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First Descents, an adventure program for young adults with cancer: who benefits?

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Abstract

Background

Participation in camps, adventure programs, retreats, and other social events offers experiences that can promote self-efficacy and quality of life.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine whether participation in a 1-week outdoor adventure program resulted in improvements in psychological distress, self-efficacy, and/or social support for young adult cancer patients (AYAs) aged 18–40 years. The study examined the differential effect of participation for AYAs who indicated moderate to severe symptoms of psychological distress prior to their trip.

Methods

Standardized measures of distress, self-efficacy, and social support were administered pre-trip, post-trip, and 1 month after program completion (follow-up). Univariate and multivariate models examined baseline scores for non-distressed participants compared to distressed participants, changes in outcomes from pre-trip to post-trip and follow-up for the entire sample, and the extent to which change rates for each outcome differed for distressed versus non-distressed participants.

Results

All participants demonstrated significant improvement in self-efficacy over time. Distressed participants reported a significantly greater decrease in distress symptoms and greater increase in self-efficacy and social support at post-trip and 1 month later when compared to non-distressed participants.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that participation in an outdoor recreational activity designed specifically for AYAs with cancer contributes to significant reductions in distress and improvements in self-efficacy and social support, and particularly for AYAs reporting clinically significant distress symptoms prior to the initiation of their activity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the First Descents staff and board of directors for their input and financial support of this work, as well as Sylvia Ciszek for her contributions to the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan School of Social Work, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1106, USA

    Brad Zebrack & Laura Sundstrom

  2. Department of Social Work, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong

    Minyoung Kwak

Authors
  1. Brad Zebrack
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  2. Minyoung Kwak
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  3. Laura Sundstrom
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brad Zebrack.

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Conflict of interest

B.Z. is a member of the Medical Advisory Board for First Descents but receives no compensation. No other authors have disclosures. B.Z. has full control of all primary data and agrees to allow the journal to review their data if requested.

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Zebrack, B., Kwak, M. & Sundstrom, L. First Descents, an adventure program for young adults with cancer: who benefits?. Support Care Cancer 25, 3665–3673 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3792-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3792-7

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