The Power of Youth Work

PROTOCOL: Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) for young people in treatment for non‐opioid drug use

Milieu Therapy, as a psychosocial modality, deals intensively with all aspects of a young person's life. When treatment staff have an idea of what a youth lacks, through the therapeutic use of daily events, staff help the youth with integration (into the residence), individuation (self-direction) and separation (discharge). With the development of emotional trust in staff youth interactions treatment becomes possible; and therefore, the role and function of the child and youth care worker can be defined and evaluated. This article discusses a training and evaluation model, employed at Haydon Youth Services, Oshawa, Ontario. The compendium has as its focus, staff strengths and weaknesses, with a view to skills building. This is part B of the compendium. Part A appears prior to this article and is titled: “Training Youth Workers in Residential Treatment.”

Youth, aged 15 to 24 years, are more likely to experience mental health (MH) or substance use issues than other age groups. This is a critical period for intervention because MH disorders, if left unattended, may become chronic and serious and negatively affect many aspects of a young person's life. Even among those who are treated, poor outcomes will still occur for a percentage of youth. Electronic MH (eMH) tools have been implemented in traditional MH settings to reach youth requiring assistance with MH and substance use issues. However, the utility of eMH tools in school settings has yet to be investigated. The objective of this study was to gain an understanding of the perspectives of key school staff stakeholders regarding barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the Innowell eMH platform in secondary schools across the province of Alberta, Canada. Guided by a qualitative descriptive approach, focus groups were conducted to elicit stakeholder perspectives on the perceived implementation challenges and opportunities of embedding the Innowell eMH platform in secondary school MH services. In total, 8 focus groups were conducted with 52 key school staff stakeholders. Themes related to barriers and facilitators to youth and school MH care professional (MHCP) capacity in implementing and using eMH tools were identified. With respect to youth capacity barriers, the following themes were inductively generated: (1) concerns about some students not being suitable for eMH services, (2) minors requiring consent from parents or caregivers to use eMH services as well as confidentiality and privacy concerns, and (3) limited access to technology and internet service among youth. A second theme related to school MHCP barriers to implementation, which included (1) feeling stretched with high caseloads and change fatigue, (2) concerns with risk and liability, and (3) unmasking MH issues in the face of limited resources. In contrast to the barriers to youth and MHCP capacity, many facilitators to implementation were discussed. Youth capacity facilitators included (1) the potential for youth to be empowered using eMH tools, (2) the platform fostering therapeutic relationships with school personnel, and (3) enhancing access to needed services and resources. MHCP capacity facilitators to implementation were (1) system transformation through flexibility and problem-solving, (2) opportunities for collaboration with youth and MHCPs and across different systems, and (3) an opportunity for the continuity of services. Our findings highlight nuanced school MHCP perspectives that demonstrate critical youth and MHCP capacity concerns, with consideration for organizational factors that may impede or enhance the implementation processes for embedding eMH in a school context. The barriers and facilitators to implementation provide future researchers and decision makers with challenges and opportunities that could be addressed in the preimplementation phase.

Approximately 300 000 people in the United Kingdom have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis; the two most common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These conditions affect the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and cause inflammation, ulceration and bleeding, leading to substantial pain and discomfort, extreme lethargy, a loss of appetite, and most commonly an urgent need to go to the toilet. Around 1 in 4 diagnoses of IBD now occur during adolescence before the age of 16 years, and will have affect every aspect of a young person's life, including schooling. This article looks at pertinent aspects of IBD, both physiological and psychological, and examines their impact on the child or adolescent and the support required in school.

