Jeg følte meg velkommen : kan ungdommers deltakelse på KickOff – leir påvirke deres utvikling, og i så fall hvordan?

Abstract

Background: In The child and youth mental health department (ABUP), is the focus placed on the development of effective interventions. KickOff-camp for youth is an initiative in development. Purpose and research question: The study has a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach, and the intention was to explore adolescent experiences by attending camp. Which experiences can youngsters who have attended KickOff- camp tell about, how come they expressed at the camp, and in what ways might their experiences at camp affect the normal development? Method: The method used for data collection was a qualitative research interview with four youths, in addition with participant observation. Results: The study shows that being a participant in a group where experiences are shared with others, having social support and acquiring new knowledge, are important experiences that youth refer at camp. This can provide opportunities to develop their own problem-solving ability, emotion regulation, reflection, language development and learning. Conclusion: The results indicate that participation at camp can support normal development. There is reason to believe, that it may affect the ability to develop communication forms that are necessary to solve life problems, understand other people's motives and consciously adjust to group norms. Simultaneously, the study also shows that this does not apply to all youngsters and it says nothing about possible changes that can be transferred to other areas in their life. Keywords: Narrative, developmental psychology, normal development, hermeneutical-phenomenological, social constructivism.