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Our study explored current environmental sustainability practices of U.S. camps as well as the motivations and barriers influencing integration of sustainable operational approaches. Using a web survey of camp organizations in Spring 2021, we identified participation in sustainable actions across five broad categories: waste management, sustainability education and communication, natural resource and wildlife conservation, energy and water consumption, and purchasing and procurement. Many camp organizations already engaged in sustainable practices--especially with respect to waste management and sustainability education--but almost all camps wanted to do more. Camp organizations placed higher priority on environmental and social motivations for sustainability than economic reasons. The largest perceived barrier to sustainability was inadequate financial and/or technological resources, though lack of awareness and capacity-building assistance were also constraints. Results highlight strong interest in sustainability across the camp industry and reveal multiple ways to realize that potential.

The camp community understands that participation in camp produces a variety of impacts; what is less understood are the causal mechanisms leading to outcomes. In the past, research on the camp experience treated causal mechanisms as monolithic; this commentary argues that a weakness in existing camp research is the assumption that "camp" is "camp" and that there is a lack of attention to how components of camp interact to produce valued developmental outcomes. Using two indices from complementary fields (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment [HOME] and Healthy Sports Index [HSI]) as exemplars, a framework exploring variation in the elements of tri-dimensional offerings between camps is proposed. What the HOME index and HSI have established in other fields is what the camp community could have: a tool that initially helps researchers examine how the structural variations within and between individual camps may eventually help explain the quality and strength of outcomes for campers and counselors.

"Transition of care" is defined as the movement of an individual from one setting of care to another and involves communicating with appropriate out-of-camp stakeholders such as parents, teachers, and community health care providers to identify youth needs (before camp) and outcomes achieved (after camp) so desired health goals may be shared across youth settings (e.g., home, school, community). Informed by management continuity and informational continuity theoretical frameworks, transition of care describes how activities such as recordkeeping and sharing of information from one team of caregivers to another improves the quality of services. When considered within the context of a child's summertime experiences such as summer camp, attention to transition of care from a child's academic year to summer, and from summer to a child's academic year, may improve the quality of children's summertime experiences by ensuring that a child's health and well-being are both fully supported and promoted across the calendar year. Transition of care communication practices are strengthened through the use of electronic health records (EHRs) and systems that support the sharing of information across stakeholders. This article contextualizes transition of care communication for the camp community, addressing implications for practice, research, and policy, to encourage the development of a comprehensive system that supports transition of care practices; a system that will require the buy-in of camp institutions, third-party camp software companies, camp organizations, and families.

Interest in both the objective dimension and the subjective dimension of summer camp experiences has grown among camp scholars. As a building block for understanding subjective elements of summer camp experiences, discrete defining moments may provide insights into linkages between what program providers deliver and the experiences that youth receive. This study identified defining moments of summer camp experiences and examined when defining moments occurred, using interviews conducted with 21 youth in early adolescence immediately following camp. Themes derived from the data suggest that moments involving novelty, challenge, friend-making, tradition, achievement, positivity, and emotional safety are most salient. Practitioners can use the study findings to more intentionally design memorable and meaningful summer camp experiences. Researchers can build on these exploratory findings to examine defining moments of camp experiences across other samples of camp participants.

Summer camp programs provide distinct opportunities for positive youth development through caring relationships and opportunities to build skills. To examine the extent to which youths experience the 4-H Essential Elements through 4-H camp programs, we administered the National 4-H Camping Research Consortium's Camp Context Questionnaire to youths (n = 776) across 20 camps. Results indicated some exposure to the Essential Elements. Although mean scores related to establishing relationships with caring adults were high, room for improvement existed in the areas of self-determination, belonging, and personal safety. The results enabled state and local staff to implement strategic decisions for future camp programs and may be of value to others managing 4-H camp programming.

To support practitioners' need for reliable and valid measures of the youth camp experience, this study compares the results of two analytic approaches--(1) composite-based paired samples t tests and (2) a latent structural equation model approach--using the Parental Perceptions of Developmental Outcomes (PPDO) scale in a sample of 930 parents of youth attending residential summer camps. Through a retrospective pretest (RPT) design, parents reported statistically significant growth across the five dimensions of the PPDO (responsibility, exploration, self-regulation, attitude, and communication) in both analytic approaches. The study results indicated similar effect sizes and conclusions were reached using both analytical approaches, suggesting a more practitioner-friendly approach (composite) may tell the same story as a more complex and research-oriented (latent) approach. This finding, as well as the revalidation of the PPDO in this sample, indicates the PPDO's usefulness in applied and research contexts.

