Protocols or principles? Reimagining suicide risk assessment as an embedded,principle-based ongoing conversation in youth work practice

Given that suicide is a leading cause of death for young people worldwide, it is likely that youth workers will encounter adolescents who are contemplating ending their lives. Drawing on a larger grounded theory investigation into suicide interventions, in this article the practice of appraising a young person's risk is critically examined using textual analysis of assessment tools and agency policies in conjunction with 19 semi-structured interviews in Western Canada. Analysis revealed that youth workers use a series of predetermined questions with the purpose of identifying the youth's risk level (i.e., high, medium, low) leading to a particular action, which suggests that suicide is predictable and risk is static. This process renders workers blind to the fluidity and uncertainty of suicidality and posit suicide intervention may be reimagined as an embedded, ongoing conversation based on youth work principles.     

Pathways for Preparation: Locating Suicide Education in Preparing Professionals for Encounters with Suicidal Adolescents

Current suicide prevention strategies often include suicide education based on the premise that education can lead to recognition of those at risk of suicide and others who are prepared can respond and potentially save lives. As suicide is a leading cause of death for young people, it is relevant to explore how suicide education is made available to those who serve this population. In a comprehensive review of the existing literature, the presence of suicide content along the path through pre-service programs is examined. While education may be a central part of youth suicide prevention efforts, this review of the literature suggests the following needs: (a) a need for more overt inclusion of suicide content, (b) future examination of suicide content within pre-service programs not yet considered, and (c) appraisal and innovation in suicide pedagogical approaches to determine how preparedness may be enhanced and linked to subsequent practical action.     

Suicide Ideation among Participants in an After-School Program: A Convenience Sample

This exploratory study examined differences between elementary-age youth who have considered suicide and their peers using a data set that was collected from elementary school-age children (N = 51) who participated in an after-school program. Data were collected using a standardized survey assessing daily activities, social support, self-esteem, and antisocial behaviors. Youth considering suicide were distinctive from their peers in two composite measures representing club affiliation and illicit drug use. However, these two groups of youth did not differ in attitudes about school or a composite measure of worry, low confidence, and antisociality. These findings were interpreted as reflecting these vulnerable youths' ambivalence about seeking help, which presents an opportunity for intervention.     

Thinking and Doing Prevention: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Youth Crime and Suicide Prevention Discourses

In this article, we have traced some of the dominant cultural narratives shaping current understandings of youth crime and suicide. We have aimed to show some of the ways that our received understandings of what the problem is and what should be done about it are social constructions that privilege a certain kind of scientific explanation. By starting from the premise that narrow, highly regulated approaches to studying these complex problems are bound to be inadequate we have argued that alternative ways of thinking, studying and doing prevention need to be considered. A number of theoretical frameworks, including constructionist, critical, and postmodern paradigms, have been identified as having a useful contribution to make. We conclude by recommending ways of thinking and doing prevention that capitalize on young people's wisdom, recognize more collaborative approaches to knowledge-making and community building, and enable multiple forms of critical engagement and resistance as well as engendering practices of hope and solidarity.     

Youth-Guided Youth Engagement: Participatory Action Research (PAR) With High-Risk,Marginalized Youth

Engaging youth who live with high-risk, marginalized conditions presents a significant challenge in our society, considering the prevalence of disconnect and distrust they often experience within their social environments/systems. Yet, meaningful youth engagement is a key concept not only for youth development, but also for a systems change to more effectively support high-risk youth and families. This article presents a framework of youth engagement developed over 9 months, using participatory action research (PAR) with 16 youth leaders in a community-based research team. Although this framework has incorporated the youth leaders’ lived experiences, talents, and voices, positive youth development (PYD) and social justice youth development (SJYD) have theoretically contextualized our research. Youth leaders guided the framework's development, including the identification of key themes/dimensions, definitions, and practical examples. The framework's three components—“Basis” (philosophy and principles), “What” (goals/outcomes), and “How” (actions/processes/pathways to change)—are supported by nine themes described in this article.     

