Digital Commons Network^™

Stories Of Children, Youth, And Families’ Adaptation To Community Living In The First Year After Involvement With Children’S Residential Mental Health Programs, Karen M. Frensch, Gary Cameron

Partnerships for Children and Families Project

Twenty-two youth between the ages of 14 and 18 years old who were involved with residential programs from participating children’s mental health organizations in Southern Ontario, Canada during 2015 to 2017 participated in a study of adaptation to community living in the first year following program exit. Youth, parents, child welfare workers, and mental health workers took part in qualitative interviews up to three times during the study period. Interview comments were used to construct a narrative or “story” of the year following program exit that integrated multiple informants’ perspectives of how each youth was functioning within that timeframe. Stories …

Annual Report Fy2018, Tennessee. Commission On Children And Youth.

Annual Report

No abstract provided.

Adaptation Of A Resilience-Oriented Stress Management Intervention For Youth With Type 1 Diabetes, Tamara Michele Rumburg

Theses and Dissertations

Managing type 1 diabetes involves a complex treatment regimen, and often results in increased stress and mental health issues in youth and families as youth enter adolescence. Research indicates that effective management of diabetes-related stress can have a positive impact on both the psychological and physical health of youth and their families. While traditional stress management interventions have aimed to reduce stress through coping, building resilience is a more recent approach to stress management that can be cultivated even in the absence of stress. Interventions specifically aimed at increasing resilience in youth with chronic illnesses have shown promising results; however, …

Online Child’S Health Assessment Tool For Obesity Prevention Programming, Laura Palmer, Kimberly Mccarthy, Daniel Perkins, Lynne Borden

Journal of Youth Development

To optimize public health in the next decade, prevention of childhood obesity will remain a central focus. To impact behavioral change, data must be linked to continuous quality improvements within existing nutrition and physical activity programming. The Children, Youth, and Families At-Risk Professional Development and Technical Assistance Center has developed a picture-based, online survey tool, the CYFAR Health Assessment Tool (CHAT), to assess health behaviors in youth ages 6 to18 years of age. Used for continuous program improvement, aggregate data results are coupled with tailored health recommendations in 4 domains (behavior and environmental modifications, education, and direct strategies) and evidence-informed …

Evaluation Of The Feasibility Of A Two-Method Measurement Design For The Assessment Of Healthy Physical Activity Behavior In Youth, Amelia A. Miramonti

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Purpose: Assess the reliability and validity of self- and parent-report survey responses regarding physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviors, and PA self-efficacy and determine if these data can be combined with objective physical activity monitor data to model the latent construct healthy physical activity behavior (HPAB).

Methods: 126 underserved 4^th-5^th grade students participated in a 12-week after-school nutrition, cooking, and physical activity program (WeCook: Fun with Food and Fitness). Participants and parents (n=103) completed surveys pre- and post-program and participants wore PA monitors for one week at PRE and POST. Unidimensionality and internal consistency reliability were …

Step By Step: Bridging The Gap Between Law Enforcement And Youth, Juan Castro

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Tensions between law enforcement and the community have hindered the ability to build a positive relationship. Through Partners for Peace, Step-Up Mentoring program youth participants will gather for a community event to help mend the relationship with law enforcement officers. The purpose of the project is to generate a positive activity in which law enforcement can be viewed in a non-authoritative context. The community event was implemented through a friendly basketball game that was meant to facilitate a positive interaction and a discussion to provide a platform where the youth and law enforcement can gain each other’s perspective. The outcome …

Assessing Adult Perceptions, Outcomes And Associations With Youth Nutrition And Activity Outcomes Of Participants In The Wecook: Fun With Food And Fitness Program, Kallie R. Heath

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Many strategies for childhood obesity prevention have included experiential cooking programs involving parents in various ways. However, evidence is lacking on parent involvement and outcomes. The WeCook: Fun with Food and Fitness (WeCook) program was a twelve-week, after-school program with a treatment-only design. The program targeted 4th and 5th grade youth at two Title I elementary schools while also engaging families in a comprehensive, multifaceted approach. Pre- and post-surveys were administered to youth and their parent/caregiver. Sixty matched youth and adult participant surveys were included in the analysis.