This book offers an overview of Finnish youth work education to a wider international audience interested in promoting youth work education. Youth work education in Finland as part of the formal education system began in 1945, when the first course on the subject was established in an institution that is now part of Tampere University. Since then, the youth work education system has been expanding and currently covers all levels of the formal education system. Finland also has a well-developed non-formal education system. To understand this development, the basic features of Finnish youth work education are described. Based on the existing research literature, youth work education is located within the tradition of Finnish youth work and within the wider context of educational policy and tradition in Finland. The book presents the basic features and core values of the Finnish pedagogical tradition, which manifest themselves in the way educational policy is organised in Finland. The Finnish youth work education system that ranges from vocational education to doctoral studies is described in detail. Finland has adopted a dual sector model in higher education, and most youth work students in higher education study at universities of applied sciences. Compared with many European countries, the Finnish youth work education system is well-financed and developed. The book analyses the tradition of Finnish youth work using the theory of practice architectures. According to this perspective, youth work education aims at initiating the new youth workers to the features of the community and helping the more experienced ones to learn new skills. The books argues that to understand the way Finnish youth work education has developed, one must understand the wider context of how the field’s community of practice has developed. The cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements of Finnish youth work are studied. The Finnish youth work community has successfully convinced the general public that working with youth requires a specialised body of knowledge and skills. Moreover, the value and worth of this work have received public acknowledgement. Recognising youth work means also recognising that youth workers are entitled to be supported in seeking education. The development of Finnish youth work education has been influenced by the role of youth work in Finnish society and by the developments in the educational policy as a whole. The book analyses three features in greater depth. In Finland, the belief in education has created a favourable social attitude towards formal education and has enabled various professions to develop educational courses for their field. Educational policy has been based on national narratives. Youth work has managed to fit into these narratives and has thus been able to secure a place in the educational system. The expansion of education and the consequent credential inflation mean that youth work has needed to adapt to the developments outside its own field.

This is a Campbell Systematic Review of the effect of Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) for treating abuse of cannabis, amphetamine, ecstasy or cocaine (referred to here as non-opioid drugs) among young people aged 11-21 years. The misuse of prescription drugs and the use of ketamine, nitrous oxide and inhalants such as glue and petrol are not considered in this review. Youth drug abuse is a severe problem worldwide and recent reports describe ominous trends of youth drug abuse and a lack of effective treatment. This review is concerned with drug abuse that is severe enough to warrant treatment. It focuses on young people who are receiving MDFT specifically for non-opioid drug abuse. MDFT is a manual-based, family-oriented treatment, designed to eliminate drug abuse and associated problems in young peopleâ?Ts lives. MDFT takes a number of risk and protective factors into account; the approach acknowledges that young peopleâ?Ts drug abuse is linked to dimensions such as home life, friends, school and community (Liddle et al., 2004). MDFT aims to modify multiple domains of functioning by intervening with the young person, family members, and other members of the young personâ?Ts support network (Austin et al., 2005). MDFT is thus based on a number of therapeutic alliances, with the young drug abuser, his or her parents and other family members, and sometimes with school and juvenile justice officials. After a rigorous search of the literature, five randomized controlled studies with samples of 83-450 participants were identified. Three studies were conducted by MDFT program developers, one study was conducted by an independent investigator with the program developer as a co-author, and one study was conducted by independent investigators. Four studies were performed in the US, while the other was performed across five European countries. We used meta-analytic procedures to summarise the available evidence on the effects of MDFT in comparison with other interventions on drug abuse, education, family functioning, risk behavior and retention in treatment. In this review, we interpret a value of the standardised mean difference, SMD=0.20 as a small effect size, in line with the general practice (Cohen, 1988). We note, however, the possibility that such a value might actually represent a larger effect if it is equivalent to a large reduction in the percentage of days a youth uses drugs, but we cannot comment further as we were unable to analyse the absolute effect of MDFT given that no studies comparing MDFT to no other treatment were available. The findings are as follows: - On drug abuse: Based on the available evidence we conclude that MDFT has an effect on drug abuse reduction compared to other treatments, although the difference is small. - On education: There is insufficient evidence to conclude whether MDFT has an effect on education compared to other treatments. - On family functioning: There is no available evidence to conclude whether MDFT has an effect on family functioning compared to other treatments. - On risk behavior and other adverse effects: There is no available evidence to conclude whether MDFT has an effect on risk behavior and other adverse effects compared to other treatments. - On treatment retention: MDFT may result in improved treatment retention in young drug abusers compared to other interventions The evidence found was limited as only five studies were included, and two studies had significant amounts of missing data. The evidence was very limited in terms of the outcomes reported on education, family functioning and risk behavior, and was insufficient for firm conclusions to be drawn on the effectiveness of the treatment with regard to such outcomes. There is evidence that MDFT is slightly more effective in treating young peopleâ?Ts drug abuse than other treatments; however, the difference is small. Furthermore, none of the five included studies could be characterised as a robust RCT with a low risk of bias on all assessed domains. One study provided insufficient information on core issues for the risk of bias to be assessed and therefore we find reason to question the validity of this study. Well-designed, randomized controlled trials within this population are needed. More research is also required to identify factors which modify the effect of MDFT and to identify which particular youth subgroups may be most likely to respond.

