Youth Services Research Articles

Measurement-Based Care as a Tool to Detect and Prevent Harm in Youth Psychotherapy.

Measurement-based care (MBC), the use of routine assessment to guide clinical decision-making, has the potential to significantly enhance the quality of mental health services for youth by improving the detection and prevention of harm. Concerns exist, however, that widespread efforts to implement MBC may have a negative impact on youth mental health care. We explore both perspectives by describing how MBC can be leveraged as a tool to detect and prevent harmful treatment in youth and how misapplication of MBC also has the potential to cause harm. This discussion focuses on how MBC can help therapists identify harm caused by ineffective practices (i.e., deterioration or no symptoms changes), poor client engagement (e.g., early drop-out, poor alliance), and adverse events (e.g., injury caused by treatment). We also discuss multi-level applications of aggregated MBC data to prevent harm through workforce development and organizational and health systems quality and cost of care improvement initiatives. Misapplication of MBC by failing to adhere to MBC best practices, overreliance on data above clinical judgement, providing insufficient organizational support, and using MBC data to justify cost containment are all discussed as possible sources of harm. We conclude with a discussion of future directions for research needed to advance the application of MBC to the prevention of harm in youth psychotherapy.

Examining Prevalence and Predictors of Economic Hardships for Transition-Age Foster Youth

Previous articleNext article No AccessExamining Prevalence and Predictors of Economic Hardships for Transition-age Foster YouthMelanie L Nadon, Sunggeun Park, Huiling Feng, and Mark CourtneyMelanie L Nadon Search for more articles by this author , Sunggeun Park Search for more articles by this author , Huiling Feng Search for more articles by this author , and Mark Courtney Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research Just Accepted Published for the Society for Social Work and Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/721667 Views: 111Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref HistoryAccepted June 28, 2022 PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Angela B. Pharris, Ricky T. Muñoz, Chan M. Hellman Caseworkers as a source of hope leading to perceptions of academic success for transitional age foster youth, Child & Family Social Work 96 (Jan 2023).https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12996Kizzy M. Lopez, Jennifer M. Geiger, Nathanael J. Okpych, Sara I. Gamez, Danielle Larregui The impact of COVID-19 on campus-based support programs serving students with foster care experience: Focus groups with administrators and students, Children and Youth Services Review 143 (Dec 2022): 106696.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106696

'For Youth by Youth': Distributive Leadership in Action With a Youth Codesign Team.

Integrated youth services are an emerging delivery model in Canada that addresses siloed and fragmented youth mental health and other services. Youth engagement is viable for developing integrated youth services when purposefully built. However, it is not always clear how youth are involved in service transformation as decision-makers, and it requires an exploration of how to work with youth authentically and intentionally in the codesign process. This study reflects on the development of HOMEBASE, a network of integrated youth service delivery in Saskatchewan, Canada, and documents the process of actively and authentically engaging with youth through distributive leadership in the codesign process. Youth are actively and eagerly willing to participate in the codesign process of developing integrated services when there is a shared responsibility, and they are authentically involved and informed within the decision-making process. This requires time to form trust, build relationships and provide youth with low-pressure environments to foster healthy debates. By utilizing a distributive leadership approach, the Youth Codesign Team has been engaged in various levels of decision-making. By following these guiding principles, policymakers, youth development workers and researchers can engage youth in meaningful ways to improve the design and development of integrated care. Five youths from the HOMEBASE Provincial Youth Co-Design Team collaborated in writing this article based on their experiences of being engaged at varying levels of decision-making in a distributive leadership approach to building integrated youth services.

Involvement in Determining Transition Services for Youth with Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review

Involvement in Determining Transition Services for Youth with Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review

