Presentation from the article: Booth, J., & Neill, J. T. (2016). Coping strategies and the development of psychological resilience in outdoor education. Paper presented at the 19th National Outdoor Education Conference, University of Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, March 29 - April 1.
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NOEC 2016 Booth Neill presentation slides
1. A presentation
by
Jessie Booth &
James Neill
RESILIENCE AND
COPING IN
OUTDOOR EDUCATION
19th National
Outdoor Education
Conference, March
30, 2016 University
of Sunshine Coast,
Queensland,
Australia.
2. Introduce psychological theory about stress, coping
and resilience.
Review research about coping strategies and
resilience in outdoor education (OE).
Explore how OE can use coping
strategies to contribute to the
development of resilience.
THIS PRESENTATION WILL:
4. Capacity for adapting well in the face of tragedy,
trauma, threats or significant stress
(American Psychological Association, 2010)
Bouncing back from a challenging experience
(Smith et al., 2008)
Conceptualisation has changed from being a special,
invulnerable characteristic of some individuals to a
normal achievable and basic human adaptation
system.
PSYCHOLOOGICAL RESILIENCE
5. RESILIENCE – SOURCES
some types of risk
make individuals
vulnerable
protective factors
lessen an individuals
response to
adversity (or make
them more resilient)
Antecedent → Adversity
(e.g., experiences that are difficult
to adjust to)
Response → Positive adaptation
(e.g., behavioural competencies that are
symptoms of internal well-being)
Coping
6. Coping = behavioural and cognitive attempts to
manage stress (Carpenter, 1992)
Diverse range of coping skills enables healthy
adaptation.
Transactional model of stress and coping
(Lazarus & Folkman, 1987)
1. Primary appraisal = perception of a threat as irrelevant/benign or
stressful.
2. Secondary appraisal = selecting a response to the threat to best
manage it.
COPING
7. 3 main categories of coping responses
(Folkman & Lazarus, 1980):
Problem-focused
Emotion-focused
Avoidant
We should be cautious about
labelling particular coping
strategies as positive or negative
because each may be effective in
particular situations.
COPING
8. Stress Inoculation Model
Similar to development of immunity against disease
Small dosages of stress allow the system to build resilience
COPING & RESILIENCE
Challenge
(Stress-inducing
experience)
Adaptive
coping
behaviour
Increased
resilience and
adaptability
Stress Coping Resilience
9. Psychoeducation sessions (x4) for stressed uni students:
resilience and stress models, coping strategies, responsibility,
changing disempowering interpretations, creating meaningful
connections, and self-leadership
Results (compared to control group):
Significantly higher resilience scores
Greater use of problem-focused coping strategies
Lower use of avoidant coping strategies
Techniques to develop coping (what we can do in OE):
Psychoeducation
Change environment/ stressor to test and practice responses
Coping effectiveness training and practice
STUDY 1 – COPING INTERVENTION
(STEINHARDT & DOLBIER, 2008)
10. Unfamiliar, wilderness environments
Challenging nature of adventure activities
Guided facilitation of experiences
Group dynamics
In theory, this can create constructive anxiety or dissonance
Participants are required to engage coping strategies and
therefore build resilience
Generally positive but variable results in studies examining
change in resilience through OE programs
OE AS A RESILIENCE INTERVENTION
11. Neill and Dias (2001): Adult participants in a 22-day Outward Bound
Australia program
(large change: d = 1.10, N = 41)
Shellman (2009): Youth participants in 14 to 30 day Outward Bound
USA programs
(large change: d = 0.87, N = 63)
Hayhurst, Hunter, Kafka, & Boyes (2015): Youth participants in a 10-
day New Zealand sail training voyage
(moderate change: d = 0.59, N = 66)
Ewert & Yoshino (2011). US college students outdoor adventure
education semester program
(moderate change: d = 0.40, N = 66)
However, other studies have found no significant changes:
Sheard and Golby (2006): 26 university students in UK for a 3-month outdoor
adventure education curriculum.
Skehill (2001): 99 adolescents in initial 5-week period of residential program
that combined outdoor education with traditional school curriculum.
RESILIENCE &
OUTDOOR EDUCATION STUDIES
12. Investigated development of psychological
resilience and the contribution of different
coping strategies
Outward Bound program for adolescents
Mixed method
(quantitative &
qualitative)
COPING & RESILIENCE IN OUTDOOR ED
(BOOTH, 2015)
13.
