Joan Letendre

Youth participation in qualitative research: Challenges and possibilities

Research often excludes youth participants, omitting their social and psychological realities, undermining their rights to participate and benefit from research, and weakening the validity of research. Researchers may be discouraged from including youth due to logistical (e.g. gaining access) or ethical (e.g. coercion risks based on developmental level) concerns. Increased discussion is needed around appropriate methods to use with child and youth participants that manage challenges related to developmental capacities, legal status, power differentials, and unpredictable aspects of qualitative research. This paper pools experiences of six researchers, describing solutions we have developed in studies employing varied qualitative methodologies with varied vulnerable youth subpopulations. We detail successful approaches to access, compensation, consent, assent, and confidentiality. Social work researchers are wellsuited to navigate the challenges, and we share our examples with the aim of facilitating increased youth participation in research.

Leader and Therapeutic Influences on Prosocial Skill Building in School-Based Groups to Prevent Aggression

Objective: Increasingly, social workers are using standardized skill-building models to provide services to children that are time limited, focused on specific attainable goals, and easily evaluated. Scant attention has been paid to the impact of leader and group factors on the behavioral change of participants in skill-building groups. Method: Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the effects of leader education and experience, therapeutic alliance, and group participation on the prosocial skill development of low-income, elementary-aged children at risk for aggressive behavior. A total of 794 children participated in 106 groups led by 24 graduate/non-graduate-level leaders. Results: Findings indicated that development of prosocial skills decreased aggressive behaviors in the groups. Education level of the leader and group participation contributed to skill development. Experience level implementing the intervention affected aggression level. Conclusions: The findings have important implications for training and supervision of group facilitators, future research on skill-based groups with children, and generalization of skills to school, family, and community settings.

“I Hear You”: Using Focus Groups to Give Voice to Adolescent Girls' Experiences with Violence

Focus groups are used in social science to understand social problems. This article presents focus groups for adolescent girls in a school setting, by two social work researchers, on the subjects of girl fighting and dating violence. The article discusses planning (agency collaboration and decisions about the structure of the group and recruitment of participants), using group work skills to create a safe environment that encourages discussion of diverse opinions, and disseminating relevant findings to school personnel that will prevent or intervene in the problem.

Integrating Process Interventions into a School-Based Curriculum Group

ABSTRACT Manualized approaches are widely used in work with aggressive, impulsive, and oppositional behaviors to improve their peer relations, school behavior, and interactions with adults, including their teachers. When group-work principles and interventions are not applied to the live spontaneous group situations that arise, however, workers miss opportunities to further help members understand, incorporate, and practice the very behaviors being offered in the curriculum. This article describes a curriculum-based group experience and the successes and limitations of the work that was done and identifies areas in which the integration of more traditional group process interventions could have increased the effectiveness of the cognitive-behavioral curriculum-oriented approach.

Utilizing Mutual Aid in Reducing Adolescent Substance Use and Developing Group Engagement.

Objective: This study assessed the effectiveness of mutual aid groups for high school students. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was applied to 242 adolescents, where every other adolescent was assigned to the intervention or the control condition. The study evaluated the influence of implementing mutual aid groups in decreasing perceived risk of substance use, favorable attitudes toward substance use, and reducing substance use while increasing group engagement. Participants were assessed at baseline, during Sessions 2 and 7, and treatment exit. General linear mixed-effects models were used to detect significant differences between treatment and control conditions. Results: Findings indicated mutual aid groups significantly reduced favorable attitudes toward drug use and decreased alcohol and marijuana usage compared to the control group. In addition, the adolescents in treatment significantly increased their group engagement. Conclusions: Results support mutual aid group work models for reducing alcohol use and increasing group engagement for high school youth.

Proposed Modification of a School-Wide Bully Prevention Program to Support All Children

ABSTRACT Bullying prevention programs in the United States are being implemented in schools from kindergarten through high school to reduce rates of bullying behaviors. The bully prevention in positive behavior support (PBIS) model is an evidence-based, whole school intervention program. The PBIS model trains teachers, school staff, and administrators to model and provide positive reinforcement for children to decrease bullying amongst peers. This article addresses gaps in the current bullying prevention research by exploring challenges and potential modifications to the PBIS model based on staff perspectives of specific student needs. Utilizing focus group methodology, administrators, teachers, and support staff in a northeastern urban elementary school identified challenges experienced by students who were English language learners, impulsive, shy or sensitive, and female. The findings highlight the critical nature of school–parent relationships in addressing student, family, and cultural factors that influence the successful implementation of bullying prevention programs.

