Acquiring life skills at therapeutic recreational based camp among Hungarian youth

Even though a considerable number of studies proved that specialty camps working with therapeutic recreation (TR) have several psychosocial benefits for children and adolescents with serious illness, less is known about outcomes of the camp experience in the long term. The main purpose of this research is to investigate which life skills youth living with serious illness consider important in their daily life and how they perceive that camp was critical in the acquisition of those skills. Our sample consisted of (N = 60) alumni members aged 18-25 from Hungarian Camp of Courage (B & PRIME;ator T & PRIME;abor) with a previous medical diagnosis of childhood cancer, hemofilia, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, or juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The research applied a retro-spective online survey method. The questionnaire was developed based on previous interviews with camp alumni and included a set of questions regarding subjective importance and the camp's role in the acquisition of 18 life skills. Descriptive analysis and principal component analysis were applied. Results showed that perseverance, the ability to live close to peers and to appreciate diversity, empathy, relationship skills, self-confidence and teamwork were the areas that are subjectively important for youth and also attributed to camp in their devel-opment. Participants rated the camp's role important in developing all 18 skills, especially the development of individual growth skills and the ability to enjoy the moment with an empathic open presence. Significant cor-rellations between demographic groups were observed both on the daily importance of the skills as well as in the camp's role in their acquisition. Results were discussed in the framework of Basic Needs Theory and implications were made to camp program planning based on the found demographic differences.