Peran Pemerintah dalam Pelestarian Kesenian Ludruk di Surabaya

Ludruk is a native East Javanese folk art originating from Jombang, but is also a typical Surabaya cultural mascot. Ludruk is a traditional drama performed by an arts group on a stage based on stories about people's daily lives. Ludruk art is part of East Java's rich and unique cultural heritage. Its preservation is important to maintain local cultural identity which can be a valuable asset for the community, due to the threat of loss and extinction. Ludruk is not only an artistic performance, but is also part of social life and preserving the community's identity can help strengthen a sense of solidarity and pride in local culture. . By choosing this topic, researchers can make a meaningful contribution to efforts to preserve and promote the desirability of ludruk art for the future. This research method is descriptive qualitative by collecting primary data through in-depth interviews and observations from related informants. Based on the research results that: 1. The role of the Surabaya City Culture, Youth and Sports and Tourism Department (Disbudporapar) as a regulator, plays a significant role in supporting arts and cultural activities in the preservation of ludruk art, ensuring that this traditional art remains alive and growing among young generation in ASPK policy.2. The role of the Department of Culture, Youth and Sports and Tourism of the City of Surabaya (Disbudporapar) as a facilitator, currently there is still a lack of support and facilities, allowing regeneration, regeneration of ludruk artists to be slow, competition with modern media, limited training: training programs are often undirected and inconsistent. 3. The role of the Department of Culture, Youth and Sports and Tourism of the City of Surabaya (Disbudporapar) as a dynamist, has been running well, but the current condition is that many ludruk groups in Surabaya have arts registration marks (TDK) and are registered at Disbudporapar. However, many of them have already died and Ludruk performances currently only rely on invitations from the Surabaya City Youth and Sports Culture Service (Disbudporapar).

Local youth offer peer review

Councils must ensure sufficient youth services to meet young people's needs. Jo Stephenson looks at how a government-backed peer review programme is helping local authorities meet requirements

Evaluation of a community-based brief intervention service for youth in crisis with suicidal ideation or self-harm.

To evaluate the implementation of a mixed virtual and in-person brief intervention for young people, aged 12-25 years, presenting to a large urban mental health service in crisis with suicidal ideation and/or self-harm. A pragmatic, real-world evaluation was conducted on the Youth Brief Intervention Service between June 2021 (inception) and October 2022. Service users were offered four sessions over an approximate one-month period. Sessions focused on distress tolerance, safety plans and support systems. Implementation outcomes related to service uptake, retention, fidelity of the model and service user experience. Effectiveness outcomes were measured pre-post and included mental health-related hospital service utilization (primary outcome), functioning, mental health status, self-harm, suicidal ideation and quality of life. Of the 136 young people referred to the Youth Brief Intervention Service, 99 were accepted with 17 disengaging before the first session. Eighty percent of people who commenced, completed the package of care. Young persons' and parent/carers experience of service was high (97% and 88%, respectively). Mental health-related emergency department presentations and inpatient days decreased from 3 months pre-intake to 3 months post-intake (42 vs. 7 presentations, X 2 = 25.3, p < .001; 11 vs. 0 inpatient days, X 2 = 9.1, p = .01). There were significant improvements in mental health status, days engaging in self-harm, general health and functioning and quality of life. The Youth Brief Intervention Service is feasible, acceptable, subjectively beneficial and coincided with less mental health-related emergency department presentations and inpatient days, and improved mental health status and behaviour.

Documenting the availability and accessibility of reproductive health services for youth in Albania

Abstract Youth in Albania are initiating sexual activity at an earlier age. However, use of all forms of contraception has declined in the last decade and uptake now stands at 4%. The self-reported prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and STI symptoms has risen dramatically, as has reliance on abortion as a predominant method of family planning. In 2020-2022, we conducted a multi-method qualitative study in Albania to document the availability and accessibility of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and examine challenges that youth face when seeking SRH care. This study comprised a document review, a curriculum review, a community-based survey with 273 youth, semi-structured interviews with 15 youth, semi-structured interviews with 15 key informants, and a service mapping exercise in Tirana. Lack of adequate infrastructure and bureaucratic hurdles make it difficult for youth to navigate and access SRH services in Albania. A third of survey participants (n = 90, 33%) expressed discomfort inquiring about SRH matters, while nearly two-thirds rarely or never sought SRH services from a doctor or clinic. Furthermore, Albania’s school-based sexuality education curriculum lacks in topics, content, and responsiveness, resulting in inconsistent learning experiences and limited knowledge of SRH. Sexuality education is primarily focused on the anatomy and physiology of reproduction, leading to significant knowledge gaps in other aspects of SRH. Only half of survey participants (n = 150, 55%) had received any education on birth control, contraception, or family planning; and only few had knowledge about gender identity (n = 103, 38%), or consent (n = 77; 28%). Widespread lack of awareness and fear of judgment contribute to the underutilization of SRH services among youth in Albania. Improving knowledge and awareness, alongside investing in infrastructure and capacities, are essential to enhancing accessibility and quality of SRH services for Albanian youth. Key messages • Lack of knowledge and awareness prevent youth from accessing SRH services. • Establishing youth-friendly services and training health providers and educators are crucial to delivering confidential and non-judgmental youth-friendly SRH care.