A theory-based evaluation to improve youth participation in progress: A case study of a youth policy in Italy

A theory-based evaluation of an in-progress program for the development of new youth centers the South of Italy is presented in this article. The study investigated if and to what extent the program was working to increase youth participation. Data were collected through document analysis of the program, in-depth interviews and a survey with the managers of the youth centers. Consistent with some previous study, results suggested that some program mechanisms related to cultural openings, obligations and opportunities of participation had been effective in the activation of youth participation. Some contextual factors behind such mechanisms were also taken into account. Then, the study confirmed the need to further develop forms of youth work able to mediate between the regulatory pressures expressed by public institutions and the claims of autonomy and participation manifested by youth.     

Youth Worker Professional Development Participation,Preferences, and Agency Support

Using a Web-based survey, this study examined youth workers' professional development participation, preferences, and levels of agency support and the relationships between these variables and youth worker characteristics. Results revealed a positive relationship between participation in professional development opportunities and youth workers' self-reported job competency but also indicated low levels of agency support for participation in continuing education. Though perceptions of critical training topics varied among program staff from different geographic areas, most youth workers reported similar training experiences and interests regardless of their individual characteristics. Collaborative approaches to training and professional development may result in increased exposure to a broad range of professional development opportunities and significantly enhance the quality of youth programming.     

The Psychological World of the Gay Teenager:Social Change,Narrative, and “Normality”

This paper examines the application of concepts of normal adolescence pioneered by Offer and colleagues to the study of gay and lesbian youth. Adolescent development among this population demonstrates remarkable historical variability along the lines of generation-cohort, revealing the utility of a life-course approach to the study of normal adolescence. Concepts of normal adolescence appear to shift with changing narratives of identity for sexual minority youth. We contrast two narratives of gay youth identity development that have emerged since the inception of substantive research programs on gay adolescence: (1) the narrative of struggle and success that came to dominate the literature in the 1980s and 1990s and (2) the narrative of emancipation that has emerged from the work of Savin-Williams and others who argue for a recognition of the diversity of adolescent development for this population. In relating this contrast to Offer’s seminal contributions to the study of adolescence, we suggest that the most normative feature of human development, particularly during adolescence, is its connection to discourses of identity through the formation of personal narratives that anchor the life course and provide meaning to conceptions of self-development. The example of shifting narratives of gay youth identity development is meant to exemplify this characteristic feature of human development. William Rainey Harper Professor of Social Sciences, The College, the Departments of Comparative Human Development, Psychology, Psychiatry and the Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, The University of Chicago. For nearly two decades he collaborated with Dan Offer as the director of the University’s component of the Adolescence Training grant shared jointly with Michael Reese Hospital and Directed by Dan Offer. His recent work focuses on the interplay of history and social change in the study of lives over time. Advanced doctoral student in the Department of Comparative Human Development. His work examines the cultural psychology of adolescence and emerging adulthood, with a focus on identity and narrative. His earlier work with former student of Dan Offer, Maryse Richards, focused on the study of ethnicity, context, and normal adolescence. Most recently, he has been studying culture and normal adolescent development among Israeli and Palestinian youth. In 2007 he will be appointed an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of California-Santa Cruz.     

Center Stage: Humiliation,Being Found Out,and the Myth of Supercompetence

Youth workers operate within a professional climate in which competence is perceived to be linked to a worker's ability to respond quickly and effectively to whatever situations clients may present. Many youth workers perceive their own inability to respond in moments of stuckness as indicative of their own failing and lack of professional skill. They often view their colleagues as more equipped and competent than themselves and fear having their own struggles exposed. This chapter describes the third of five themes associated with youth workers' experiences of not-knowing what to do: humiliation and the fear of being found out. In addition to presenting the dominant theme, this chapter discusses the two variations on the theme, as described by youth worker participants: (a) The worst public humiliation and (b) They'll know I'm a fraud. Implicit in both variations is the weight of youth workers' attempts to measure up to the field's myth of supercompetence in their practice.     

