Men's wilderness experience and spirituality: a qualitative study

Abstract

Previous research on wilderness experience and spirituality focuses on participants in women-only or mixed male and female groups. This qualitative research study investigated the spiritual impact of participation in a men-only canoe journey into a remote wilderness area. In-depth interviews were conducted with six participants after the trip. Interpretive analysis was used to identify themes in the interview data. The results indicated that the short-term impact of participation in the wilderness trip was a sense of peacefulness while the long-term impact was characterized by recollection. The wilderness setting, along with the diverse social settings during the trip, was viewed as important to spiritual well-being. Most of the participants did not identify the scheduled spiritual activities as having a large impact upon their spiritual well-being. A few, but not all, of the participants viewed participation in a men-only group as important to their spiritual well-being.