Examining changes in substance use and conduct problems among treatment‐seeking adolescents

Abstract

Background Outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH) treatment offers an alternative to parents of youth who are treatment‐resistant or avoidant. Method The current study evaluated OBH therapeutic outcomes. The sample was 190 adolescents (Mage = 15.69) presenting for treatment between 2006 and 2008. To be eligible, participants had to be between the ages of 13 and 17 years and be admitted to one of the three OBH programs for mental health intervention. Primary study hypotheses were that OBH treatment would be associated with a reduction in psychiatric symptomatology from baseline to post‐treatment and second, that the OBH intervention would be associated with the maintenance of the hypothesized treatment gains. Results and Conclusions Findings were consistent with hypotheses, suggesting that youth demonstrated significant symptomatic reductions and maintained these improvements over a 12‐month follow‐up period.

Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare: Its Impact on Family Functioning

“…Norton, & Hobson, in press) and/or single program evaluations (Bettmann et al, 2012;Lewis, 2013). In addition, there is limited data looking at if these changes are maintained once youth leave OBH programs (Zelov, Tucker, & Javorski, 2013).…”

“…With the large number of adolescent participants who attend OBH programs and the recently noted successes in treatment (Bettmann et al, 2012;Lewis, 2013;Russell, 2003;Zelov et al, 2013) more information is needed looking at the longer term impact of OBH on participants both in terms of mental health and family functioning to better inform OBH programming and practices. In addition, since access to OBH can be expensive and often not covered by insurance, more research is needed to further develop and substantiate the field as an Evidence Based Practice (Zelov et al, 2013), with the hope of increasing accessibility for families and youth in need.…”

Integrating Narrative Family Therapy in an Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Program: A Case Study

“…General effectiveness research on OBH has provided promising evidence of positive outcomes for struggling adolescents who receive treatment, indicating that adolescents with emotional, behavioral and substance related disorders improve during the course of treatment and these improvements are maintained post discharge (Bettmann et al 2012;Clark et al 2004;Lewis 2013;Magle-Haberek et al 2012;Norton 2008Norton , 2010aRussell 2003Russell , 2005aRussell , b, 2008Russell and Farnum 2004;Russell and Sibthorp 2004;Tucker et al 2011Tucker et al , 2014Zelov et al 2013). Positive physiological outcomes have also been found (DeMille et al 2014).…”

Adventure Therapy: Nondeliberative Group Work in Action

“…Some of these areas include decreased conduct disorder behaviors (Lewis, 2013); reduced substance use in adolescents (Russell, 2008); improved group functioning and cohesion (Clem et al, 2012); decreases in problem severity in youth (Tucker, Javorski, Tracy, & Beale, 2013) and reduced stress levels and increased coping in adults (Koperski, Tucker, Lung, & Gass, 2015). Furthermore, the growing field of adventure-based group therapy has increased client access to adventure therapy programming, versus the more widely known wilderness therapy programs, which are expeditionary and occur in remote natural areas (Tucker, 2009;Tucker & Norton, 2013).…”