Describe wilderness challenge programs and assess their effectiveness.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Wilderness challenge programs provide residential placement along with outdoor skill-based activities that rely on learning survival skills and teamwork in a group approach to problem solving. Program lengths varied widely from 3 days to 25 weeks. Activities like canoeing, backpacking, and rock climbing are among the mentally rigorous and physically challenging exercises that attempt to improve a youth's self-esteem and help them learn how to resolve interpersonal conflict in a different way. Other defining experiences are family therapy and nightly group counseling sessions in the context of physically challenging activities (Walsh & Russell, 2010). Eligibility criteria targeted youths between 13 and 18 years who exhibited low self-control and poor decision-making skills. Structured program lengths varied from a few weeks to a few months. Programs with a duration of less than 6 weeks versus 10 weeks or more did not have any difference of an effect on later delinquency. In general, Wilderness Challenge programs are not among the best programs to decrease recidivism. There were no significant differences on later rates of employment, school participation, or future criminal behavior of Wilderness challenge participants compared to similar youth who did not participate (Walsh & Russell, 2010).