Offering mental health supports to college students in a rock climbing course: A recreational therapy program evaluation
Elizabeth Obray & Rhonda Nelson
What the paper says
This program evaluation was part of a broader research study that aimed to evaluate a new recreational therapy (RT) program focused on developing resiliency and self-efficacy in college students through a combination of rock climbing, mindfulness, and reflective journaling activities. RT programming was imbedded in an introductory college rock climbing course offered over three consecutive days, and participants experienced significant increases in resiliency and self-efficacy post-program. Given the multifaceted structure of the intervention, this program evaluation aimed to (a) clarify the role of specific program elements by assessing the RT program’s alignment with its 12 intended objectives and (b) determine the program’s appropriateness for its intended clientele by assessing perceived value to college students. Evaluation surveys revealed that 11 of the 12 objectives (91.67 percent) were met based on established thresholds for participant feedback, indicating that the program content and activities were well aligned with the intended objectives. Additionally, all of the participants (N = 12) either agreed (n = 4) or strongly agreed (n = 8) that the program had value to them.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.00 × 0.4 = 0.00 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.