A Defense of Professionalism: A Response to Fusco and Baizerman

Fusco and Baizerman (2013) criticized professionalization efforts for assumptions about improved outcomes, “reducing” youth work to skills, “controlling behavior,” bureaucratization, depersonalized services, a neoliberal focus, removing practice wisdom, and a “telos of …scientifically based youth work” (p. 189). They do not provide evidence or arguments for these claims. Academics benefit from professionalization, and it is curious to oppose efforts to provide those benefits to others. We believe that they and their colleagues, in the same issue, have misread other authors on key ideas and present an incomplete and rather one-sided representation. They conflate professionalization and professionalism. They conflate the industrial aspects of professionalization with the ethical aspects. They have overestimated the potential harm of professionalization and underestimated the harm being done by uninformed youth work practices. They misinterpreted social history—and Aristotle. They have incompletely cited other writers about professionalization. Professionalization and professionalism are not guarantees of anything, but our critique of them needs to be coherent, consistent, and based on arguments and evidence.     

Chapter 7. “Learn What You Like and Like What You Learn”

Abstract

Mark Twain once famously quipped, “I never let schooling get in the way of my education.” Paul Simon, the American folk singer, begins one of his songs “When I think back on all the crap I learned at high school, it's a wonder I can hardly think at all.” These men could just have easily been discussing schooling in Ireland, for this is the way many Limerick children and youth felt about formal school life prior to their involvement with St. Augustine's Youth Encounter Project. But it is prior to their involvement.

This chapter provides a demographic profile of the pupils of that project and explores aspects of the day-to-day life of the project as a child and youth care intervention by examining some of the influences of risk replacement or resiliency projects that have influenced provision of services. This Limerick YEP attempts to alter the approach from one that is risk, deficit, and psychopathology-oriented to one that is protection, strength, and asset focussed. A question posed is, “Has the early intervention enrichment programme assisted the pupils to reintegrate successfully within the community?” By reintegrate I mean the ability to attend a regular school, hold a job, live again with their family and such things. This chapter also explores the establishment of the Youth Encounter Projects in Ireland in the context of an important but largely overlooked study completed by Egan and Hegarty over two decades ago (1984). No official review has been published since.     

My Stomach Fell Through the Floor: The Moment of Not-Knowing What to Do

Youth workers routinely experience moments in their professional practice with young people when, despite their experience and training, they are simply at a loss for what to do, how to respond, and how to be helpful to the youth. These experiences of not-knowing are seldom shared with other youth workers, which contributes to a climate of shame and humiliation. Professional supervision seldom attends to how youth workers experience these moments and their personal and vocational costs. This study presents a phenomenological investigation of how youth workers experience moments of not knowing what to do, identifies five central themes of the experience, and makes recommendations for improved youth work practice and supervision. This chapter presents the research question and its significance to the field of American youth work.     

It's Just a Little Too Human: Questions of Vocation

SUMMARY

Among youth workers who experience moments of not-knowing what to do, many often describe their thoughts and reactions to the phenomenon in vocational and existential terms. They ask what right they have to work in the helping professions if they find themselves simply unable to be helpful. In many cases, the vocational crises following experiences of not-knowing contribute to burnout and youth workers' decisions to leave the field altogether. This chapter describes the fourth of five themes associated with youth workers' experiences of not knowing what to do: questions of vocation. In addition to presenting the dominant theme, this chapter discusses the three variations on it, as described by youth worker participants: (a) What am I supposed to do? (b) Who am I to deal with this? and (c) Maybe the problem is me.     

Ourtown for teens: Long-term impact of a youth diversity program

This study fills a gap in the literature in regards to the effectiveness of youth diversity programs by exploring the sustaining effects of a week-long youth diversity camp program. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, the study results suggest the camp achieved positive, sustaining impacts. Some of these findings include (1) enhancement of leadership skills; (2) greater understanding of “the other”; and (3) increased communication skills, particularly when oppression was observed. These effects were observed in the respondents who had recently attended the camp, as well as those who had attended a long time prior. Such impact reported in the study reiterates that more diversity programs for youth should be developed, implemented, and evaluated.     

