A Summer Camp Enrichment Program for Health Promotion for at Risk 6–12 Year Olds

ABSTRACT: A Summer Camp Enrichment Program for Health Promotion for at Risk 6 – 12 Year Olds

Robin R. Leger RN, MS, PhD & Pamela Delis,

Background and Significance: HOPE Summer Camp is a 2 week (3 sessions), 5 day summer camp for children 6-12 years old conducted by the House of Peace and Education Inc. (HOPE) in North Central Massachusetts servicing at risk women and their families. HOPE opened its doors in 1996 and was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with an interfaith spirit and has transitioned into a community agency. The majority of children come from families who face socioeconomic challenges, who have experienced the effects of violence and/or face academic or behavioral challenges.

Philosophy and Theory: Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) was utilized as both a guiding principle for program planning and development and as a philosophy (Israel, Eng, Schulz & Parker, 2005; Minkler & Wallerstein, 2003).  Parse’s (2007) theory of “humanbecoming” was employed to appraise how the underpinnings of repeated themes of meaning, rhythmicity and transcendence synchronized with universal symbolism and psychomotor activities based in nature enabled the campers to translate health promotion strategies as they cocreate their humanuniverse.

Methods:  A Faculty Service Model and a component of (CBPR) were utilized to develop and evaluate a health and wellness program for the enrichment activities for campers in a day summer camp environment.  Two nurse faculty with pediatric backgrounds, the camp director and a Tai Chi Master collaborated on program components.  A quality improvement survey for the first year pilot program included a pre/post Visual Analog Scale where campers self-reported knowledge from the HM`HW curricula activities and prioritized areas where they want to more experience.  The feedback from the pilot program was reviewed by collaborators and additional programing was incorporated.  In addition the nurse authors attended the Alliance of Nurses for healthy Environments spring 2014 writers retreat where colleagues helped developed new program components for healthy environments. The curriculum for campers included: 1) Didactic/open discussion PowerPoint session with the HM ~ HW Compass; 2) 5 Elements Affirmations and Qigong in the open air by the lake; 3) Q & A HM ~ HW Scavenger Hunt.  Salem State University’s IRB approval was obtained.

Results: Pilot, a convenience sample of N = 71, 57% males, 6 - 12 year old campers, participated.  Correlations were conducted: Older campers reported knowing more on the total Healthy Me components on the pre-“test” then younger campers: r = .25, p < .05.  Paired Sample t-test on pre/post scores for items: safety first; be/take action; learn what to consume; be/use supports demonstrated statistically significant improvements.   In year two, N = 83 campers participated in the revised program including an adapted version for nine 5 to 6 year olds.  Approximately 20 Camp Counselors participated and supported the campers each year.

Implications: The pilot demonstrated that the HM~HW VAS tool was well received and useful for the target population.  The authors hope that there was a “contagion effect” with the counselors also experiencing new meaning, rhythmicity, and transcendence regarding themselves and their world.  Feedback on the VAS for the HM~HW Compass was gathered primarily to evaluate the workshop as a pilot for future planning and secondarily to support HOPE, Inc. as a nonprofit CBO for sustainability for the summer camp and/or other activities for communities they serve