Do police make you feel safe? A qualitative comparison of youth and youth service provider perspectives

Do police make you feel safe? A qualitative comparison of youth and youth service provider perspectives

A scoping review on barriers and facilitators to harm reduction care among youth in British Columbia, Canada

BackgroundProgressive harm reduction policies have been implemented in British Columbia, Canada. However, youth who use drugs face barriers to receiving harm reduction care, resulting in increasing opioid-related hospitalizations and drug toxicity deaths. This scoping review collates peer-reviewed evidence to understand the barriers and facilitators faced by youth who use drugs when accessing harm reduction programming in British Columbia, Canada.MethodsThis scoping review entailed conducting a systematic search of relevant databases to identify relevant articles. Articles were included if they: (i) contained youth falling between the ages of 12 and 26 years old; (ii) explored accessibility, barriers, and/or facilitators to harm reduction care or related topics; (iii) were empirical research articles using primary data (i.e., reviews, grey literature, theoretical or conceptual papers, books, etc. were excluded); and (iv) were available in the English language, given the geographic focus on British Columbia.ResultsA total of 398 sources were identified and ultimately, data from 13 sources were charted and extracted. When investigating barriers to harm reduction care among youth, four themes emerged: self-stigma, service navigation, service delivery, and negative provider interactions. Furthermore, in exploring factors that facilitate harm reduction care for youth, four themes surfaced: ability to meet basic needs, positive provider interactions, social networks, and risk mitigation guidance.ConclusionsThe expansion of harm reduction services in 2016 did not fully address accessibility challenges faced by youth who use drugs. Barriers continue to hinder harm reduction engagement, while supportive networks, positive provider interactions, and the ability to meet basic needs facilitated sustained access. Tailored policy interventions rooted in equity are crucial to improving access to harm reduction services for youth who use drugs.

Assessing the influence of the home on sustaining churchgoing among young Baptists in Canada: a replication study

AbstractThis paper explores the influence of the home on sustaining churchgoing among young Baptists in Canada. Data provided by 126 young Baptists between the ages of 12 and 18 years attending a week-long youth mission and service programme demonstrated that neither personal factors (age and sex) nor psychological factors (extraversion, sensing, thinking, and emotionality) were statistically significant after taking parental church attendance into account. Moreover, these data confirmed fathers' attendance as a statistically significant factor augmenting the effect of mothers’ attendance. The implications of these findings are discussed for pastoral practice. Within the current social context, churches concerned with recruiting and retaining young members may need to concentrate on nurturing and resourcing Christian households (including fathers as well as mothers) in supporting the religious faith and practices of their children. The support and example of both mothers and fathers is important for boys and for girls across the teenage years.

The Development and Piloting of an Early Youth-Engagement (EYE) Model to Improve Engagement of Young People in First Episode Psychosis Services: A Mixed Methods Study.

Psychosis is associated with significant health and societal costs. Early intervention in psychosis services (EIP) are highly effective in promoting recovery, yet substantial proportions of young people disengage. The current study aimed to develop and evaluate a novel engagement intervention in EIP services. A qualitative investigation of facilitators and barriers to engagement in 68 first episode psychosis patients, family members and young people, and a Delphi consultation with 27 regional and national youth and psychosis service leads informed the development of the intervention. A mixed-methods feasibility-pilot study then compared engagement outcomes in 298 EIP service users in two cohorts: standard EIP versus standard EIP plus the novel early youth-engagement (EYE) intervention. A qualitative study explored intervention experiences in 22 randomly selected service users, carers and clinicians. A process evaluation explored delivery. Disengagement was 24% in the standard EIP cohort compared to 14.5% in the standard EIP plus EYE intervention cohort. A 95% Bayesian credibility interval revealed a 95% probability that the true reduction in disengagement lay somewhere between 0% and 18%. The number needed to treat was 11, 95% CI [5, 242]. Use of the EYE resources was associated with engagement. Qualitiative feedback supported effects on communication, social network engagement, service user goals, mental health and well-being outcomes. The EYE intervention was designed from a service user, young person and carer perspective. Both qualitative and quantitative data support impacts on engagement. We now need to evaluate effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and implementation in a multi-site randomised controlled trial.

