City kids in the wilderness: A pilot-test of outward bound for foster care group home youth

Children in urban foster care settings, rarely have the opportunity to participate in adventure-based wilderness experiences, such as Outward Bound. This paper describes the use of a seven-day Outward Bound experience with 23 youth from four foster care group homes in Atlanta, Georgia. The effort examines data collected before and after the program documenting the perspectives of the youth, their foster parents, and their foster care workers in regard to the impacts on the youth. The research highlights the difficulties of evaluating a field-based experience, and provides data that illustrates the potential effects of Outward Bound on youth in group-home care. Further research is needed to fully demonstrate the effects of such efforts and to identify how to best tailor the experience to the needs of youth in urban foster care settings.

Key words: Outward Bound, foster care, adventure-based education

Introduction

Children in foster care, especially those children in urban settings, rarely have the opportunity to participate in organized wilderness experiences, such as Outward Bound. Such experiences could be beneficial to these children for broadening themselves and developing new skills, such as communication and leadership. Although Outward Bound experiences have been used frequently with juvenile offenders and other adjudicated youth, there are no published accounts of foster care children participating in such an experience. This paper describes the use of a seven-day Outward Bound experience with 23 teens from four foster care group homes in Atlanta, Georgia. The effort examines data collected before and after the program documenting the perspectives of the teens, their foster parents, and their foster care workers in regard to the impact of Outward Bound on the teens.

Prior Research on Outward Bound

Since its initial development in 1941 by German-- born educator Dr. Kurt Hahn as a 21-day survival experience for young seamen, Outward Bound has spread worldwide as an adventure-based outdoor education program. There are now Outward Bound operations in some 33 countries, including eight schools in the United States, as well as a variety of other US-based wilderness programs (Davis-Berman, Berman, & Capone, 1994; Freise, Hendee, & Kinziger, 1998; Outward Bound International, 2000). Although there is a substantial body of research on the effects of Outward Bound, the program has most frequently targeted specific populations such as juvenile offenders, college students and corporate managers (see for example, Castellano & Soderstrom, 1992; Elrod & Minor, 1992; Rawson, 1973; Witman, 1987). There is no research on the effects of an Outward Bound type experience on youth from a foster care, group-home environment. Some work has focused on how Outward Bound has been applied to working with juvenile delinquents and its resulting positive effects on reducing recidivism (Kaplan, 1979). One study tested the effects of an Outward Bound experience with a family training component for juvenile offenders, using an experimental design (Pommier & Witt, 1995). While the researchers did find a number of significant positive effects on self-concept, family functioning, and behaviors four weeks post-program, most of the differences did not persist at the four-month follow-up.

Small sample problems and generalizability issues, however, have often hampered these individual studies. To overcome these problems, researchers have applied research synthesis techniques to summarize the findings from prior studies on Outward Bound (Hattie, Marsh, Neill, & Richards, 1997; Wilson & Lipsey, 2000). Hattie et al. (1997) used meta-analysis to combine the results from 96 individual studies of Outward Bound and found moderate effects across a range of outcome domains for all participants, and particularly for adolescents. Positive effects were reported in six areas: independence, confidence, self-efficacy, self-understanding, assertiveness, internal locus of control, and decision-- making. The authors found the effects most consistent with longer Outward Bound experiences (20-26 days) and with adult participants. More recently, Wilson and Lipsey (2000) found that data from some twenty-two studies of wilderness challenge programs showed a small overall effect on delinquent behavior, with somewhat larger effects on social skills, self-esteem, and school adjustment.

The literature on wilderness programs offers a number of underlying program theories and models. For example, Wichmann (1991) developed a theoretical model for therapeutic wilderness programs within which he identified seven components consistent in these programs: (a) a wilderness environment, (b) a primary peer group, (c) stress and perceived risk, (d) problem-solving, (e) a humanistic style of instruction, (f) challenge, mastery and reflection, and (g) some form of reality therapy. Wichmann's (1991) approach includes two levels-the first, which is generic to such programs, similar to that developed by Walsh and Golins (1976), focuses on the physical environment and increased self-esteem. The second level is focused on the reduction of asocial behaviors, frequently an intended outcome for such interventions. Wichman (1991) explored this model with research on a 30-day wilderness course for at-risk youth 13-18 years of age. This work showed statistically significant reductions in asocial behavior, with a significant correlation between positive change and four factors: (a) pre-program level of asocial behavior, (b) interpersonal problem solving, (c) instructor experience level, and (4) instructor role expectations.