Putting Adolescent Health at the Heart of Pediatrics

Despite society's current preoccupation with interrelated issues such as obesity, increasingly sedentary lifestyles and children's health, there has until now been little published research that directly addresses the place and meaning of physical activity in young people's lives. In this important new collection, leading international scholars address that deficit by exploring the differences in young people's experiences and meanings of physical activity as these are related to their social, cultural and geographical locations, to their abilities and their social and personal biographies. The book places young people's everyday lives at the centre of the study, arguing that it this 'everydayness' (school, work, friendships, ethnicity, family routines, interests, finances, location) that is key to shaping the engagement of young people in physical activity. By allowing the voices of young people to be heard through these pages, the book helps the reader to make sense of how young people see physical activity in their lives. Drawing on a breadth of theoretical frameworks, and challenging the orthodox assumptions that underpin contemporary physical activity policy, interventions and curricula, this book powerfully refutes the argument that young people are 'the problem' and instead demonstrates the complex social constructions of physical activity in the lives of young people. Young People, Physical Activity and the Everyday is essential reading for both students and researchers with a particular interest physical activity, physical education, health, youth work and social policy.

Technology has become besieged us in all directions and aspects. We find it in agriculture, industry, construction, trade and others; Therefore, it is not surprising that we see it in education, and how not, and it is the origin of all things. Education is a central part of every young person's life journey. Whether it is education from kindergarten to the end of secondary education or academic education, formal education is there to ensure that new generations are prepared for the world of tomorrow. The current study aimed to identify the impact of distance education in public schools from the point of view of school principals in the Southern Mazar District of the Karak Governorate, where the researcher used the descriptive analytical approach, and the study's questionnaire was applied to (70) principals in the Southern Mazar district randomly. The five-point Likert scale was adopted to correct the study tools, by giving each of its paragraphs one degree out of its five degrees (a very large degree, a large degree, a medium degree, a small degree, a very small degree) and it is represented digitally (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) respectively, the following scale has been adopted for the purposes of analyzing the results: From 1.00 - 2.33 Low، 2.34-3.67 average، From 3.68- 5.00 large، The scale was calculated by using the following equation: (The upper limit of the scale (5) - the lower limit of the scale (1)) / The number of required categories (3)=(5-1)/3 =1.33.And then add the answer (1.33) to the end of each category. Keywords: distance learning process, public school students, educational platforms DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-19-20 Publication date: June 30 th 2022

Adolescence can be a challenging period in a young person's life, without contending with health conditions. Young people diagnosed with a chronic health condition such as type 1 diabetes experience lifelong changes that some find difficult to accept and cope, while others cope quite well. With the incidence of type 1 diabetes rising amongst young people, understanding their lived experience is important if healthcare professionals are to provide adequate, contextual and appropriate care. The aim of my research was to explore, describe and understand what life was like for young people aged 16-24 years with type 1 diabetes, living in rural Victoria, Australia. The challenges faced, and the impact type 1 diabetes had on their lives, were central issues explored. This research aimed to inform healthcare professionals about participants’ experiences, improve the healthcare experience of rural young people and utilise findings to inform practice, thus enabling healthcare professionals to tailor care. The participants’ experiences may also resonate with other young people with type 1 diabetes and highlight shared experiences. The experiences of the participants were captured using van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology. Ten participants were interviewed. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The interview text was thematically analysed to identify common themes. Participants also provided visual examples of their lived experience in the forms of photographs, drawings and collages/posters. Interpretations of the artwork were provided by participants themselves, adding further depth, richness and rigour to their lived experience descriptions and themes. Five themes were identified. Following diagnosis, participants perceived themselves as being different from others: being different. As time passed they began to discover they were unable to control aspects of the condition and the impact this had on their lives, however they also discovered aspects they could control: being in control. The condition had significant impact on their life and infiltrated their personal, family, social, school and work life; impact on self and others. Participants began to feel exposed by the condition, especially in public and when interacting with strangers unfamiliar with their diagnosis. Some interactions were negative, while others encouraged conversation, questions and education: perceptions of others. The final theme refers to participants looking ahead and into their future and what that life may look like from now. Participants were aware of the complications of type 1 diabetes, but there were also thoughts of family, travel and the possibility of improvements in management and being hopeful of a cure: thoughts of the future. The essence of their lived experience was a sense of living in two worlds and the concept of intentionality. Participants experienced an interplay or dance between a world of the everyday and everyone else, and a world living with type 1 diabetes, with the aim of achieving balance between the two worlds. This research argues that healthcare professionals may be better placed to provide relevant, contextual and adolescent specific care to young people experiencing a chronic condition, if they appreciate the impact type 1 diabetes has on a young person at various points in their life. Tailoring care that ‘fits’ into the young person’s life is necessary, if healthcare professionals are to best meet this group’s needs. Grasping the meaning of their experiences provides insight into how this group of participants managed living in two worlds and what they required from others around them to ensure they continued living well with type 1 diabetes.