Background: Camp experiences contribute to a range of positive developmental youth outcomes, but camp experiences also pose a risk for youth because of potential exposure to injuries and illnesses. The camp community has lacked both a methodology and effective benchmarks for injury and illness monitoring. Furthermore, camp-related policy recommendations have lacked the support of generalizable data addressing the risk of injuries and illnesses at camp. The need for systematic exploration of when, where, and how injuries and illness occur in camps created an opportunity for administrators and healthcare providers to improve camp safety by understanding injury and illness trends and implementing effective practices to better manage risk. Purpose: The purposes of this study were to benchmark illness and injury rates among campers and staff at U.S. summer camps; to understand risk factors associated with such adverse events; and to use the surveillance methodology to identify intervention strategies to reduce the incidence of camp injuries and illnesses. Methods: Data were collected using a Web-based injury and illness surveillance program called CampRIO™ (Reporting Information Online). During the 10-week summer data collection period, healthcare staff from participating camps logged into CampRIO™ weekly to enter exposure and illness/injury data. Data were also collected using a post-study camp director survey. Results: The sample size ranged from 186 (low) to 295 (high) participating camps across the five study years. The overall illness rates indicated that campers and staff in both day and resident camps tended to have twice as many illness events than injury events. In addition, campers and staff involved in day camps tended to have lower rates of illness than campers and staff involved in resident camps. In some study years illnesses associated with the respiratory tract were most prevalent and in other study years illnesses associated with the gastro-intestinal tract were most prevalent. Data indicated that lower extremity injuries were most common and slips, trips, or falls was the most common mechanism of injury. In about 40% of all injuries protective equipment was a required component of a camp activity but not used in about 15% of these cases. Sixty percent of resident camper injuries and almost 30% of day camper injuries occurred during free time. Online modules were created and delivered to participating camps and a number of promising healthcare practices were learned through completion of the online modules. Conclusion: The systematic monitoring of injuries and illnesses in camps illuminated trends that yielded specific, practical strategies that camp healthcare staff and administrators could use to improve camp experiences for participants and staff. Camps now have an evidence base in the form of national injury and illness benchmarks provided by this study, and these benchmarks can guide both promising practices and effective policies. Methodologies like the one used in this study contribute to the viable tools available to camp providers for illness and injury surveillance.

Critically examining common statistical approaches and their strengths and weaknesses is an important step in advancing recreation and leisure sciences. To continue this critical examination and to inform methodological decision making, this study compared three approaches to determine how alternative approaches may result in contradictory conclusions in the interpretation of the psychometric properties of a scale and in response to a given research question. To this end, this study explored what factors best predicted parental endorsement of competition climbing in a sample of 184 parents of youth competition climbers. The study findings suggest that the three distinct approaches provided meaningfully different conclusions regarding the adapted psychometric properties of the questionnaire, but offered no meaningful differences in the primary finding of the study: Parent-coach relationship quality is the best predictor of parental endorsement of competition climbing. The results suggest that deeper examination of self-report questionnaire data may advance our understanding of complex recreation and leisure constructs beyond what can be understood with less advanced analytic techniques.

Understanding program components that contribute to positive youth outcomes following camp experiences can help program providers bring a greater level of intentionality to their efforts. The purposes of this study were twofold: (a) to develop reliable and valid measures of life skill development, elements of positive youth development (PYD), and antecedents of change within the context of camp and (b) to examine potential relationships between life skill development, elements of PYD, and antecedents of change to better understand elements that influence youth outcomes in camp. Data were collected from 429 camp alumni using an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to explore the reliability and validity of the three proposed scales, and hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine how selected variables contributed to the participants' outcomes scores. Study results suggest three psychometrically sound instruments were developed to measure these constructs. Implications for research and practice are explored.

Examining traditional and contemporary professional development practices of youth-serving organizations can inform practices across Extension, particularly in light of the barriers that have been noted for effectively developing the professional competencies of Extension educators. With professional development systems changing quickly, particularly through online education and blended learning opportunities, benchmarks need to guide new research around best practices in professional development. Although many program providers have not established benchmarks for professional development, a few cases exist. This article examines the current state of professional development practices of youth-serving organizations and offers recommendations for improving Extension professional development practices.

Camp research conducted by Extension provides ample empirical evidence that the camp experience contributes to healthy child development. National and state outcomes resources have emerged allowing Extension educators to target youth outcomes at camp. Although the emphasis on outcomes has been important and productive, the time has come to focus not only on specific youth outcomes but also on the antecedents of change. Such a focus would allow Extension to identify specific camp program components that make positive youth outcomes more likely. Extension educators are challenged to consider antecedents of change in future camp research and evaluation projects.

Little research has been done on the efficacy of adaptive sport programming for military veterans with disabilities based on the environment in which the programming is implemented. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of a university-based setting for an adaptive soccer camp focusing on playing and coaching adaptive soccer skill development and culminating in grassroots soccer coaching certification. Additionally, this study evaluated program effectiveness in addressing the needs of the camp participants. Results indicate that a university-based setting has several attributes that make it an operative adaptive sport camp setting in meeting the programmatic need satisfaction requirements of the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlight significant changes and enhancements taking place at the Journal of Youth Development (JYD). It aimed at promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and the incorporation of assets and support within the JYD publication process. It further underscores JYD's dedication to positive youth development, open access, and its commitment to promote positive change in the youth development field.