Present Study

The Arthur M. Blank Foundation, with a belief that at-risk youth, such as those in foster care, could benefit from an Outward Bound experience, funded a pilot effort to examine such an application (Fischer, 2000). In August 1999, twenty-three teens from four private, foster care group-home settings attended a seven-day adventure-based education experience at the North Carolina Outward Bound School's Green Cove Camp. The participating teens comprised the full population of four group-homes operated by a nonprofit agency in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. The four group-homes represent all the homes operated by the agency through which this pilot effort was being conducted. The teens from each group-home live in that facility with a foster parent couple and, to the extent possible, experience the home as a family environment

Each of the groups of teens from the four group-- homes attended Outward Bound as a separate team; the two girls' teams attended Outward Bound during one week, and the two boys teams attended the following week. The boys teams were slightly larger (seven teens each) than the girls teams (four teens and five teens), due only to the occupancy of the group-homes at the time of the trip. Two trained instructors from the North Carolina Outward Bound School led each group of teens and, in total, four different instructors were involved with the foster care teen groups. During the week, there was no contact between teens in the different groups. Though the original plan called for one group-home parent from the teens' foster group-home to attend the Outward Bound experience with the teens, this occurred for only two of the groups. The foster parents from two of the homes were unable to attend due to either their own physical limitations or scheduling conflicts. The program staff felt that by having teens attend the wilderness experience as a unit (from each group-home) it would more greatly enhance the team-building aspects of the experience.

The week-long Outward Bound program consisted of daily wilderness experiences, group activities, and games, as well as a service component (North Carolina Outward Bound School, 2000). Each day's activities included preparation of group meals, team building exercises (e.g., trust fall), wilderness activities (e.g., hiking, climbing), and recreation and relaxation time. Evening meetings were held with each team, in which friction within the team was addressed and the teens were encouraged to express appreciation to others in the group for special efforts and support they may have given that day. In addition, the week included a solo component where each teen spent a half-day alone in the wilderness, away from the other group members. Each group also participated in a service activity, spending a half-day visiting with residents of a nursing home near the wilderness area. The activities were designed to promote the core values of Outward Bound: character development, adventure and challenge, learning through experience, social and environmental responsibility, and compassion and service (Outward Bound USA, 2000). Each of the four groups of teens was exposed to the same type of Outward Bound experience, though led by different teams of instructors.

Background Data on the Participant Teens

The foster care youth who participated in the study were all those who resided at four group homes at the time of the wilderness trips in August 1999. All four group-homes were operated by Families First, a voluntary non-profit child and family service agency in Atlanta, Georgia. In total, twenty-three teens attended the Outward Bound experience: Group-home 1 (7 boys); Group home 2 (7 boys); Group home 3 (5 girls); and Group home 4 (4 girls). Though agency staff worked to instill a desire among the teens to attend Outward Bound, ultimately the experience was nonvoluntary for the teens in residence at the homes at the time of the trips. Few of the teens had ever been outside the urban area of metropolitan Atlanta and none had ever had a wilderness experience. Table 1 shows basic demographic data on the teens broken out by gender. The teens were sixteen years of age, on average, at the time they participated in Outward Bound, with the boys being slightly older. Over one-quarter of the teens were 13-14 years of age. Nearly all the teens were African-American, with only one white female teen and one Hispanic male teen participating.

In regard to the length of time the teens had been in foster care in their current placement, the average time was nearly two years, while the median stay was just over one year. However, the average length of time the teen had been in foster care at the time of the trip was substantially longer for the boys in the sample. While the median length of time in care for girls was 11.8 months, for boys it was over twice as long (24.0 months). The girls in the sample were newer to their current foster care placement, with three-quarters having been in the placement for under two years (versus half of the boys group). More than half of the teens (56%) had entered their most recent foster care placement at the age of 13 or 14, while 30% were 15 or 16 years of age at entry to foster care. However, the female teens were generally older when they entered their most recent foster care placement-over half were 15-16 years old (versus 14% of the male teens).

