Empowerment Research with Children &

Adolescents

Methodologies for a new era summer school

School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork

24 June 2011

Matt Morton

Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, University of Oxford

Aims

Conceptualize youth emp’t (frameworks & defining features)

Review theory & evidence on youth emp’tReview tools & approaches to measuring emp’t

processReview tools & approaches to measuring emp’t

outcomes/impacts

Growing interest

UNCRC (Art. 12) UK Youth Matters African Union, Afr. Youth Charter World Bank (World Dev’t Rep., ‘07) Jordan, Nat’l Youth Strategy

Conceptualizing Empowerment

Defining youth emp’t

"Empowerment is the expansion of assets and capabilities of young people to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control, and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives.”

- used by World Bank & UNICEF

Model 1: Lofquist’s ‘Spectrum of Attitudes’

RecipientsObjects Resources

Done to… Done for… Done with…

Exercise on Social Work Practice

Social workers…

Treated as…Objects

Treated as…Recipients

Treated as… Resources/Partners

Examples

Feelings/responses

Youth emp’t in context

Model 2: Hart’s Ladder of Children’s Participation

Model 3: Wong et al’s Typology of Youth & Empowerment (TYPE) Pyramid

Vessel- Lack of youth

voice & participation- Adults have total control

Symbolic- Youth have

voice- Adults have most control

Pluralistic- Youth have

voice and active

participant role- Youth and adults share

controlAutonomous-Youth have

voice and active participant role- Youth have total control

Independent- Youth have

voice and active participant role- Adults give youth most

control

Shared control

Empowerment

Empowerment

Adult control Youth

control

Considerations for studying youth emp’t

Emp’t is defined by process, not contentModels increasingly emphasize role of adults in

facilitating emp’t processMultiple degrees of participation at multiple

levels of analysis Evaluations of youth emp’t programs emphasize

setting-level processes

Youth emp’t in cross-cultural context

Beyond ‘WEIRD’ (Western, educated, industrialized, rich & democratic) societies (Henrich et al 2006)

Context collectivist/individualist, hierarchical/horizontal? Roles and conceptions of youth in the cultural context?

(empowered via ‘natural’ society roles)Males & females have dif’t opportunity structures?Practical impediments to youth participation (e.g.,

transportation, working, safety, etc.)

Theory & evidence on Youth Empowerment

Passive interventions don’t work

• Drug education-only (e.g., DARE)

• “Scared straight”

• Short-term/one-off interventions w/o follow-up

Theory

Empowerment theory (Zimmerman 2000)Strengths perspective theory to social work

practice (Healy, 2005)Social learning/cognitive theory (Bandura 1986)Self-determination and choice theory (Glasser

1999)Role theory (Biddle 1986)

Supportive evidence for youth emp’t theory

Top factors related to out-of-school program participation with teens (Deschenes et al 2010) Many leadership opportunities & Relevance of program agenda

Higher program empowerment related to higher youth outcomes (Smith & Akiva 2008)

Qualitative research indicating benefits for youth, programs, and communities from emp’t (Foster-Fishman et al 2005)

Note: these studies do not demonstrate causality

Neurobiological perspectivesRisk-reward seeking

Ernst et al., 2006

Effects of youth empowerment programs (YEPs) on self-efficacy & self-esteem of adolescents (10-19)

Systematic review

Search results

From search: 8,789 citationsIncluded: 3 studies (including Jordan RCT)Excluded school-based: 3 studies

Main reasons for exclusion: Intvn: Lacked regular youth participation in decision-making Study: Not experimental/quasi-experimental controlled

design

With School-based Excluded Studies (k=6)

Findings

Very few studies; more neededLargely null results on developmental assetsMore favorable results from (excluded) school-

based YEP studies, but evidence v limitedResearch concentrated in USA

Measuring Process in youth empowerment

Implementation considerationsStaff preparation

Level and quality of training? Clarity & understanding of Th of Chg across staff? Org culture of emp’t (including for staff)?

Youth emp’t Involvement in decision-making (What extent? All or some youth?) Safe and flexible setting? Opportunities for mastery experiences? Feelings of engagement & meaningfulness? Support & preparation?

Example research tools

Involvement & Interaction Rating Scale (Survey on Youth-Adult Partnerships) – Jones & Perkins (2005)

Learner Empowerment Survey – Fymier et al 1996

Youth Program Quality Assessment (PQA) (quality settings, observer rating) – Blazevski & Smith 2007

Qualitative research needed…

Better understanding of how concept “youth emp’t” is socially constructed in dif’t contexts (see Hart 2008)

Deeper understanding of the context and conditions in which youth emp’t is supported or hindered Investigating youth emp’t in terms of ‘diffusion of

innovation’Exploring ‘active ingredients’ and explaining outcomes

Hypothesis generating for quantitative studies

Measuring Impacts in youth empowerment

Example outcomesPsychological emp’t (Walker et al 2010)Youth assets (Oman et al 2010)Self-efficacy (specific & general)Social supports (peers, family, school, community)Prosocial (empathy, helping)Civic engagement (service, advocacy)Academic performance (grades, attendance)Antisocial behavior (e.g., conduct problems, delinquency,

substance abuse)

Involving youth in Research & Evaluation

Approaches to youth participation in research

Youth-led research projectsYouth staff help design and implement research

projectsYouth representatives on stakeholders advisory

boards for research projectsSeparate youth advisory boards for research

projects

Jordan Youth Action Committee

Out-of-school youth graduating from NFE

Committed & trained staff8-week trainingSmall groups with adult (univ student)

facilitatorsYouth determined own research

questions & methodologies

Thank you!

matthew.morton@spi.ox.ac.uk

References

Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Biddle, B. J. (1986). Recent Development in Role Theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 12, 67-92. Deschenes, S. N., Arbreton, A., Little, P. M., Herrera, C., Baldwin Grossman, J., Weiss, H. B., et

al. (2010). Engaging older youth: Program and city-level strategies to support sustained participation in out-of-school time. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project and Public/Private Ventures.

Ernst, M., Pine, D. S., & Hardin, M. (2006). Triadic model of the neurobiology of motivated behavior in adolescence. Psychological Medicine, 36(03), 299-312.

Foster-Fishman, P., Nowell, B., Deacon, Z., Nievar, M., & McCann, P. (2005). Using Methods That Matter: The Impact of Reflection, Dialogue, and Voice. American Journal of Community Psychology, 36(3), 275-291.

Glasser, W. (1999). Choice Theory in the Classroom. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Hart, R. (2008). Stepping Back from ‘The Ladder’: Reflections on a Model of Participatory Work

with Children. In A. Reid, B. Jensesn, J. Nikel & V. Simovska (Eds.), Participation and Learning. New York: Springer Netherlands.

References continued

Healy, K. (2005). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2-3), 61-83.

Oman, R., Veseley, S., Tolman, E., Aspy, C., & Marshall, L. (2010). Reliability and validity of the youth asset survey: An update. American Journal of Health Promotion, 25(1), e13-e24.

Smith, C., & Akiva, T. (2008). Quality accountability: improving fidelity of broad developmentally focused interventions. In M. Shinn & H. Yoshikawa (Eds.), Toward Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs. New York: Oxford University Press.

Walker, J. S., Thorne, E. K., Powers, L. E., & Gaonkar, R. (2010). Development of a Scale to Measure the Empowerment of Youth Consumers of Mental Health Services. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 18(1), 51-59.

Zimmerman, M. (2000). Empowerment theory: Psychological, organizational and community levels of analysis. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.