Background/Context The current educational market nestled in neoliberal and market-based reform efforts has shifted the nature of public education. Community-based educational spaces are also shaped within this context. As such, given the political and educational climate youth workers are situated in, their role as advocates, cultural workers, and pedagogues warrants greater exploration within educational scholarship. Although previous scholarship captures the significance of community-based youth workers in the lives of marginalized youth, their voices and experiences are absent from broader educational discourse. Subsequently, community-based youth workers’ relationship with schools, engagement with youth, and their pedagogical practices remain underutilized and undervalued. Purpose The purpose of this article is to highlight the critical space youth workers occupy in the academic, social, and cultural lives of Black youth within community-based educational spaces. This article critically examines the intricate roles that youth workers play in the academic and social lives of youth and proposes deeper inquiry into the practices of youth workers and implications for broader education discourse. Setting The study takes place at Educational Excellence (EE), a community-based educational program operating after school in the Northeastern part of the United States. Research Design This study employed a critical qualitative design with ethnographic methods. Participant observations occurred at program events for youth and their families over 13 months, events during the holidays (2), middle and high school retreats (2), staff retreats (2), parent orientation meetings (4), curriculum planning meetings (13), and staff-development trainings (10). In order to triangulate participant observation data, every youth worker was interviewed individually (n = 20) and observed during (or in) staff meetings, organizational events, and interaction with coworkers and students in the program. A total of three focus groups, lasting between 60 minutes and 90 minutes were held with participants. Findings/Results Findings indicate that a combination of factors contributes to the important role that youth workers play in the lives of students. From their vantage point, youth workers are community members that have extensive knowledge of the current educational landscape and the ways in which it shapes the experiences, opportunities, and outcomes of youth in their program. As former school administrators, teachers, and life-long community-based educators, youth workers’ understanding and analysis of students’ experiences in schools is extremely significant to their understanding of educational problems and the needs of their students. As such, youth workers were able to revive students through culturally responsive and relevant curricula and engagement that gave students an opportunity to think critically about the world around them and to also think more deeply about their social, academic, and political identities. Conclusions/Recommendations Youth workers within community-based educational spaces serve as essential actors in the lives of young people. Recognizing and validating these educators and community-based spaces as distinct, equally important, and complimentary spaces to schools and classroom teachers is an essential step in the process of reimagining the possibilities of youth work in community-based settings and in broader conceptions of educational opportunity. Further research and practice should recognize community-based spaces as vital sites of learning and growth for young people. In addition, education research and policy should acknowledge the distinct value and pedagogical practices of community-based educational spaces from traditional school spaces.

ABSTRACTIntroductionReducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is a cornerstone of effective early intervention for psychosis (EIP) services. Delays in help seeking are a significant component of DUP, particularly among youth. Given their role as trusted adults in young people's lives, youth workers are uniquely positioned to play a role in early detection networks. However, their views regarding this remain largely unexamined.AimThis study aimed to explore youth workers' perspectives on identifying and responding to psychosis in youth and the training needed to support them in this role.MethodsA sequential‐independent mixed methods design was employed. A brief questionnaire was given to youth workers (n = 86) who attended a 1‐day EIP training session, followed by semi‐structured interviews with a subset of participants (n = 10) 3 months later.ResultsMost participants (98.8%) expressed confidence in recognising psychosis; however, stigma and challenging relationships with mental health services emerged as systemic barriers. Although most participants (98.8%) found the EIP training relevant to their role, they suggested it should form part of a broader mental health curriculum. There was a clear consensus among participants that such training is necessary and should be accessible, practical and actionable.ConclusionYouth workers are uniquely positioned in identifying and supporting young people at risk of psychosis, and this study underscores their willingness to take on this role. To best support them, training efforts should focus on trans‐diagnostic approaches that enhance mental health literacy, address systemic barriers and promote multidisciplinary partnerships.