A review of foster care case records revealed that the teens had been exposed to a variety of types of abuse during their childhood. While some of the youth had experienced sexual abuse (25%) or physical abuse (19%), the majority had a substance-abusing parent (62%) and had experienced neglect (56%). Again, differences between the male and female teens are apparent. The male teens had most often experienced substance abuse by a parent (64%) and neglect (79%). The female teens, however, were nearly equally likely to have been exposed to sexual abuse and substance abuse by a parent (44%) and less exposed to physical abuse and neglect (33%). In respect to the primary reason for the teens' removal from their natural family, the largest number of cases involved substance abuse by the parent (44%). Several cases involved reasons of sexual abuse (19%), neglect (12%), and physical abuse (6%). In 19% of the cases, the child was removed at the request of the guardian due to the child's unruly behavior; routinely, these were instances in which the child was living with a grandparent, due to drug addiction or incarceration of the biological parent. The male teens were most often removed due either to substance abuse by a parent (36%) or neglect (36%), while the female teens were most often removed due to sexual abuse (33%), or substance abuse by a parent (33%).

Evaluation Methods

An evaluation plan was devised that involved a pre and post-program data collection and a three-month follow-up. The design draws both on survey data and data extracted from case records. Survey data were collected from three perspectives: the teen (program participant), the teen's foster parents, and the foster care worker. The data collected included ratings of self-concept and child behavior, as well as responses to a number of open-- ended questions that were used in the surveys. The research design for the evaluation used a single-group, non-experimental approach due to the unavailability of a comparison group of reasonably equivalent youth.

The adult raters included the individuals who have the most contact with the teens on a daily basis: (a) foster parents-the foster parents live with the teens and fill the parental role while the child is removed from the biological family. As a foster parent accompanied two of the four groups of teens, we collected data from the foster parent who did not attend Outward Bound, in the belief that these parents' ratings would not be colored by having taken part in the wilderness experience with the teens. Three of the four foster parent couples had been in that role for 8-10 months and one couple had only bee in place for six weeks, and (b) foster care workers-the workers are professional social workers who see the teens on a daily basis and have weekly one-on-one counseling sessions with the teens; the foster care workers attended a three-day Outward Bound experience prior to teens' participation, so they could better understand what the teens would be experiencing. The foster care workers had an average of approximately three years working in foster care.

Two scales were employed in the data collection. The first is a 21-item self-esteem scale entitled, "What kind of person are you?" developed by the Adolescent Diversion Program at Michigan State University (1992). The instrument provides a list of positive and negative traits and asks the respondents to rate themselves on each item from a four-category Likert scale (i.e., very much like me, like me, not much like me, not at all like me). The form was modified slightly for use with the adults to shift the rating scale to the teen participants. The second scale is a 13-item behavioral scale, adapted from the Behavioral and Emotional Strengths Scale (Epstein & Sharma, 1996). This scale focuses on the external behaviors of the child and uses the same scaled responses as the self-esteem inventory. This scale was only completed by the adult raters (no self-rating by the teens). Neither scale used in the present study has established validity or reliability properties in the published literature.

Although data were collected at three time points, and the pre/post data were nearly uniformly available, the three-month follow-up data were hampered by substantial amounts of missing data. There were two primary data loss issues: (a) teen attrition-three teens left group home care to be reunified with family members during the follow-up period and were not available for follow-up data collection, and (b) foster parent attrition-one set of foster parents left employment with the agency during the follow-up period and their ratings on seven children were not available. The latter issue resulted in missing data from the foster parent perspective on one-fourth of the sample. Thus, the analysis of the follow-up data is restricted to the youths' perspective.

Analysis and Findings

The available survey data on the program come from three sources (foster youth, foster parents, and foster care workers), and can be broken into the scaled responses and the open-ended responses. This scaled data come from a comparison of pre and post-program ratings, and the open-ended data come from the post-- program data collection only.

Scaled Data

Scaled data were collected at pre and post-programs on ratings of self-esteem and child behavior (See Table 2). The changes from pre to post are presented in percentage terms and the differences were tested for statistical significance using a two-tailed t test with an alpha level of .05. The small sample size for the overall study lessens the likelihood of detecting statistically significant changes unless the changes are of moderate magnitude. In regard to the self-esteem scale, the pattern of data is mixed. Only the child's foster parent reported a significant change in the teen's self-esteem, a 13.5% increase from pre to post. It is also noteworthy that the teens' self-ratings were substantially higher pre-program than the adults' ratings of the youth; the teens rated themselves 31% higher on self-esteem, on average, than their foster parents and foster care workers.

