Title:
English: Sustainable life skills – how nature, community and art can help traumatized ad risk youth towards joy and agency
Norsk: Værekraftig livsmestring – hvordan natur, fellesskap og kunst kan hjelpe traumatiserte utsatt ungdom mot glede og agency
Period:
12/2-24-12/2-28
Background:
In both health research, psychology and social work, there is a growing interest in interventions situated in natural environments; nature-based interventions. This field of research has grown exponentially in the last 10 years and shows promising results regarding both physical and mental health.
Regarding at risk youth, we see an increase in the Nordic countries of young people who struggle with mental health, as well as rising levels of crime among children as young as eight years old.
Friluftsliv – often translated to “life in open air” – is a strong tradition in Norway, as well as Denmark and Sweden, related to spending time in nature and connecting with nature.
Objectives and research questions:
The objective of the PhD is to investigate the experience of at risk youth and practitioners who participate in nature-based interventions in Norway, especially focusing on group-dynamics, type of activities, integration of nature, feelings of mastery and agency as well as connection with nature.
Methodology:
A scoping review will be conducted investigating the status quo of research in this field specifically in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Gray literature will be included.
Two empirical articles will be written based on participatory observations of nature-based interventions, as well as interviews with both youth and practitioners.