Effects of Evening Reflections Programs and Resume-Building for Seasonal Camp Counselors on Intentions to Return and Intentions to Recommend

Abstract

This study evaluated the effects of a camp counselor resume-building program and evening reflection experiences on intention to return and intention to recommend serving as a camp counselor among potential or former camp counselors. Each participant was randomly assigned to view one of six videos. All videos depicted a day in the life of a camp counselor, but different versions of the video created the experimental treatment conditions in a 2-by-3 experimental design. Three videos included scenarios in which camps had implemented resume building programs, and three videos did not mention the program. In addition, two videos depicted an evening reflections program in which counselors reflect on instances during their days that their psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness were met; two videos depicted evening reflections programs based on the peak and end moments of counselors’ days; and two videos did not mention a reflections program. After watching the video to which they were randomly assigned, participants completed measures of intention to return as a camp counselor in subsequent season and intentions to recommend camp counselor positions at the camp to other potential counselors. The primary goal of this study was to determine if participants would have higher intentions to both return and recommend being a camp counselor. The hypotheses tests concluded that only a Resume Building Program had a significant effect on Intention to Return but it was not a strong effect. Neither the Resume Building Program nor the Reflections program had any effect on Intention to Recommend. We then removed all participants who failed to pass the manipulation checks and whose age was under 30 (closer to the age of possible seasonal camp employees). The analysis showed that the effect of reflections program was significant (p=.02), and the pairwise tests showed the mean of the psychological needs-based reflection was significantly higher than the mean of the peak-end reflection.