In respect to the behavioral scale that was completed by the adult raters, foster parents observed a non-- significant improvement among the teens, while the foster care workers reported a significant 21 % worsening of behavior over the same period. This contradictory finding could reflect differences in raters' perspectives as well as actual differences in observed behaviors among the teens. Lastly, the adults were asked to rate each teen on three omnibus scales (0-7 points) related to self-- reliance, self-confidence, and self-esteem. None of the observed differences, from pre to post, were statistically significant except for a 16% improvement in self-confidence observed by the foster care workers.

Subsequent analyses examined: (a) the degree to which the four groups of teens experienced different changes concurrent with their Outward Bound experience, and (b) whether other subgroups of children experienced the program differently. An analysis of the data according to the four group-homes showed that the ratings of the foster parents and foster care workers were in conflict in nearly every case, either in the direction or magnitude of the effect on that group of children. Burdsal and Force (1983) have shown counselors' ratings to be reliable in rating change in children with behavior problems, but the issue of inter-group rating reliability has not been addressed. The present findings may indicate either questionable inter-rater reliability or real differences observed by two different groups of raters. Prior studies have suggested that behavioral ratings changes observed in children provided by parents and teachers may conflict due to the context in which each rater observes the child (Fischer, 1999; Gross, 1982). Further examination of this issue could address whether differences in the ratings provided by parents and teachers, or social workers can be better understood.

An additional analysis was conducted examining whether findings differed based on the gender of the teen (See Table 3). Though the teens' self-ratings on self-- esteem show no substantive differences by gender, several underlying differences do emerge among the data provided by the adult raters.

In regard to the male teens, foster parents reported a small but statistically significant increase in self-esteem, and no change in behavior. Foster care workers reported no statistically significant changes among the male teens on either the self-esteem or behavioral scales. In regard to the female teens, the contrast is somewhat greater between raters. Foster parents reported substantial improvements in both self-esteem and behavior among the female teens, though neither finding reached the conventional level of statistical significance. Conversely, foster care workers reported large and statistically significant declines in self-esteem and positive behaviors among the female teens. Overall, these data suggest that: (a) the Outward Bound experience had no demonstrable short-term effect on the male teens that participated, and (b) the true effect of Outward Bound on the female teens is unclear given the disagreement of the adult raters, but the pattern of results potentially indicate both positive and negative short-term effects.

Along with the caveats already noted, there are a number of limitations that likely contribute to the mixed findings from this study: (a) short intervention period-- the literature on Outward Bound-type interventions shows that the median duration of these programs is approximately three weeks and that there is a positive correlation between duration and effect (Cason & Gillis, 1994); given this, and the use of a pre/post program data collection, it may be unrealistic to expect measurable change from a one-week intervention; (b) small sample sizes-though the full population of four group homes was included in the study, the resulting sample size substantially limits both the likelihood of detecting true effects and avoiding spurious findings; and, (c) un-validated instrumentation-the scales used in this study were selected based on their readability and availability, not based on their established reliability and validity; given these criteria, it could be that the scales did not fit well the specific changes that could have occurred in the teens, or the scales were poorly suited to gauging changes on the identified constructs.

Open-ended Questions

This section summarizes the responses from the teens, and the adults, after the teens had returned from the Outward Bound experience. The post-program surveys were completed within two weeks after the teens returned from the experience. Post program surveys were available on all teens that participated in Outward Bound. The response rate was one hundred percent among the teens, the foster parents, and the foster care workers. The questions were formulated to assess the teens' overall experience, what they may have learned about themselves or the other teens, and what the worst and best part of the experience was. The themes identified through these questions are offered only to illustrate the teens' general reactions to the experience. The limited nature of the survey questions was chosen due to reading/writing ability of the teens themselves; this structure was mirrored in the adult surveys for reasons of comparability.

