Page 156 - Petelin, Ana, et al. 2019. Eds. Zdravje otrok in mladostnikov / Health of Children and Adolescents. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press
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avje otrok in mladostnikov | health of children and adolescents 154 ities as they improve confidence, self-esteem, social and coping skills (White
et al., 2016) and offer unique therapeutic experiences, where children interact
with each other and have the opportunity to connect and bond with youth who
have similar disability-related conditions and are going through similar life ex-
periences (Devine et al., 2015). This camps offer a holistic approach (Harper,
2017) and are some kind of therapeutic landscape, where camp attendees are in
a safe, inclusive and supportive environment, they can participate in free and
unrestricted activities, acquire new skills, socialize with their peers, they can
attend a lot of challenging activities such as horse riding, scuba diving, wall
climbing, rope challenges, water sports, making arts and crafts, musical work-
shops, team activities in a multi-sport complex and so on. Consequently these
children gain a sense of belonging and acceptance and they see their participa-
tion in such camps as a joyful experience with new friends and good memories
(White et al., 2016). Adjusting the medical camp program to create an environ-
ment that fosters meaningful friendships for participants may have tremen-
dous positive therapeutic and quality of life outcomes. Camp may accelerate
relationships during the residential experience, yet provide little if any meth-
ods to access these newly formed social network relationships upon return to
home communities, on the other hand such camps may also be an opportunity
to establish family to family connections as well as friendship connections that
last throughout the year (Dawson et al., 2018). Consequently therapeutic camps
are not beneficial just for children but also for their parents, because after their
children attend this sort of camps, parents let them be more independent and
are less protective to their child (White et al., 2016). Parents of children with
any kind of disabilities often experience guilt, anxiety, maternal distress, de-
pression, bad sleeping schedule and reduced quality of life (Javalkar et al., 2017;
White et al., 2016), also their burdens are higher (Javalkar et al., 2017). But af-
ter their children attended camps the parents felt more relieved from daily de-
mands and stressors and during camp, levels of depression, anxiety and ma-
ternal distress significantly reduced. This camps enabled parents to relax, take
time for themselves and interact with friends, other family members, partners
and children (White et al., 2016; Harper, 2017; Kornhabler et al., 2019). The fact
that the children with the most serious chronic illnesses who would arguably
need to attend a therapeutic camp more than other children may not be able
to participate because of their health condition it’s still a great issue. Wheth-
er children who also face socio-economic deprivation and cultural and ethnic
barriers to health care are being targeted by camp programmers and clinicians,
remains unknown. Clinicians and camp programmers need to make a con-
certed effort to develop medical thresholds for safe participation at camp, and
purposefully engage and include this more compromised sector of the clinical
population into camp programming. It‘s important to ensure the participation
of the patients who are most in need of camp attendance and are more likely
to reap the psychosocial benefits (Moola et al., 2013). Therapeutic camps mostly
last 1 week and it may not be likely nor reasonable to expect long-term benefits
without adopting different approaches toward the design and delivery of camp.
et al., 2016) and offer unique therapeutic experiences, where children interact
with each other and have the opportunity to connect and bond with youth who
have similar disability-related conditions and are going through similar life ex-
periences (Devine et al., 2015). This camps offer a holistic approach (Harper,
2017) and are some kind of therapeutic landscape, where camp attendees are in
a safe, inclusive and supportive environment, they can participate in free and
unrestricted activities, acquire new skills, socialize with their peers, they can
attend a lot of challenging activities such as horse riding, scuba diving, wall
climbing, rope challenges, water sports, making arts and crafts, musical work-
shops, team activities in a multi-sport complex and so on. Consequently these
children gain a sense of belonging and acceptance and they see their participa-
tion in such camps as a joyful experience with new friends and good memories
(White et al., 2016). Adjusting the medical camp program to create an environ-
ment that fosters meaningful friendships for participants may have tremen-
dous positive therapeutic and quality of life outcomes. Camp may accelerate
relationships during the residential experience, yet provide little if any meth-
ods to access these newly formed social network relationships upon return to
home communities, on the other hand such camps may also be an opportunity
to establish family to family connections as well as friendship connections that
last throughout the year (Dawson et al., 2018). Consequently therapeutic camps
are not beneficial just for children but also for their parents, because after their
children attend this sort of camps, parents let them be more independent and
are less protective to their child (White et al., 2016). Parents of children with
any kind of disabilities often experience guilt, anxiety, maternal distress, de-
pression, bad sleeping schedule and reduced quality of life (Javalkar et al., 2017;
White et al., 2016), also their burdens are higher (Javalkar et al., 2017). But af-
ter their children attended camps the parents felt more relieved from daily de-
mands and stressors and during camp, levels of depression, anxiety and ma-
ternal distress significantly reduced. This camps enabled parents to relax, take
time for themselves and interact with friends, other family members, partners
and children (White et al., 2016; Harper, 2017; Kornhabler et al., 2019). The fact
that the children with the most serious chronic illnesses who would arguably
need to attend a therapeutic camp more than other children may not be able
to participate because of their health condition it’s still a great issue. Wheth-
er children who also face socio-economic deprivation and cultural and ethnic
barriers to health care are being targeted by camp programmers and clinicians,
remains unknown. Clinicians and camp programmers need to make a con-
certed effort to develop medical thresholds for safe participation at camp, and
purposefully engage and include this more compromised sector of the clinical
population into camp programming. It‘s important to ensure the participation
of the patients who are most in need of camp attendance and are more likely
to reap the psychosocial benefits (Moola et al., 2013). Therapeutic camps mostly
last 1 week and it may not be likely nor reasonable to expect long-term benefits
without adopting different approaches toward the design and delivery of camp.
