e‐Delphi in the outdoors: Stakeholder contributions to the development of a wellbeing‐focused outdoor adventure education intervention program

Abstract

AbstractIssue AddressedOutdoor adventure education (OAE) (programs involving outdoor activities such as rock climbing or white‐water canoeing) that participants perceive as risky, conducted in a social support setting, can be utilised by practitioners to elicit changes in educational and psychosocial outcomes to support participant adolescent wellbeing.MethodsThis study garnered the opinions of an expert OAE panel on the content of future programs aiming to impact adolescent wellbeing. The panel consisted of local (Western Australia, n = 7), national (Australia, n = 4), and international (Canada, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, n = 7) experts. A two‐round, mixed‐methods Delphi approach was employed. Extensive formative work led to the development of a series of open‐ended questions requiring qualitative responses for round one. Panellists were also asked to respond to 17 statements using Likert scales in the second round.ResultsAfter analysis, a consensus was reached for all statements, with five statements having high consensus and being considered important by panellists.ConclusionsThe statement ‘Equity for all participants requires flexible delivery and facilitation’ had the highest level of agreement amongst panellists. Connections, authentic experiences, and equitable experiences developed as key themes.So What?Future OAE interventions focused on wellbeing impact could use the findings of this research as a basis for program design.