The primary objective was to assess whether participation in a youth cooking …

Similarity Attraction And Old School Values: African American Led Nonprofits And African American Youth, Susan T. Gooden, Michael L. Perkins, Lindsey L. Evans, Yali Pang

Journal of Public Management & Social Policy

This article examines the role of similarity-attraction between African American-led nonprofits and the predominately African American youth they serve. Informed by interview data with executive directors, board members, volunteers, and students, this research captures how similarity-attraction operates in the context of three, well-established African American-led nonprofit organizations by utilizing an old-school values approach. The findings suggest that each of these programs provides a direct focus on African American history and positive role models. Further, these programs teach African American youth how to excel while being black, from people who know first-hand what that experience entails. Nonprofit program leaders become trusted …

Underserved And Unaccompanied: Lgbtq Youth, Meeting The Intersecting Needs Of Youth Homelessness And Lgbtq Identities In Worcester, Ma, Molly Kellman

Sustainability and Social Justice

LGBTQ youth are at a much higher risk for experiencing homelessness, victimization, abuse, and disconnection from social and medical services than their non-LGBTQ peers. This research paper uses a mixed-methods approach to identify the specific needs of unaccompanied LGBTQ youth in Worcester, Massachusetts, and how the youth service sector can better meet the needs of this population. Analysis of data from unaccompanied LGBTQ youth and the providers who serve them revealed a disconnect between service providers, and a lack of resources that accommodate the intersections of homelessness and LGBTQ identities. LGBTQ youth in Worcester are more at risk of experiencing …

Sex Trafficking Of Transgender And Gender Nonconforming Youth In The United States, Meaghan Tomasiewicz

Center for the Human Rights of Children

There is a growing body of research from a variety of disciplines highlighting the overrepresentation of LGBTQ identified individuals among sex trafficked and commercially sexually exploited (CSE) youth. A much smaller subset of this research specifically focuses on transgender female youth. Transgender male, GNC, and intersex youth are largely excluded from the available literature. The issues and obstacles faced by the transgender and GNC communities require specialized services that are not necessarily applicable to the LGBTQ community as a whole due to population-specific healthcare, mental health, and safety factors in addition to employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and familial rejection. By …

Healthy Transitions: Peer Leadership Among Youth With Behavioral Health Issues, Vickie Harden Dr., V. Nikki Jones Dr.

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Behavioral health issues among youth and young adults are often misunderstood by the youth, and well as adults in the youth's life. Healthy Transitions provides a model for promoting youth-driven services, and leadership opportunities. These opportunities help shape recovery practices for youth with behavioral health issues, including mental illness, addiction, and co-occurring disorders. This provides a peer voice by which practitioners can better understand the impact of mental illness and addiction on youth, and initiate practice strategies that attune to the unique cultural identity of youth. The intended audience is anyone working with youth and young adults.

Identifying Moderators Of Response To The Penn Resiliency Program: A Synthesis Study, S. M. Brunwasser, Jane Gillham

Psychology Faculty Works

To identify moderators of a cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program’s effect on depressive symptoms among youth in early adolescence, data from three randomized controlled trials of the Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) were aggregated to maximize statistical power and sample diversity (N = 1145). Depressive symptoms, measured with the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs 1992), were assessed at six common time points over two-years of follow-up. Latent growth curve models evaluated whether PRP and control conditions differed in the rate of change in CDI and whether youth- and family-level characteristics moderated intervention effects. Model-based recursive partitioning was used as a supplementary analysis …

The Impact Of Sociodemographic Factors On Health-Related, Neuropsychological, And Psychosocial Functioning In Youth With Spina Bifida, Jaclyn Lennon Papadakis

Dissertations

Objective: There is a lack of research on the impact of sociodemographic factors on youth with spina bifida (SB). This is concerning given the pervasive health disparities that exist in pediatric chronic illness groups. The aims of this study were to examine: (1) differences in health-related, neuropsychological, and psychosocial functioning among youth with SB based on sociodemographic risk; (2) cumulative risk as a predictor of youth outcomes, as moderated by age; (3) SB-related family stress as a mediator of the associations between sociodemographic/cumulative risk and youth outcomes, longitudinally. Methods: Participants (M age = 11.43, 53.6% female) were recruited as part …

Annual Report Fy2017, Tennessee. Commission On Children And Youth.

Annual Report

No abstract provided.

