Research

Deschutes Wilderness Therapy has facilitated incredible clinical change for adolescent and young adult students from enrollment to graduation.  In order to identify clinical change, therapeutic programs utilize Youth Outcome Questionnaires (Y-OQ) and Outcome Questionnaires (OQ) to highlight significant risk factors in substance abuse and mental health.  The community norm is 46.  In order for data to be clinically significant, results for the Y-OQ must change by 18 points or more.

The Y-OQ focuses on six areas of functioning for adolescents covering how they feel inside, how they get along with significant others, how they cope with stress physically and behaviorally, and how they complete life tasks. Deschutes Wilderness Therapy’s adolescent results show a decrease (improvement) of 24 points from enrollment to graduation, indicating that on average, NVW students are demonstrating clinically significant improvement after participation. Parent or guardian results show a decrease (improvement) of 60 points from enrollment to graduation. Even after graduating from DWT, adolescents continue to show consistently lower risk factors close to the community norm.

Young adult programming is specific to our Deschutes program.  The OQ-45.2 is completed by young adults  analyzing three area of functioning on how the young adult feels inside, how they get along with significant others, and how they feel doing important life tasks. Young adult results show a decrease (improvement) of 33 points from enrollment to graduation demonstrating significant clinical change and this change remains one year later.