Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, Clemson University, Clemson, USA.
Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, Clemson University, Clemson, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2019 Jan;221:49-57. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.12.014. Epub 2018 Dec 10.
Medical specialty camps play a significant role in the lives of the youth they serve. These camps have been found to improve self-determination in campers, to develop camper skills in managing a disability or coping with a diagnosis, and to provide campers with respite/escape from the challenges associated with their disability or diagnosis. Youth attending medical specialty camps are often funded through full or partial scholarships, mitigating a significant constraint to their participation. These resources are limited, leading camp administrators charged with allocating funding to make challenging decisions in determining which campers would most benefit from camp participation.
This study examines a factor often linked to the escalating achievement of outcomes, repeated camp attendance, in 217 youth (ages 10-16) attending a one-week residential summer "Type 1 diabetes" camp. Specifically, two research questions were examined using a structural equation model (SEM): (1) what effect does repeat camp attendance (returning for multiple years) have on targeted outcome achievement, and (2) how does camper age moderate the relationship between repeated camp attendance and outcomes?
The study results indicate across the 10-outcomes tested in the study (e.g., relatedness, autonomy, competence), repeat attendance had no statistically meaningful effect (p ≤ .05) on outcome scores, nor did camper age moderate the strength of relationship between attendance and outcomes.
The lack of relationship between attendance and outcomes supports prior meta-analyses suggesting the lack of value of repeated attendance, as does the non-significant moderational effect. The results of this study may illustrate to program providers and funders that no discernible benefit (in terms of targeted and measured outcomes in the current study) is due to repeat attendance, which can inform resource allocation and camper recruitment decisions.
医学专业营地在为其服务的青少年的生活中发挥着重要作用。这些营地被发现可以提高营员的自决能力，培养营员在管理残疾或应对诊断方面的技能，并为营员提供从与残疾或诊断相关的挑战中解脱/逃避的机会。参加医学专业营地的青少年通常通过全额或部分奖学金获得资助，这减轻了他们参与的一个重要限制。这些资源有限，导致负责分配资金的营地管理人员在确定哪些营员最受益于营地参与时做出具有挑战性的决策。
本研究考察了一个常与结果的不断提高相关的因素，即重复参加营地活动，在 217 名（年龄在 10-16 岁）参加为期一周的“1 型糖尿病”夏令营的青少年中进行了研究。具体来说，使用结构方程模型（SEM）检验了两个研究问题：（1）重复参加营地活动（多年返回）对目标结果的达成有什么影响，（2）营员年龄如何调节重复参加营地活动与结果之间的关系？
研究结果表明，在所研究的 10 项结果（例如，相关性、自主性、能力）中，重复参加营地活动对结果评分没有统计学上的显著影响（p≤.05），营员年龄也没有调节重复参加营地活动与结果之间的关系强度。
参加营地活动与结果之间缺乏关系支持了先前的荟萃分析，表明重复参加营地活动没有价值，而营员年龄的调节作用不显著。本研究的结果可能向项目提供者和资助者表明，重复参加营地活动不会带来可识别的好处（就当前研究中的目标和测量结果而言），这可以为资源分配和营员招募决策提供信息。