Assessment From the Youths' Perspective

What did you think of Outward Bound? Fifty-seven percent of those completing a post survey thought the Outward Bound trip was a positive experience for them. A couple of the comments were: "I learned a lot and benefited," and, "I thought it was fun, scary, and exciting." The 35% of teens who did not enjoy the Outward Bound experience offered answers such as: "Hell," and "I hate Outward Bound." Eight percent reported a neutral feeling about their experience and described it as: "an experience I never expected," and "something different."

Did you learn anything about yourself at Outward Bound? Seventy percent of those that filled out the post survey said that they learned something about themselves. Responses ranged from learning tangible skills, such as rock climbing, or how to live in the woods to more personal changes, such as how to become a leader, attain more self-confidence, and face their fears.

Did you learn anything about the other kids in Outward Bound? Fifty-seven percent of those that filled out the post survey replied that they learned something about the other kids although it was not always something positive. While 46% reported they learned that the other kids knew how to work together as a team and learned to get along, an additional 46% wrote that the kids in the group did not get along and did not push themselves to complete tasks.

Describe the worst part of Outward Bound for you. Hiking (26%), not being able to bathe or have an indoor bathroom (26%), sleeping outside (17%), and eating (9%) were the activities reported to be the worst part of Outward Bound. Twenty-two percent of the participants did not try to narrow it down to specific activities and stated that the "whole thing" was the worst part of Outward Bound.

Describe the best part of Outward Bound for you. Twenty-two percent of the teens thought that the rock climbing was the best part of Outward Bound while an equal number of teens thought the ropes course was the highlight. Nine percent of teens liked the running experiences the best and an additional 9% mentioned that going to the nursing home was the best part for them. Nine percent (n=2) stated that going home was the best part of Outward Bound.

Assessment from the Foster Parent and Foster Care Worker Perspective

Describe your overall impression of the child's Outward Bound experience. Foster parents thought that Outward Bound had been an enjoyable experience for 52% of teens in that it strengthened their self-confidence and self-esteem. Foster care workers, however, reported that it was a positive experience for the great majority (91%) of teens because the youth were able to meet most of the challenges offered and they came away feeling more confident. Foster parents stated that Outward Bound was not a positive experience for 48% of the youth, in general, because the teens did not cooperate and/or could not perform the activities. Conversely, only nine percent of the participants in Outward Bound had a negative experience according to the foster care workers.

If you think of Outward Bound as a growth experience for the child, what would you say was the "turning point" for the child during the week? Foster parents stated that the turning point for 57% of the teens was when the youth completed their first difficult task or when they realized that "they would survive the week" and "had what it took to do it." The turning point for 17% of the teens was when they began to work with others as a team and not as an individual. Similarly, foster care workers stated that 35% of the teens had a turning point when they realized "they had what it took" to survive the week with the same percentage of teens having a turning point when they began to take leadership roles, yet also work as part of a team. Foster parents stated that 26% of the participants had no turning point and social workers stated that 30% of participants had no turning point during the Outward Bound experience.

Describe the best moment of the Outward Bound experience. The highlight of Outward Bound for the youth, as identified by the foster parents, were the daily activities (i.e., rock climbing, ropes course, cooking outside, etc.), (39%), the teamwork between the teens (26%), and going back to Atlanta (13%). According to the foster care workers, the best moments of Outward Bound for the youth were also the daily activities (61%) and learning to work as part of a team (39%).

Describe the worst moment of the Outward Bound experience for the child. The worst moment of Outward Bound for the teens, as perceived by the foster parents, was being outside in the woods without the things the teens were used to having (44%), sleeping outside (22%), lack of bathroom facilities (17%), and the rock climbing and ropes course activities (13%). The foster care workers identified the worst moments for 83% of the teens as the physical activities and having to sleep outside.

Subsequent analyses focused primarily on the perspective of the foster care youth, from the time after the Outward Bound experience to the three-month follow-- up. The open-ended comments of the teens were content coded by the authors according to the level of positive/negative emphasis. Each response item was coded on a three-point scale, as were the overall set of comments, at post and follow-up. (See Table 4)

Overall, this analysis showed a slight increase in how positive the youth's impression of Outward Bound was from just after returning, to three months post-- attendance. However, this overall trend masks the fact that three months afterward, the female youth had a less positive view of Outward Bound and the male youth had a more positive view of the experience. Uniformly across the sample, the teens had less to say about the experience at follow-up as compared to post-program (as indicated by the aggregate median word count of the responses).

