The influence of participation in an outdoor adventure program on the social and leisure functioning of adults with cognitive disabilities

The purpose of the study, based in social cognitive theory, was to use established therapeutic recreation instruments to measure the influence of participation in an outdoor adventure program on the social behavior of adults with cognitive disabilities during the outdoor adventure program, and to assess the level of influence that participation has on the leisure functioning of those adults.;Fifteen adults with cognitive disabilities were observed for behavioral and leisure functioning data, using established therapeutic recreation observational assessment tools over three phases of their involvement in the Wilderness Inquiry Gateway program. Each participant was observed for 3-days prior to participation in the trip phase, over 3-days during the trip phase, and over 3-days following participation in the trip, for a minimum of 80 hours of observation per participant.;This study found that changes, in aggregated leisure and social skill functioning scores, were not statistically significant over the course of participation in the Wilderness Inquiry Gateway trip program. This result affirmed the highly personal nature of leisure functioning. However, when viewed on an individual participant basis, the influence of this particular program on leisure functioning suggests that Wilderness Inquiry Gateway trip programs may be slightly more influential on affecting changes in leisure functioning in individuals who are higher functioning. Forty percent of the participants in the study displayed statistically significant changes in social skill functioning scores and this group was evenly split between the higher and lower functioning groups with regard to positive changes. The top activities associated with higher leisure and social skill functioning scores were canoeing, free time activities, meals, meal prep/cleanup, campfire, and loading/unloading gear. A strong positive correlative result between the RPD and CERT-O/Psych suggests that a relationship exists between leisure functioning and social skill functioning. One of the major outcomes of the present study is the strong evidence that activities which lie at the very heart of a Wilderness Inquiry trips, including Gateway trips, (e.g., canoeing and activities surrounding campsite meals), consistently produce high social and leisure scores among participants with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their cognitive limitation.