Youth Services: Culture, Community, &amp; Learning

The ALISE Youth Services Special Interest Group (SIG) presents a panel exploring the ways in which youth services in libraries empower youth and families and how youth programs address learning and incorporate culturally-relevant approaches. The session will begin with presentations of papers (15 minutes each) plus a themed question and answer portion to conclude. Attendees will be able to share their own experiences and work in progress on these topics in the discussion. Cahill, Joo, Minniear, LeFebvre, &amp; Garcia will present “Math Talk in Public Library Virtual Storytime Programs.” This work presents an analysis of mathematics content integrated in public library virtual storytime programs. Cahill et al. characterize the mathematics environment of public library virtual storytime programs, discuss whether there are differences in the virtual storytime mathematics environment based on the population density of the community the library serves (i.e. urban, suburban, town, rural) and on library size. Preliminary findings suggest substantial differences in the amount of mathematics-related talk across virtual storytime programming for children. Kim, Choi, &amp; Kang will present “Family Makers: A Culturally Relevant Online Engineering Programming for Youth Through Research-Practice Partnership with Public Library Professionals.” This work details research-practice partnership with seven rural libraries across the U.S using co-design and culturally-relevant pedagogy to develop the Family Makers program and strengthen library staff to deliver engineering learning opportunities. Kim et al. will discuss the importance of leveraging families’ cultural practices of making and forms of everyday sensemaking to design for family learning in engineering and highlight that rural library staff can support family learning in engineering by drawing on their personal experiences, relational knowledge, and non-engineering expertise as resources. Zalot will present “The kids are alright:” Understanding Youth Agency in Book Banning Discourse.” This presentation will discuss some of the factors influencing the absence of young people in book banning discourse and how social media operates as a means of access for young people in both book banning and political discourses. Youth services can nurture youth, community, and support learning and family connection. This presentation and the subsequent attendee discussion will explore the ways that the LIS field can work to address these and other community needs through excellent youth services.

Android Based Sports Infrastructure E-Booking Application at Provincial Youth and Sports Office Using Waterfall Method

Booking is an agreement process in the form of ordering goods or services. The Youth and Sports Service (DISPORASU) is a government agency under the auspices of the Governor of North Sumatra. DISPORASU provides sports infrastructure that can be used by the general public by rental method. In the rental process, DISPORASU still applies the direct rental method, by coming to the DISPORASU office in Medan City, so this results in a large number of tenants piling up at the same time. Therefore, a system is needed that helps tenants in carrying out the infrastructure rental process. The concept is an Android-based Sports Infrastructure E-Booking application. This application was built and designed using the waterfall model and UML (Unified Modeling Language) with several diagrams, namely Use Case Diagrams, Activity Diagrams and Class Diagrams. The programming language used is Dart, Flutter Framework and Firebase as the database. By building this sports infrastructure E-Booking application, it is hoped that it can help improve performance in future business processes and become a reference for employees/staff in this agency itself.

Young people's right to flourish: A 21st century social justice issue for youth and community work

AbstractThis article argues for youth and community work (YCW) to be recognised for its critical role in working alongside young people to enhance their well‐being. We supply amalgamated vignettes as evidence from student's placement practice and explore the value of informal education practices in YCW in more formal settings. We assert that it is important to offer recognition of the distinctive methodologies YCW practitioners employ to enable meaningful engagement with young people. We argue young people's well‐being is a 21st century social justice issue of primary concern to YCWs. Cuts to youth services have led to a crisis in the YCW workforce, which urgently needs to be addressed. Therefore, as a reminder of the ongoing need for young people to be at the heart of integrated and holistic policies, the anonymised vignettes supply reflections on student professional practice placement that take account of their experiences of working collaboratively with schools. Policy makers should seek ways of drawing on YCW student's perspectives and in working to develop parity of esteem with other social professions, create environments in which young people can flourish. This article therefore joins the recent calls from the YCW sector for the need to fund and re‐grow YCW.

