Group Climate and Development in Adventure Therapy: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This study explored the group developmental process of Adventure Therapy (AT) conducted with 9th grade students (n = 20). Researchers measured avoidance, conflict, and cohesion and compared results from this study to the development of traditional counseling groups. Results suggested that AT groups follow a similar developmental process as traditional group counseling as evidenced by a statistically significant increase in cohesion, an increase then decrease in conflict, and a decrease in avoidance. This study is a response to a previous call for research related to AT group development. Implications for counselors, AT training programs, and future research are discussed.