Understanding older adults’ participation in outdoor adventure activities: a scoping review

Outdoor adventure activities are increasingly popular among older adults. We conducted a scoping review to examine trends in the scholarly literature on this topic. Several interdisciplinary databases were searched, and studies were independently screened for eligibility during two rounds of review (title and abstract, and full text). Our review included 34 peer-reviewed articles with the full text available in English that substantially described outdoor adventure programming for older adults, and/or older adults’ experiences of, or attitudes towards outdoor adventure activities. Results of this scoping review suggest that participation in outdoor adventure activities can contribute significantly to the wellbeing of older adults. However, due to strict alignment to the ideals of successful aging present in many articles, the potential for an ‘authentic aging’ lens to explore the diverse experiences of aging is discussed. Further research should focus on recruiting more diverse participants and attempt to uncover potential barriers and facilitators (physical, economic, geographic, etc.) to participation.