Effectiveness of adventure education on health outcomes related to physical, psychological, and social development in children: A systematic review

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Physical, psychological, and social development are essential throughout the developmental period of children. The positive effects of adventure education (AE) on physical, psychological, and social development are well-documented and previous systematic reviews have paid more attention to adults. However, due to age-related developmental limits, children encounter obstacles that are distinct from those faced by adults. whether adventure education can be beneficial to physical, psychological, and social developments in children remains to be addressed. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review was to investigate the impact of adventure education on children’s (0-18 years old) physical, psychological, and social development.

METHODS: The review was reported based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA 2015). Articles were retrieved in seven databases (EMBASE, PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, PsycInfo, Psychological database) from 2000 to 2021. Methodological quality was examined in accordance with Version 2 of the Cochrane risk-of-tool for randomized trials (RoB2).

RESULTS: Eighteen studies were screened. First of all, AE contributed to physical development in healthy and unhealthy children aged 9 to 16, moreover, positive changes in physical activity were sustainable for up to 18 months. Secondly, the investigation of psychological development (9-18-year-old health and unhealth children) showed that the changes in self-esteem, self-efficacy, and quality of life yielded inconsistent results. Finally, AE was conducive to the social development in 11-17-year-old healthy and unhealthy children and 3-7-year-old unhealthy children.

CONCLUSION: AE intervention is found effective to produce physical, psychological, and social benefits in children. The majority of studies focused on 9-18-year-old unhealthy and healthy children only one study involved 3-7-year-old unhealthy children. However, most of the studies in this field have weak methodological quality and thus, the present evidence should be considered with caution.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 30 Aug 2022
EventThe 27th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, ECSS Sevilla 2022 - Sevilla, Spain
Duration: 30 Aug 20222 Sept 2022
https://www.ecss.mobi/DATA/CONGRESSES/SEVILLA_2022/DOCUMENTS/BOA_WEB.pdf

Conference

ConferenceThe 27th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, ECSS Sevilla 2022
Country/TerritorySpain
CitySevilla
Period30/08/222/09/22
Internet address

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