Conclusions

This pilot-test of Outward Bound with youth from a foster care group-home setting, provides a sense of the difficulties of assessing whether this experience produced measurable benefits for these youth. Despite some promising indications based on the perspectives of foster parents, foster care workers, and the youth themselves, the available data are, as yet, inconclusive regarding the short-term impacts of the experience. The pre/post data on the self-esteem and behavior of youth participants lead to no clear finding, as yet, about the impact of Outward Bound on these group home youth. The contradictory findings from the foster parents and foster care workers about the changes in the female teens cannot be resolved within the context of this study. Ultimately, foster parents believed the female teens showed improvements, and the foster care workers believed they showed negative effects from pre to post. The changes may reflect true differences based on their observations or could be more due the differences in the raters' perspectives.

The open-ended comments from the post-program survey showed a range of reactions among the teens to the Outward Bound experience. Clearly, some teens conveyed more negative impressions, though frequently these were rooted in the more fundamental aspects of the experience, such as the absence of modern conveniences. While these negative impressions lessened somewhat among the male youth from post to followup, they increased slightly among the female youth. Foster parents reported improved self-esteem and behavior among the teens, though statistical significance was reached only for the following item: foster parents observed a 13% improvement in self-esteem. Interestingly, foster care workers reported a statistically significant worsening of behavior among the teens (21%). In regard to the omnibus ratings, only one item proved to be statistically significant. Foster care workers reported a 16% improvement in the teen's self-confidence from pre to post. The inter-rater reliability of these assessments is unknown, such that the differences may be due to actual differences in observed behavior or differences in the professional perspectives of foster parents and clinical social work staff.

Based on the overall study, two areas of further research appear warranted:

1. Tailoring the program to a new population. The extension of adventure-based education to generally atrisk youth may offer an important avenue to personal growth for these young people, particularly those from urban surroundings. Further examination is needed to consider the marginal effect of tailoring the experience for such youth through varying the length and format of the adventure, and including special support mechanisms to address the particular issues that young, urban foster children bring to such an experience. The negative reactions of some of the teens could have potentially been lessened by more attention to preparing the teens for the particulars of Outward Bound in advance of their scheduled trip. Also, compelling teens to participate in such an experience may foster resentment and lessen the potential positive effects. While Outward Bound has been tailored to inner-city, middle-school youth further attention would be required to successfully extend it to children in foster care (Buchanan, 1993). Another key issue is the relationship between the teens and the Outward Bound instructors on their outing. The present study involved mainly African-American teens from low-income families, led by a majority of white middle-class instructors. The instructors themselves felt that this created distance between them and some teens, while in other cases it created an opportunity for addressing diversity in a constructive way (Genova, 1999). The issue of the similarity of participants to their instructors in this setting needs further discussion as it relates to children in foster care.

2. Attention to issues of design. The present study documents the various pitfalls facing those conducting field-based studies of adventure-based interventions. Among the issues needing special consideration in the formulation of a design are: securing sufficient sample size, selecting appropriate instrumentation, dealing with problems of attrition from data collection, and controlling for extraneous and background factors. Of particular note is the idea of crafting a design that addresses the specific effects of Outward Bound, given that the teens are already involved in a broader intervention-- residing in a foster care group-home. Certainly, foster care is broadly designed to address issues among youth in the areas of self-esteem and behavior, along with the overarching goal of reuniting them with their biological family, if that is appropriate. Given this context, the task of disentangling effects specific to Outward Bound is most challenging.

References

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Robert L. Fischer, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Associate at the Center on Urban Poverty & Social Change, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was formerly director of Program Evaluation at Families First. E-mail: rlf11@po.cwru.edu

E. B. Attah, Ph.D., is a research scientist with the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, and is on leaves from his appointment as Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Clark Atlanta University, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Authors' Note:

This research was made possible in part through the support of the Arthur M. Blank Foundation. The authors wish to thank Ms. Dianne Burton, LCSW, the staff of Families First group homes, and the foster youth who provided valuable input in this work. This work was conducted while the second author was serving as director of program evaluation at Families First, a nonprofit child and family service agency in Atlanta, Georgia. The opinions expressed are those of the authors alone.

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