A wilderness based therapeutic intervention at risk of homelessness and educational disconnection

The research upon which this paper is based aimed to evaluate the life effectiveness of participants involved in a wilderness therapy program, in order to determine its value as an early treatment intervention for youth ‘at risk’ of homelessness and educational disconnection. The study focused on participants from five Australian Regional Extended Family Services (REFS) wilderness programs. The programs were designed as an early intervention for young people at risk of homelessness, to help prevent educational and family disengagement. The study investigated the effectiveness of the program in promoting change in program participants. The study examined outcomes of the program associated with the risk factors of homelessness as measured by the Life Effectiveness Questionnaire (LEQ). The LEQ was used in three of its forms in order to determine the changes that took place.

The results of the research show that there was change between the pre and post program responses across the overall LEQ-1 and YARPET scores, with small to moderate effect sizes of 0.31 and 0.22 respectively. Greatest improvements are seen in time management (d = 0.43), task leadership (d = 0.45), social competence (d = 0.35) and achievement motivation (d = 0.32). The observer results consistently support those of the participants. An effect size of 0.2 represents an 8% increase in student perceptions of their skills. These results give preliminary support for the use of wilderness therapy as an intervention to help prevent young people prematurely disengaging from family and the education system.