In sub-Saharan Africa, migration of young people is common and occurs for a variety of reasons. Research focus is often on international or long-distance internal migration; however, shorter moves also affect people's lives and can reveal important information about cultures and societies. In rural sub-Saharan Africa, migration may be influenced by cultural norms and family considerations: these may be changing due to demographic shifts, urbanisation, and increased media access. We used longitudinal data from a Health and Demographic Surveillance Site in rural northern Malawi to present a detailed investigation of migration in young people between 2004-2017. Our focus is on the cultural effects of gender and family, and separate migrations into short and long distance, and independent and accompanied, as these different move types are likely to represent very different events in a young person's life. We use descriptive analyses multi-level multinomial logistic regression modelling. We found two key periods of mobility 1) in very young childhood and 2) in adolescence/young adulthood. In this traditionally patrilocal area, we found that young women move longer distances to live with their spouse, and also were more likely to return home after a marriage ends, rather than remain living independently. Young people living close to relatives tend to have lower chances of moving, and despite the local patrilineal customs, we found evidence of the importance of the maternal family. Female and male children may be treated differently from as young as age 4, with girls more likely to migrate long distances independently, and more likely to accompany their mothers in other moves.

This article aims to summarise long-term set of projects with common “Brand” InFormal. The described projects took place from 2015 to 2019 and were funded by Erasmus+: Youth both Key Action 1 and 2. This article is a summary rather than a description of the individual projects. The main focus of the projects was the integration of non-formal learning into the formal education, and the projects noted in the paper were sets of training courses where participants were educators and practitioners from both the formal (teachers, etc.) and the non-formal sphere (free time educators of extracurricular activities, youth workers etc.). This created a unique sharing environment and clash of ideas where participants themselves were often creators of the content (after receiving methodological background). In this article, we described what we understand as formal and non-formal learning and education and how it was used during the mentioned projects. Later in the results section comments on individual projects are shared. The discussion of results leads to the conclusion that the way of integrating formal and non-formal as outlined projects did is an excellent way to create mutual understanding for both teachers and the youth workers. It is also the way to gain most from both worlds and a way of giving the competence to educators to use the appropriate approach when necessary.

Youth workers are on the front line for supporting children and young people with the violence some of them face. However, education and training for this part of the role seemed lacking in our experience as a Youth and Community Worker and a Youth and Community Work Lecturer in the UK. An international project that sought to address this educational gap for ‘youth practitioners’ had a UK arm, which is the context for this article. This project created a three-day training course that sought to improve responses to gender-related violence (GRV) by increasing awareness, improving knowledge about providing support and making referrals, and also sought to prevent or reduce gender-related violence by challenging the inequalities on which it rests. The UK ‘youth practitioners’ who attended the training wrote almost 500 ‘action plans’—plans to act on the basis of the training, and analysis of these offers an indication of their concerns and priorities. Here, we present the concerns that UK-based teachers and youth workers had for the children and young people they worked with, and the forms of violence they were aware of when they began this training course. We then describe the interventions with young people or changes to their practice that these attendees said they would make in response to the training once they were back at work. This provides an agenda for action in youth, education and social services to address gender-related violence in the lives of children and young people in the UK. By the end of the training, the interventions they had committed to making included changes to their own practice, showing their reflexivity and their understanding that key tools for tackling gender-related violence included their own behaviour and reflexive practice in their service or team. They highlighted the need for culture change at an organisational level, and identified the problems of sexism and homophobia, even in their own workplaces. Their views about the value of the term gender-related violence (GRV) were mixed, with some practitioners finding it unnecessarily theoretical and others finding it a helpful link between areas of discrimination and of violence that they tended to tackle separately, such as between homophobia and violence against women and girls.