Mental Wellbeing In Non-Ambulant Youth With Neuromuscular Disorders: What Makes The Difference?, Vivienne Travlos, Jenny Downs, Andrew Wilson, Dana Hince, Shane Patman

Physiotherapy Papers and Journal Articles

The physical and social challenges associated with neuromuscular disorders may impact mental wellbeing in non-ambulant youth during the more vulnerable period of adolescence. This cross-sectional survey investigated non-ambulant youths’ mental wellbeing and relationships with physical health, participation and social factors. The conceptual model was the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Thirty-seven youth aged 13 – 22 years old (mean age 17.4 years; n = 30 male; n = 24 Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) and their parents provided biopsychosocial data through a comprehensive self-report questionnaire. The primary outcome measure was the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS). Relationships between …

Education’S Role In A System Of Care For Children And Youth With Emotional/Behavioral Challenges: A Mixed Methods Evaluation, Lauryn Young

Theses and Dissertations

Students with more severe emotional/behavioral (EB) challenges have many problems in the school environment and subsequently have significant difficulty making adjustments later in adulthood. Coordinated care systems, such as local system of care (SOC) initiatives, were established in response to a call for reform in youth mental health services as research began highlighting the need for improved access and quality of mental and behavioral services for youth. However, even in communities where SOC initiatives are operating well, school involvement is usually marginal. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate education’s role in one SOC for children and youth with EB …

Nami Nh Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative: Most Significant Changes, Catherine E. Mayhew

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In 2013, the National Alliance for Mental Illness New Hampshire (NAMI NH) was awarded the Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) grant to develop and implement grassroots suicide prevention initiatives in key regions of the State housing high proportions of at-risk youth. I investigated the effectiveness of this work by gathering stories of significant change from key grant affiliates who implemented the interventions and then verifying and enriching those stories with others who had experienced them. Below, I describe the need for suicide prevention interventions in NH youth—both at the time the grant was awarded, as well as at present. I outline …

Annual Report State Fiscal Year July 2016-June 2017, Tennessee. Department Of Children's Services.

Department of Children's Services

No abstract provided.

Engaging In Effective Behavioral Health Treatment Methods: The Importance Of Building Trust And Relationships With High And Proven Risk Men With A History Of Childhood Trauma(S), Tracie Sullivan

Sustainability and Social Justice

Nearly 60% of youth involved in the juvenile justice system in the United States have a diagnosable mental illness (Buffington, 2010; SAMHSA, 2012). These high and proven risk youth have fallen through the cracks in the behavioral health system, with a lack of prevention, intervention, and effective treatment methods being provided to them prior to incarceration. This paper presents connections between childhood trauma, undiagnosed and untreated mental illnesses, and delinquency in adulthood for high and proven-risk young men. It also investigates barriers to engaging high and proven risk young men in treatment with the concepts of stigma, and hyper-masculinity introduced. …

Intentional Mentoring Through 4-H: The Role Of 4-H In A Successful Mentoring Program Between Youth And Adults, Emily Ann Shepperd

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

4-H Youth and Families with Promise (4-H YFP) is a one to one youth mentoring program that aims to help youth obtain skills that will help them to be successful. The purpose of this research was to determine if any positive outcomes were shown of youth participating in 4-H YFP. Positive outcomes were identified as peer social competence, greater ability to make positive choices, the development of effective communication skills, building connections, and contributing to the community. Results show that these outcomes positively increased among youth participants in the 4-H YFP program- but the changes were too small to be …

Fitbit And Fitabase Technology: Tracking And Evaluating Youth Physical Activity, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Tara Dunker, Weiwen Chai, Michelle Krehbiel

Journal of Extension

With the health of today's youth a national priority, professionals need tools for accurately assessing activity patterns and motivating behavior change. Fitness technology may be a promising tool for promoting positive behavior change. The afterschool program WeCook: Fun with Food and Fitness focused on improving food preparation skills, nutrition knowledge, and physical activity levels of youths. As part of the program assessment, each participant wore a Fitbit near the beginning and end of the program. Fitabase, an online research platform, was used for aggregating and analyzing data. We discuss a model for incorporating these technologies.

I Am More Than My Label, Taylor L. Teichman, Enid Melendez

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This workshop will offer experiential activities for youth allies to explore the foundational intersections between LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness and sexual violence. Introducing a framework of concrete tools, participants will identify at least three core resiliency factors of LGBTQ youth and be able to identify at least three concrete components for fostering community-wide support for these youth.