14. I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times.
I have a hard time making it through stressful
events. (R)
It does not take me long to recover from a
stressful event.
It is hard for me to snap back when something
bad happens. (R)
I usually come through difficult times with little
trouble.
I tend to take a long time to get over set-backs in
my life. (R)
BRIEF RESILIENCE SCALE
(SMITH ET AL., 2008)
18. Average overall use of
strategy
4= a lot
3= a medium amount
2= a little bit
1= not at all
COPING
STRATEGIES
DURING AN OE
PROGRAM
Resilience-enhancing
Resilience-undermining
19. 3 coping strategies partially explained change in
resilience:
Qualitative data showed greater use of:
Positive Reinterpretation:
Construing a stressful transaction in positive terms
e.g., “I learnt something from the experience.”
Quantitative data showed lower use of:
Acceptance:
Accepting the reality of a stressful situation
e.g., I learnt to live with it.
Focus on and Venting of Emotions:
Focusing on what is distressing or upsetting and ventilating those feelings
e.g., I felt a lot of emotional distress and found myself expressing those
feelings a lot.
predicted greater positive changes in resilience
RESULTS – CONTRIBUTION OF COPING TO
CHANGE IN RESILIENCE
20. Resilience is a core psychological outcome targetted by
outdoor education programs
There is positive but varied evidence about effect of OE
on participants’ resilience levels.
Psychological theory suggests coping strategies can
influence development of resilience.
Thus, to improve outcomes of OE programs, consider:
Greater integration of psychoeducation to help guide participants’
coping strategy skill and choices
Facilitators can be influential in teaching, facilitating, and role
modeling use of adaptive coping skills
Specially target:
Positive reinterpretation (↑)
Acceptance (↓)
Focus on and venting of emotion (↓)
CONCLUSION
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Notes de l'éditeur
Outdoor education often aims to develop participants’ psychological resilience (or mental toughness) through structured challenging and reflective experiences. Such experiences, however, can be a double-edged sword, with potential for both growth and harm. Some participants thrive, whilst others can be reluctant or resistant. Psychological theory about stress and coping can help to understand this problem. Individuals employ coping strategies in response to stressful and challenging situations. Some coping strategies, such as problem-solving and positive thinking, may help to deal with the challenges and thereby foster psychological resilience, whilst other coping strategies, such as ignoring the problem and worrying, may undermine resilience.
From the 1960s to the early 1990s, conceptualisation of psychological resilience focused on a individual capacity to not manifest dysfunction despite exposure to risk factors such as distressing family environments (Garmezy, 1991; Werner & Smith, 1992). Resilient individuals were often described as possessing something special that made them relatively invincible or invulnerable (Pines, 1975, as cited in Masten, 2001). More recent approaches emphasise protective factors such as optimism, an ability to find meaning in one’s life experiences and a sense of personal control (Taylor, Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000) which give individuals an advantage when faced with adversity (Bonanno, 2004).
With growing attention, the idea of remarkable individuals has been challenged and now resilience is framed as a more normally achievable, and basic human adaptation system that is relevant to everyone (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Masten, 2001). There is a degree of ordinariness to this phenomenon, as it becomes more evident that when any individual engages appropriate supportive mechanisms and processes, s/he can build resilience.
From the 1960s to the early 1990s, conceptualisation of psychological resilience focused on a individual capacity to not manifest dysfunction despite exposure to risk factors such as distressing family environments (Garmezy, 1991; Werner & Smith, 1992). Resilient individuals were often described as possessing something special that made them relatively invincible or invulnerable (Pines, 1975, as cited in Masten, 2001). More recent approaches emphasise protective factors such as optimism, an ability to find meaning in one’s life experiences and a sense of personal control (Taylor, Kemeny, Reed, Bower, & Gruenewald, 2000) which give individuals an advantage when faced with adversity (Bonanno, 2004).
With growing attention, the idea of remarkable individuals has been challenged and now resilience is framed as a more normally achievable, and basic human adaptation system that is relevant to everyone (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Masten, 2001). There is a degree of ordinariness to this phenomenon, as it becomes more evident that when any individual engages appropriate supportive mechanisms and processes, s/he can build resilience.
