Daniel Boone Wilderness Therapeutic Camping Program: A retrospective study of beliefs, attitudes, and values of selected innovators and change agents.

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify the beliefs, attitudes, and values of a select group of innovators and change agents who participated in one therapeutic camping and experiential educational program during the years 1975-77 and what they are doing now. This study was conducted by using qualitative research methods gathering life histories through individual interviews of a select group of innovators and change agents who participated in the Boone Wilderness Therapeutic Camping Program. Document reviews when available and appropriate were integrated within the study. Initially, the beliefs, attitudes, and values that this group of innovators and change agents brought to the program were explored. The impact of participation in the wilderness and experiential education program on their beliefs, attitudes, and values was probed and the stability of these beliefs, attitudes, and values was assessed as informants moved into other innovative programs and other professional dimensions. The data was analyzed and themes reflective of their beliefs, values, and attitudes are reported.

The findings of this study are consistent with many of those reported by Smith, Kleine, Prunty, and Dwyer in Educational Innovators: Then and Now (1986). Further, the findings of the study extend the knowledge of the change and diffusion processes by exploring the beliefs, attitudes, and values of innovators and change agents which have received minimal concentration.