Annual Report Fy2016, Tennessee. Commission On Children And Youth.

Annual Report

No abstract provided.

Decriminalizing Childhood, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Even though the number of juveniles arrested, tried and detained has recently declined, there are still a large number of delinquency cases, children under supervision by state officials, and children living in state facilities for youth and adults. Additionally, any positive developments in juvenile justice have not been evenly experienced by all youth. Juveniles living in urban areas are more likely to have their cases formally processed in the juvenile justice system rather than informally resolved. Further, the reach of the justice system has a particularly disparate effect on minority youth who tend to live in heavily-policed urban areas.

The …

Sustained Education Access For Homeless Youth: Case Study Of U.S. Transitional Living Programs, Heather Hall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Without interventions to address homelessness among youth, the risk of homelessness for future generations is great. As a result, the federal government has invested in funding Transitional Living Programs (TLPs), though it is not clear whether these programs have achieved the intended outcomes of helping youth transition from homelessness to being able to sustain employment and avoid poverty through access to educational and workforce programs. Using the broad conceptualization of democratic governance as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to assess whether access to educational programs through TLPs benefitted homeless youth in terms of program success. Data …

Decision-Making In The Foster Care System, Julie E. Bertram

Dissertations

This study documented and analyzed the processes of mental health treatment decision-making, in the context of family support teams, within the foster care system. The research questions explored engagement, perceptions, and self-rated empowerment among family support teams that serve adolescent foster youth with mental health concerns. The sample consisted of 23 participants from core support teams and 36 other adolescent and adult team members who were involved in the study. Data collection methods included observations at family support team meetings and court hearings, 34 semi-structured individual interviews, a self-rated empowerment scale, and informal conversations in the field. Analysis of non-survey …

New Approach To School Health Initiatives: Using Fitness Measures Instead Of Body Mass Index To Evaluate Outcomes, Joshua Phelps, Amanda Smith, Stephany Parker, Janice Hermann

Journal of Extension

Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service provided elementary school students with a program that included a noncompetitive physical activity component: circuit training that combined cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility activities without requiring high skill levels. The intent was to improve fitness without focusing on body mass index as an indicator of fitness. Youths (111) in grades 3–5 underwent President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition testing at baseline and program completion. Significant improvements were observed in average fitness measures among youths who participated in the circuit training. Extension professionals looking for new tools to use with school-based physical activity programs may consider circuit …

Supporting Mentor Competency At African Community Education, Kelsey Renner

Sustainability and Social Justice

This practitioner paper focuses on the African Community Education (ACE) Mentoring for Empowerment and Exchange (MEE) in Worcester, Massachusetts and its ability to develop mentor competency in their volunteer mentors. In order to be effective mentors to their mentees, mentors need to be given tools to develop their own personal sense of competency via programmatic support like check-ins and trainings. Using interviews with mentors, literature in the field of mentoring, and program data, recommendations are made for ways ACE MEE program staff can enhance their programmatic structures to promote mentor competency and therefore develop high quality matches that support the …

The Effects Of Familism And Sibling Relationships On Mexican-Origin Adolescents' Intentions For Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drug Use, Molly Mechammil

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how sibling relationships and family values intersect to influence Mexican origin youth’s intentions to use substances. Previous research with European-American families has indicated that the nature and quality of sibling relationships in particular plays a large role in whether or not youth will engage in substance use behaviors. In addition, high levels of family and cultural values have also been found to be strong protective factors for substance use in Latino youth. A better understanding of the relation between family values and sibling relationship processes is important in order to …

Adapting A Physical Activity Intervention For Youth In A Rural Area: A Case Study, Moya L. Alfonso, Gavin Golquitt, Ashley Walker, Akrati Gupta

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Physical activity offers children and youth many well-documented positive effects on health. The present study adapted a community-based prevention marketing campaign (CBPM), VERBTM Summer Scorecard (VSS) to promote physical activity among minority youth in rural, southeast Georgia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the adaptation process, emphasizing methods used and lessons learned.

Methods: A qualitative study design was used to identify social marketing concepts that informed program adaptation, including two focus groups with 12 children and two focus groups with 14 parents. Qualitative thematic data analysis was used to analyze formative research. The adapted program was implemented …