Current conceptualisations of resilience share two core ideas: adversity as an antecedent and positive adaptation as a response (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2015). Adversity refers to life experiences that are typically difficult to adjust to. Positive adaptation is considered to be behavioural competencies (Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000) that relate to symptoms of internal well-being (Masten & Obradovic, 2006).
A process-focused approach considers resilience as malleable and elastic, a changing and developing positive adaptation system (Luthar et al., 2000; Olsson et al., 2003). This theory considers that different people respond differently to different environmental hazards, contexts and outcomes (Rutter, 2006). A process focused approach to understanding resilience, focuses on understanding the mechanisms that affect the way individuals deal with and process risky situations. This is seen from two ends of the spectrum: firstly which types of risk make the individual vulnerable, and secondly, which protective factors lessen an individual’s response to adversity or make them more resilient.
Coping refers to behavioural and cognitive attempts to manage stress (Carpenter, 1992). A versatile and comprehensive repertoire of coping strategies enables healthy adaptation to a variety of situations and environments (Frydenberg, 1999; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Neill & Heubeck, 1998). Coping is a meeting point between an individual’s perception of the requirements of the external world and the perceived necessities of the internal world (Neill & Heubeck, 1998). Coping involves a dynamic interaction between the individual and the stressful environment
Cognitive appraisal theory (Lazarus, 1966) and the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987) explain individual emotional response to stressors and challenges (Folkman & Moskowitz, 2004) as arising from primary and secondary appraisals when dealing with a threat. Primary appraisal involves perceiving a threat to one’s self as irrelevant, benign-positive (a positive outcome is anticipated), or stressful (harm, loss, threat, and challenge anticipated). Secondary appraisal involves selecting a response to the threat in order to manage the situation (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub (1989) suggest the act of coping follows these appraisals and execution of the chosen response.
Problem-focused coping addresses the direct source of the issue creating distress and attempts a solution-focused action (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). This is an appropriate response when the individual has control over the outcome and factors involved. Emotion-focused coping involves regulating internal process to lessen the feelings of distress and can involve expression of emotions and reactions associated with the stressor
According to the “stress inoculation” model (Meichenbaum & Cameron, 1989), the resilience-enhancing role of stress is akin to the development of immunity to disease via gradual or small exposure to a pathogen. Similarly, resilience can be built through gradual exposure to experiences that challenge feelings of safety and competence (Rutter 1993). Stress-inducing challenges which are responded to with successful coping behaviours are hypothesised to increase the individual’s level of resilience and adaptability. However, it should be noted that stressful experiences come with some degree of psychological discomfort and that they also have the potential for psychological distress and trauma
Individual ability to appraise, process and attach meaning to an experience helps to incorporate it into one’s belief system (Jew & Green, 1998). Therefore, much of the development of resilience involves adjustment of cognitive appraisals and judgments about what different situations mean to the individual. Resilience becomes a gateway to mastery and provides an ability to take on greater responsibility, which is associated with an increase in positive mental health and a positive belief in one’s ability to cope (Jew & Green, 1998).
Coping involves a set of strategies whereas resilience is the successful final result from implementing those strategies. Thus psychological resilience can be understood as arising from the finding of methods to cope with hardships (Compas, Connor-Smith, Saltzman, Thomsen, & Wadsworth 2001). However, not all coping strategies will help facilitate development of resilience (Glennie, 2010), an area which needs further investigation.
Coping strategies have been identified as a mediator of stress and are a major factor in determining whether an experience is beneficial or detrimental to an individual (Neill & Heubeck, 1998). As stress is a salient feature of outdoor education, the role of coping strategies would appear highly relevant.
Stress = initial evaluation of a stressor
Effects of the stressor can be:
Negative = distress
Positive = eustress
Selye (1976) referred to negative and positive stress as distress and eustress respectively. Stress is the initial evaluation of a stressor but distress and eustress are the effects of that stressor. In the majority of stress responses there will be a mixture of stress types. Eustress is defined as any consequences that feel desirable or pleasurable yet are still carried by the catalyst that is forcing the individual to adapt in some way
There is surprisingly little research that examining interventions that target the development of coping strategies and resilience. A study of a a coping intervention consisting of four weekly psychoeducational sessions for stressed university students found significantly higher resilience scores (d = .82), greater use of problem-focused coping strategies, and lower use of avoidant coping strategies than in a control group (Steinhardt & Dolbier, 2008)This psychoeducational intervention taught participants about resilience and stress models, coping strategies, responsibility, changing disempowering interpretations, creating meaningful connections, and self-leadership
Coping strategies arise from early developmental influences (Taylor & Stanton, 2007), however post-childhood psychosocial interventions can actively help people to learn to cope more effectively with stress (Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). Coping interventions should, however, consider that people have spent the majority of their lives establishing their coping strategies.