Attitudes toward mental health services among homeless and matched housed youth

Homeless youth experience high rates of mental health problems yet they under-utilize mental health services. The present study surveyed 56 homeless youth and 97 matched at-risk housed youth on their attitudes toward mental health services, and investigated the link between social support and attitudes. Results showed groups shared similar neutral to positive attitudes. Higher levels of social support were associated with increased positive attitudes toward services. Further analyses found that lesbian/gay/bisexual/questioning youth held more positive attitudes compared to heterosexual youth. Implications of the current study can assist service providers with eliminating barriers and increasing mental health service use.     

Constructing “Hmong American Youth”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of 25 Years of Academic Literature on Hmong American Youth

Hmong American youth have been in the United States for 40 years, and yet research still suggests a binary portrayal of their experiences—model minorities or struggling delinquents. In this study, we use critical discourse analysis to examine academic literature and the construction of “Hmong American youth.” We examine academic literature discursive practices and power in controlling the discourse on Hmong American youth and shaping practices and policies. Using critical discourse analysis, we call attention to academic literature and its power, and challenge researchers to reconstruct a more complex discourse of Hmong American youth that captures their histories, possibilities, and desires.     

Connecting research and practice: Perspectives on the role of manualized programs in youth work

While there is a strong movement in favor of the use of manual-based programs in the arena of social care, there is a view that such programs are not applicable in the more fluid setting of youth work, which operates informally, using dynamic and organic methods. A critical pedagogical approach to youth work engages young people by encouraging them to become inquisitive, to question why things are the way they are and to pose problems through which they can learn. For some, manualized or evidence-based programs are not seen as having a role in such contexts. However, to date, the international debate in relation to this issue has been limited by an absence of published studies focusing specifically on strategies to implement evidence-informed practice in youth work contexts. This article aims to address this gap in the literature. The Irish national youth organization Foróige, which works with more than 56,000 young people in Ireland on an annual basis, has developed a range of manualized evidence-informed resources to support its youth work over recent years. Drawing on research findings from a range of studies conducted with youth workers focusing on implementation of these resources, the article explores the benefits and tensions associated with the use of program manuals in a youth work context. The findings suggest that such resources have a valuable role to play in youth work if designed in collaboration with youth workers, showing respect for core youth work values and allowing for flexibility and adaptability in implementation.     

Queer,young, and homeless: A review of the literature

Queer (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning, two-spirited) youth are greatly overrepresented in the homeless youth population. The present review critically analyzes the literature on queer youth homelessness, with a particular focus on (a) methodological issues; (b) entries into homelessness; (c) programming needs; (d) targeted programming; and (e) exits out of homelessness. Results from this review demonstrate that homeless queer youth are a unique population who require specialized services, implemented by sensitive and knowledgeable staff. Recommendations focus on practical implications, policy implications, and ideas for future research.     

Social entrepreneurship as intervention: Findings from a venture development program for marginalized youth

Leadership and career readiness are important goals for youth development. Entrepreneurship has recently been considered as a potential intervention to support these aims. This study examined a venture development program for low-income youth through participant surveys (n?=?57) and a comparison group (n?=?72). Findings from structural equation modeling indicate relationships between the program and project management skills, which in turn was associated with youth leadership. Findings also showed relationships between the program and financial literacy, which was associated with an increase in future orientation. This study shows early evidence of entrepreneurship and venture creation as mechanisms to support marginalized youth.     

Organizational factors that contribute to youth workers' promotion of youth voice

The term youth voice has been identified as a mechanism that helps youth who are participating in out-of-school time programs (e.g., 4-H, Boys & Girls Club, Big Brother/Big Sister) achieve successful outcomes such as improved academic and social functioning. Youth voice promotion is commonly enacted in out-of-school time programs when youth workers extend opportunities to youth to provide feedback and make key program decisions. To date, scant research has focused on organizational factors that contribute to program staff (e.g., youth workers) willingness to promote youth voice. A structural equation model using person-environment fit theory within a Positive Youth Development theory framework was constructed to test organizational factors that contribute to youth voice promotion among youth workers. Data from 569 frontline youth workers within out-of-school time programs across the United States indicated that youth workers' abilities to form positive relationships with youth, professional efficacy, and ability to make decisions in their own jobs directly predicted youth workers' endorsement of youth voice. In addition, positive relationships partially mediated the effects of professional efficacy on youth voice promotion. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.