"If I Stay Quiet, the Only Person That Gets Hurt Is Me": Anti-Asian Racism and the Mental Health of Chinese-Canadian Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Despite documented accounts of racial discrimination against Chinese communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, few studies have examined experiences of racism among Canadian youth. This qualitative study explored the experiences of Chinese-Canadian youth during the COVID-19 pandemic and their mental health. A qualitative descriptive research design, informed by Critical Race Theory (CRT), was used for this study. Data was collected using focus groups and image-based elicitation methods. Youth who self-identified as Chinese-Canadian, aged 18-24, and who experienced some account of self-defined racism were included. We analyzed the data using a coding system developed for this study and formulated key themes. Our analysis identified three themes: (I) Becoming racialized; (II) Learning the rules of racism; and (III) Effects of racism on mental health. We discuss findings in relation to the model minority stereotype, intersectionality of race and gender, and factors leading to a lack of support. This study provides evidence that racism had immediate and prolonged effects on the mental health of Chinese-Canadian youth and their relationships with peers, family, and even strangers. Our research suggests the need for enhanced services for Chinese-Canadian youth and other groups experiencing racism.

Youth service co-operatives: An experimentation in empowerment.

In this short piece, I reflect on some research I conducted with colleagues on young people, Youth Service Co-operatives (YSCs), and co-operative education which was originally published in the RECMA-Revue internationale de l’économie sociale. The research focused on the capacity of YSCs to foster young people’s empowerment. Here I share some of the findings of the study, using Ninacs’ rope metaphor, then discuss learning in youth co-operatives, and conclude with some reflections on the research experience and wider implications of the findings.

Predicting criminal offence in adolescents who exhibit antisocial behaviour: a machine learning study using data from a large randomised controlled trial of multisystemic therapy.

Accurate prediction of short-term offending in young people exhibiting antisocial behaviour could support targeted interventions. Here we develop a set of machine learning (ML) models that predict offending status with good accuracy; furthermore, we show interpretable ML analyses can complement models to inform clinical decision-making. This study included 679 individuals aged 11-17 years who displayed moderate-to-severe antisocial behaviour, from a controlled trial of Multisystemic-therapy in England. The outcome was any criminal offence in the 18 months after study baseline. Four types of ML algorithms were trained: logistic regression, elastic net regression, random forest, and gradient boosting machine (GBM). Prediction models were developed (1) using predictors readily available to clinicians (e.g. sociodemographics, previous convictions), and (2) with additional information (e.g. parenting). Model agnostic feature importance values were calculated and the most important predictors identified. Nested cross-validation with 100 iterations of random data splits and 10-fold cross-validation within each iteration was employed, and the average predictive performance was reported. Among the ML models using readily available predictors, the GBM is the strongest model (AUC 0.85, 95% CI 0.85-0.86); the other models have average AUCs of 0.82. This performance was better than using only the total number of previous offences as the predictor (0.67, 0.66-0.68), and the model simply assuming past offending status as the prediction (0.81, 0.80-0.81). Additional predictors slightly increased the performance of logistic regression and random forest models but decreased the performance of elastic net regression and gradient boosting machine-based models. The potential utility of ML approaches for accurately predicting criminal offences in high-risk youth is demonstrated. Interpretable ML-based predictive models could be utilised in youth services or research to help develop and deliver effective interventions.

David Harkin

Youth worker, Education Authority Youth Service, Northern Ireland

Skills and knowledge therapists need to work with foster youth and families: According to key stakeholders in child welfare.

The current study relied on community-based participatory action research and qualitative methodology to explore the necessary skills and knowledge psychotherapists need to work effectively with foster youth and their families. In this study, the research team conducted interviews and focus groups with stakeholders (n = 48) in child welfare to learn how to support therapeutic relationships with foster youth clients. Using qualitative content analysis, the research team identified eight categories for needed knowledge and/or skills, such as collaboration with and inclusion of others in a client's system; flexibility and open-mindedness to individualize care follow the client's lead; and a solid understanding of trauma and attachment supported by therapist training and regular consultation specifically around foster care. These findings offer tangible suggestions for skills that psychotherapists can learn and practice in order to support beneficial mental health services for foster youth.