Nevertheless, there is growing evidence that education about productive choices and methods of coping can have beneficial outcomes. For example, coping effectiveness training (Folkman, Chesney, McKusick, Ironson, & Johnson, 1991) is designed to adjust the current appraisal system, matching an appropriate coping response to a stressor, and training and practice in how to maintain an appropriate response.
Another potentially effective method of coping intervention is to to change the environment, thereby changing the stressors in order to allow new coping mechanisms to be practiced (Taylor & Stanton, 2007). Combining exposure a new environment along with psychoeducation and developmental challenges offers a potentially fresh perspective and practical field of experimentation for developing coping and resilience interventions.
The philosophy behind many outdoor education programs is that encountering stress, from being at the edge of one’s physical and psychological boundaries can enhance people’s capacity to deal with everyday stressors This philosophy is in line with the concept of eustress and the stress inoculation model.
Several sources identify that the unfamiliar physical environments, challenging activities, social milieu, and staff facilitation as key programming elements used in outdoor education The use of relatively natural, unfamiliar program environments (Hattie, Marsh, Neill, & Richards, 1997; Nadler, 1993; Walsh & Golins, 1976) provide a natural system of consequences for participants’ actions (Kimball & Bacon, 1993). The provides the stressors, which need to be responded to by utilising internal competencies from cognitive, spiritual, emotional, physical, and social/behavioural domains (Kumpfer, 1999). Each individual has differing resources available to them from these domains, creating individual differences in tolerance levels for different environmental stressors. Outdoor education provides many opportunities for individuals to explore the relationship between their internal competencies and environmental factors.
Challenging activities are embedded in outdoor education programs to engage participants physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally (Walsh & Golins, 1976)For example, experiential, high impact, high-energy activities such as expeditions, high ropes activities, canoeing, caving, and rock climbing are often used.
Outdoor education programs are usually conducted in small groups that provide a salient social milieu in which mutual dependence amongst group members is developed as they tackle common objectives (Kimball & Bacon, 1993; McKenzie, 2000; Walsh & Golins, 1976). This milieu is often constructed via processing such as giving and receiving feedback, the dynamic of followership and leadership, group dynamics, and social modelling. Staff facilitators assist in this process by helping participants to glean meaning from their experiences via guided reflection and linking the experiences back to their daily lives (Priest & Gass, 1997).
There is surprisingly little research that examining interventions that target the development of coping strategies and resilience. A study of a a coping intervention consisting of four weekly psychoeducational sessions for stressed university students found significantly higher resilience scores (d = .82), greater use of problem-focused coping strategies, and lower use of avoidant coping strategies than in a control group (Steinhardt & Dolbier, 2008)This psychoeducational intervention taught participants about resilience and stress models, coping strategies, responsibility, changing disempowering interpretations, creating meaningful connections, and self-leadership
Coping strategies arise from early developmental influences (Taylor & Stanton, 2007), however post-childhood psychosocial interventions can actively help people to learn to cope more effectively with stress (Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). Coping interventions should, however, consider that people have spent the majority of their lives establishing their coping strategies.
Nevertheless, there is growing evidence that education about productive choices and methods of coping can have beneficial outcomes. For example, coping effectiveness training (Folkman, Chesney, McKusick, Ironson, & Johnson, 1991) is designed to adjust the current appraisal system, matching an appropriate coping response to a stressor, and training and practice in how to maintain an appropriate response.
Another potentially effective method of coping intervention is to to change the environment, thereby changing the stressors in order to allow new coping mechanisms to be practiced (Taylor & Stanton, 2007). Combining exposure a new environment along with psychoeducation and developmental challenges offers a potentially fresh perspective and practical field of experimentation for developing coping and resilience interventions.
Coping strategy research very careful never to categorise strategies into helpful not helpful. However within context and research can make some suggestions about the use of certain strategies in OE.
Green dots= coping strategies that came up as being helpful
red= not helpful.
For the quantitative data, these two strategies explained 13% of the unexplained variance.