Practice Wisdom Meets Evidence-Based Practice: Building Capacity in Agencies

ABSTRACT Agencies have a need to develop and evaluate therapeutic practices that show efficacy in treating specific client problems. University-agency collaborations combine the wisdom of practitioners with research skills that appraise evidence of efficacy, operationalize concepts and skills, and identify and implement evaluation methods. This article discusses the processes involved as practitioners and administrators collaborated with university researchers to transform a well-established mutual aid (MA) model of group work into an evidence-based model that showed efficacy in preventing substance use with adolescent populations. A case study will include the phases of the collaboration including relationship building, reviews of similar programs, identification of appropriate evaluation measures, development of a curricular-based manual and analysis and interpretation of the data for use in applying for funding. Implications for agency practice that respond to current demands in social services will be discussed.

Cyberbullying through the new media: Findings from an international network by Smith, P. K., and Steffgen, G.

This is an interesting edited book based on the findings of an international community of European and Australian researchers. The book is divided into sections that address the research collaboration process, definitions and measurement, regulation and the media, coping and guidelines, and research challenges related to cyberbullying. The final three chapters are commentaries from researchers and practitioners knowledgeable and interested in the issue. The research projects were developed in international collaborative groups over 4 years to understand the myriad of issues that surround cyberbullying. Each chapter stands alone in its extensive summary of literature, description of the research project, findings, and implications. The book offers a hopeful examination of the problem of cyberbullying and identifies next steps on a macroand microlevel of intervention. The broad range, public forum, anonymity of cyberbullying and adults’ lack of knowledge about the Internet and fears of it power can create a perception that cyberbullying is and insurmountable problem. The various research findings highlighted in this book bring perspective and direction for intervention on multiple levels. The focus on youth as stakeholders in the research and in the development of programs to educate, inform technology, and develop peer-to-peer solutions is refreshing. Although this is not a group work book, there are several prominent themes that reflect the values that guide group work practice: the power of the peer group to provide supportive interactions, the social milieu surrounding the cyberbullying; the empowerment of youth in the problem-solving process and the importance of adults in helping youth to develop healthy norms for interaction in online forums. Each of these topics is explored throughout with youth involvement in the evaluation and implementation stages of the projects. The book is a good resource for practitioners and scholars who are interested in learning about research findings related to cyberbullying as it addresses macroand microlevels of prevention and intervention. The authors use extensive research findings to provide an understanding of cyberbullying and its similarity and differences to face-to-face bullying. Commonalities include intention to harm and differences in power between

Getting the job done

Work groups offer the potential to influence the structure, policy and procedures in agency practice. Skilfully led work groups engage workers in a process where problems are identified and explored and collaborative solutions are developed and implemented. A case example of a work group mobilized by a child welfare worker to restore parent child visitation rooms will be used to illustrate the planning process, recruitment of work group members, development of a common purpose and goals and facilitation of sessions throughout the stages of the group’s work. Implications for practice focus on group leadership skills that enhanced the work, resulting in the success of the project and agency change. Barriers to the work will be discussed with suggestions for future projects.

Inspiring Leadership in Teens: Group Activities to Foster Integrity, Responsibility and Compassion by Stuecker, R.

Inspiring Leadership in Teens is a thorough compilation of well-thought-out classroom sessions that prepare adolescents for leadership roles. Written by educator Ric Stuecker, over many years of leadership training with youth, the workbook and accompanying CD contain a rich array of exercises and activities that can be modified to fit the needs of schools, youth organizations, and leadership training programs. The workbook includes content on group dynamics with an emphasis on building a learning community that is safe place for students to learn skills and explore their potential for leadership. It offers information about members’ needs and leaders’ roles during different stages of group development. The workbook also offers a unit on spirituality; and, although such a focus may not be embraced in all settings, the content may be a welcome addition for teacher and group workers in settings that focus on the spiritual dimension of the self. The workbook has been developed for classrooms of 25 students in a middle or high school. Each session includes enough content for a 40to 50-minute class period that meets over the course of the school year. The author is sensitive to the needs and schedules of the host setting and emphasizes that sessions can be adapted for shorter time periods and specifically refers to 1to 5-day workshops that would be most suitable for youth retreats. Because the activities described in the book are so well planned, with higher-risk activities that require that students feel comfortable and trusting in the class, it would be important to develop a shorter version of the training with the author’s organization in mind. The workbook is divided into six units, with each one building on the content of the previous one. The units are divided into task and social-emotional themes. Units 2 and 3 (Studying Leadership and Creating Leadership Portfolios) focus on the tasks of the leadership development training. The cognitive focus of the sessions is devoted to researching and understanding the qualities and behaviors that lead to successful leadership, developing concrete skills of resume writing and presentation delivery, and identifying future goals, strengths, and barriers to their attainment. Four units (Creating a Learning Community, Understanding Communication, Leading