AN ANALYSIS OF THE MEDICAL REVIEW PROCESS AT THE NATIONAL-OUTDOOR-LEADERSHIP-SCHOOL

A statistical analysis of the medical characteristics of students on f ield courses at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) was perf ormed. This analysis determined that the group of students with the hi ghest overall student scores (greater than or equal to 4 on a 1 throug h 5 scale) tended to score lower in the psychological counseling and c urrent psychological treatment questions and scored significantly high er in the athletic ability question on the NOLS medical review form. T his indicates that these individuals tended to have little or no histo ry of counseling and psychological treatment and were more likely to b e engaged in competitive sports. Discriminant analysis demonstrated th at these variables also contributed the most to discerning mathematica lly among the four possible student outcome score groups, which ranged from the inability to complete a course (evacuation) through highly s uccessful. Many of the questions on the current NOLS medical form coul d not be analyzed statistically because they demonstrated no variance among the groups. Although these questions may still be valuable for s creening purposes, some of them could be reworded for increased sensit ivity. Discriminant analysis of six responses on the medical form was 43.7% effective at classifying individuals to outcome groups, and it i s likely that this could be more effective with some modifications to the evaluation process. Admissions personnel in outdoor programs are e ncouraged to include questions such as those mentioned above in their overall admission procedures and to examine them thoroughly in their a dmissions decisions. Although additional studies should be conducted t o examine these issues more thoroughly, it is possible that programmat ic changes would assist students without the above-mentioned character istics in becoming more successful in field courses.