Summer Camp Counselor Experiences: The Influence of Training, Self-Efficacy, and Organizational Cohesion

Authors

  • Angelo Roche St. Mary's College of Maryland
  • Elizabeth Nutt Williams St. Mary's College of Maryland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18666/JOREL-2025-12570

Keywords:

Camp counselors, summer camp, leader-in-training, leadership development

Abstract

Many overnight camps use Counselor-in-Training (CIT) programs to prepare adolescent campers for the counselor role. Although research has investigated the effectiveness of individual CIT programs, studies have not compared the experiences of previous CIT participants (CITs) to the experiences of new, non-CIT counselors across camp types. We recruited 314 camp counselors (130 previous CITS and 185 non-CITs) from camps across the United States and Canada for an online survey with items assessing their self-efficacy, organizational cohesion, and experiences as first-year counselors. Although we did not find a significant effect of the completion of a CIT program on any of the primary variables, individual and camp factors such as job fit, satisfaction with training, and comfort talking to administrators were significantly associated with self-efficacy and organizational cohesion. More between-camps and longitudinal research is needed to more deeply understand the impacts of training, overall climate, and the efficacy of CIT programs. 

Downloads

Published

2025-10-16

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Regular Papers

License

Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)

Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors

PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.

I understand that by submitting an article to Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).

THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT

Assignment of Copyright

I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.

Reversion of Rights

Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.

Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes

I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.

All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact Sagamore-Venture for further information.

In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.

Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.

Author Representations

  • The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
  • The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
  • The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
  • I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
  • If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.