The Effect of Ground School Instruction on Participant Perception of Climbing Self Efficacy

Rock climbing is a fast growing adventure sport that sees use in summer camps, university programs, and commercial recreation across the world. Because of its challenging nature, rock climbing is often perceived to be a scary experience for newcomers; but it also seems to have a huge potential for self-growth. In this study we examine if the type of ground school instruction provided to climbers before a climbing experience, as well as the type of climbing system used, has a significant effect on climber's perceived self-efficacy. Climbing is a sport with many educational and recreational applications. To include as many people as possible in the lessons climbing has to offer, facilitators may benefit from using a setup that allows participants to be the most comfortable. In this study we applied two different ground school and climbing system methods to two separate groups of college students. Both groups were administered the same three-part survey to track changes in their self-efficacy score throughout the climbing experience. We found there to be a significant difference between the two groups, with the treatment group experiencing a higher change in efficacy.