Changes in Children's Manifest Anxiety in a Therapeutic Short Term Camping Experience: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This exploratory study investigated changes in children's anxiety while enrolled in an intensive structured IO-day residential therapeutic camp program on children's anxiety. Male and female campers (N = 191; 8 to 12 years old) were characterized by severe behavior and emotional disorders, low socioeconomic backgrounds, broken homes, and social deprivation. As a group, they reportedly suffered from high levels of anxiety as compared to normal children in this same age range. Pre- and post-testing was done with the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. The specific hypothesis tested was that the anxiety of these types ofchildren would decrease significantly while enrolled in the therapeutic camping program which featured behavior modification, modeling, highly structured activities within small groups which incorporated high levels ofpersonal reinforcement, and individualized tutoring. Statistical results supported this hypothesis. No significant gender or age differences in RCMAS response were found.