Literature Reviews in Adventure Therapy
Compiled by Sandy Newes, 2008
1. Lee Gillis created an annotated bibliography in the late 90’s of Adventure Therapy literature. In the past, hard copies have been available through AEE. It is also posted on his website at leegillis.com/AT. Dr. Gillis is a well-known researcher in the field of adventure therapy, and other useful information is available there as well.
2. Keith Russell is the premier researcher in the area of wilderness therapy. Russell’s published research can be found through his faculty page. Useful reviews and bibliographies can be found embedded in each. Russell also contributed a chapter entitled “Research Directions in Wilderness Therapy” to Coming of Age: The Evolving Field of Adventure Therapy (see below). The chapter contains a useful review of published literature.
3. Bandoroff & Newes (2004). Coming of Age: The Evolving Field of Adventure Therapy. Association for Experiential Education: Boulder, CO. This book contains a number of chapters exploring particular aspects of adventure therapy. Newes and Bandoroff review some of the core tenets of adventure therapy and links to traditional mental health in the chapter entitled “What is Adventure Therapy?”. This chapter is available here and the book is available through AEE. A reference to the book is also available as an ERIC document, # ED491757
4. Sandy Newes conducted an extensive review of adventure therapy literature in 1999, critically evaluating the existing literature from the perspective of scientifically-oriented clinical psychology. The paper can be found at Wilderdom.com. Chapter one consists of a statement of purpose and some broad shortcomings of the literature. Chapter two provides a description of adventure-based therapy (AT), and includes sections which discuss the history, the theory, and the definition of AT; drawing parallels between AT and traditional mental health practices. Goals and characteristics of AT are also reviewed. Chapter three focuses on ethical issues in AT, drawing parallels to APA ethical principles. Chapter four provides a critical overview of the outcome research in AT. Chapter five offers a discussion of the present and future methodological considerations in AT research. The citation is Newes, S.L. (2000) Adventure-Based Therapy: Theory, Characteristics, Ethics, and Research. Find these chapters here.
5. Sandy Newes wrote a dissertation entitled Predicting Recidivism among Juvenile Offenders Participating in an Adventure-Based Therapy Intervention. Along with the literature reviewed in the paper above, a review of related recidivism literature is included. This dissertation can be found at the website cited above.
6. Scott Bandoroff wrote a review paper in the late 1980’s as part of his dissertation on wilderness therapy with families. Bandoroff, S. (1989). Wilderness adventure-based therapy for delinquent and pre-delinquent youth: A review of the literature. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 377 428). Bandoroff published another paper exploring Wilderness Family Therapy in 1994 which may be found here.
7. A group from the Therapeutic Adventure Professional Group (TAPG) has been creating a Best Practices resource. It continues to be a work in progress, but portions can be accessed through TAPG’s website at AEE. In particular, the Treatment Applications section bibliography identifies literature that supports the Best Practices statements made by TAPG regarding Treatment Applications: which include statements about environmental context, social context, intervention – facilitation, intervention- activities and assessment at this time. This will be available at http:www.tapg.aee.org .
8. Christine Norton completed a dissertation exploring the impact of adventure therapy on adolescent depression. Norton, Christine. (2007). Understanding the impact of wilderness therapy on adolescent depression and psychosocial development. Unpublished dissertation: Loyola University Chicago, 2007, 253 pages; AAT 3263180. It can be downloaded Here at ProQuest: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?SrchMode=2&sid=1&firstIndex=0&RQT=511&TS=1224685812&clientId=11421
9. Joanna Bettman completed a dissertation exploring attachment styles among adolescents in wilderness therapy. The dissertation is entitled Shifts in Attachment Relationships: A Quantitative Study of Adolescents in Brief Residential Treatment. Dr. Bettman is at the University of Utah in the Department of Social Work. Please contact Joanna Bettman directly for more information about her work.
