy is 1) an effective mental health intervention for child and adolescent survivors of abuse and...

Rationale Social work has long supported activity-based group work for young people. One such approach includes outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH), also known as wilderness therapy, which often employs nonclinical field staff to lead outdoor activities as part of the overall treatment model. Although men and women both serve as field guides, the c...

The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of one type of activity-based group work, adventure therapy (AT) group practice, on youth in a community-based mental health setting. Using data collected from Adventure Works, a nonprofit outdoor behavioral healthcare and adventure therapy counseling center, this article explores treatment outco...

Based on a narrative inquiry with women outdoor leaders, in this chapter, the authors discuss how women experience gender whilst becoming outdoor leaders, including gender socialization and the internal and external resources that facilitate the path to leadership. The chapter utilizes in-depth narrative inquiry to recognize barriers to participati...

Background: Participation in youth sport is often associated with a variety of positive development outcomes. In order to effectively utilize sport as a context of learning and development, sport must be intentionally designed and programmed. One often used approach is known as sport-based positive youth development (PYD). Recently, to further enha...

When utilizing youth sport as a social intervention to promote positive youth development (PYD) outcomes, the programming and practices of the youth sport leader (YSL) are critical. However, many YSLs lack the education and knowledge to effectively facilitate sport towards desired PYD outcomes such as intrapersonal and interpersonal life skill deve...

Background: Key findings from the literature on treatment interventions with youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) indicate that the most successful approaches allow frequent opportunities for uncontrived social interactions and are customizable to the needs of individuals and the group. Adventure therapy meets these criteria while providing op...

This chapter highlights the role of the family in the treatment of youth who attend Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (OBH) programs. Family involvement can take many forms across the stages of wilderness treatment that are highlighted in this chapter. For example, when an adolescent is in the expedition phase of treatment-specific letter writing assig...

Over 50,000 children in the United States alone are placed into residential treatment programs each year. The failure to properly address these issues can compound the problems, which can then result in costly and long-term treatment issues. At both a micro-level (involving the client and the client system) and macro-level (involving an entire heal...

The study explored changes in young adults’ mental health, attachment, and separation from parents during a seven-week wilderness therapy program. Utilizing a longitudinal one-group design, the study examined outcomes of 157 young adults in one wilderness therapy program. From pre to post treatment, participants reported significant improvement in...

(Full text: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KVwXn2js7xs95nIVQd6p/full) Adventure programming has seen considerable growth throughout the world. While newly established programs aim to meet the needs of their prospective clients, failing to account for cultural differences when con- ducting or designing programs may impede this goal. Non-western a...

This paper highlights the role of the family in the treatment of youth who attend Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (OBH) programs. It discusses the history of OBH, provides a critical overview of the research on the impact of OBH programs on family functioning, and discusses the importance of increased intentional integration of family therapy into OB...

Background Considering the sensitive ethical issues related to involuntary treatment of adolescents, research investigating youth transport practices and treatment outcomes is clearly needed. Youth transport is common practice in many private pay programs, including wilderness therapy programs. Objective This study of 350 adolescents in wilderness...

Stress and coping skills are among the most essential components of the mental health counseling field. The use of coping skills (e.g., meditation, physical activities, appropriate uses of leisure) has been identified as an effective strategy for stress management. Adventure therapy has emerged as a modality that can positively augment other therap...

This article explored differences by gender in client mental health history, presenting issues, and current functioning among adolescents in wilderness therapy. The study used a random sample of 401 youth in wilderness therapy programs, utilizing data from archival psychological evaluations conducted during wilderness treatment. Results showed that...

This study examined the body composition changes of adolescents participating in an outdoor behavioral healthcare program. The sample was grouped by body mass index (BMI) categories of underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese to discern the physiological changes across these categories as a result of participation. In addition, this study...

This research expands the examination of the effects of individual characteristics on client treatment outcomes at private Residential Treatment Centers (RTCs) and Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare (OBH) programs. A sample of 1,058 participants was used from the NATSAP Practice Research Network. Logistic regression analyses found that within OBH progra...

This state of knowledge article provides an overview of Adventure Therapy (AT) as it is practiced with adolescents in North America, presenting (a) current findings in AT research with adolescents, (b) critical issues in AT, (c) the need for training and professional development in AT, and (d) professionalization in AT. Implications of current find...

Purpose: When adolescents are resistant to treatment, families are faced with the challenge of how to engage them, sometimes against their will. This phenomenon has led to the use of youth transport practices by some residential programs. From a social work perspective there are ethical concerns related to the involuntary treatment of adolescents l...

Background There is an increasing need to identify effective mental health treatment practices for children and adolescents in community-based settings, due to current mixed findings of existing interventions. This study looked at adventure therapy (AT) as a viable option to meet this need. Objective Using a sample of 1,135 youth from a community-b...

Adventure therapy, an experiential intervention that combines outdoor, adventure based activities and group process, is used in direct practice by clinical social workers; however, it is unclear to what extent clinical social workers are actually utilizing these techniques. This research project surveyed a random sample of clinical social workers a...

Focus groups with youth and their parents were used in this research study to better understand the impact of the On Belay Program, an adventure-based support group for youth whose parents have cancer. Results demonstrated that challenge course programs reduce isolation in youth by creating a caring community and normalizing the cancer experience....

Training in groupwork in social work education is a critical aspect of promoting the continued use of groupwork in social work practice. Groupwork courses in social work education should integrate theory and practice; emphasize the processes that make groups effective; and train group leaders by providing experiential learning opportunities for how...

Organizations within the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs differ on a variety of programmatic attributes. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between individual characteristics, programmatic use of adventure therapy and YOQ-30 scores of participants attending Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare and Residen...

In its fourth year of active data collection, the NATSAP Practice Research Network (PRN) is showing promising outcomes for the NATSAP programs actively participating; however the overall implications of this PRN are still emerging. This study specifically looked at the changes reported by youth and their parents from admission to discharge using th...

This study examined shifts in adolescents’ attachment relationships with parents and peers during a 7-week wilderness therapy program. Ninety-six adolescents, aged 14–17, completed three quantitative measurements evaluating attachment relationships with mother, father and peers pre and post treatment. Adolescents reported improved attachment relati...

Although the importance of addressing and evaluating treatment and program fidelity is clearly emphasized in the literature on psychology, education, and health, little attention has been given to fidelity in adventure literature or research. Program fidelity refers to whether or not, and how well, a specific intervention or program was implemented...

Abstract: Training in groupwork in social work education is a critical aspect of promoting the continued use of groupwork in social work practice. Groupwork courses in social work education should integrate theory and practice; emphasize the processes that make groups effective; and train group leaders by providing experiential learning opportuniti...

Although the importance of addressing and evaluating treatment and program fidelity is clearly emphasized in the literature on psychology, education, and health, little attention has been given to fidelity in adventure literature or research. Program fidelity refers to whether or not, and how well, a specific intervention or program was implemented...

Training in groupwork in social work education is a critical aspect of promoting the continued use of groupwork in social work practice. Groupwork courses in social work education should integrate theory and practice; emphasize the processes that make groups effective; and train group leaders by providing experiential learning opportunities for how...

This article presents adventure-based group therapy as one type of activity-based group treatment that can be used to promote social skills in adolescents. Adventure-based therapy groups are a blend of experiential education, outdoor education, and group therapy. Key components of adventure-based therapy groups include activities that provide immed...