The historical case study was designed to examine how the Play It Smart program, a Sports-Based Youth Development Program, was adopted and sustained by local stakeholders in an urban high school setting after the initial seed funding was cut. Current and past key stakeholders were invited to participate and school leaders (n = 2), community leaders (n = 2), the original Academic Coach (n = 1) and current Academic Coaches (two of which are past program participants) (n = 3) agreed to be interviewed for this investigation. The intent of the interviews was to uncover the key factors that are present that allow the Play It Smart program to sustain itself from year to year as well as how the program has become entrenched into the school culture and the role it plays in the academic and athletic objectives/philosophies of the school. Responses revealed a number of major themes related to the adoption and ongoing commitment to sustain the program for the last 16 years. These themes included an initial pledge from the stakeholders to restore the academic and athletic reputation at the school, the recognition of the relationship with the original Academic Coach and the positive results that were repeatedly promoted, the recruitment and buy-in from a collection of traditional and non-traditional allies including the students and, ultimately, a shift in culture that seems to stem from a dynamic group of past participants that provides hope. The themes related to sustainability seem to further validate the theoretical framework that was so critical for the establishment of the Play It Smart programs in that: the context, football (sport) and academic performance, is also valued by stakeholders; the primary external asset, the caring adult mentor or Academic Coach, was able to attract and involve other assets to support the participants; the internal assets, life skills, were developed and refined while participating in community service activities which serve as the regular highlights shared with stakeholders throughout the school year; and the evaluation was designed to promote progress and to allow for adjustments.

The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to evaluate coaches’ program delivery in Golf Canada’s national youth programming, Learn to Play, regarding two components: (a) the consistency of teaching life skills and (b) the quality of program delivery. The Learn to Play program has recently been updated to include an explicit approach to teaching life skills through golf. Data collection included a pre-season interview, three in-season observations, a post-season questionnaire, and a post-season interview. Two articles were written. Using the implicit/explicit continuum of life skills development and transfer (Bean, Kramers, Forneris, & Camiré, 2018), Article One qualitatively explored coaches’ (N = 13; Mage = 38) consistency of life skills delivery across the season. The findings revealed five profiles, with coaches categorized as being either inconsistent (i.e., progressive, overenthusiastic, unaware) or consistent (i.e., non-intentional, intentional) in their approach to teaching life skills. Using the Program Quality Assessment in Youth Sport observational measure (Bean, Kramers, Camiré, Fraser-Thomas, & Forneris, 2018), Article Two quantitatively examined program quality with two groups of coaches (N = 14; Mage = 40) for two purposes: (a) to examine whether implementation of the original (n = 5) versus the updated (n = 9) program led to differences in program quality and (b) to assess whether there was consistency or discrepancy between researcher observation scores and coach self-report scores of program quality. The findings revealed that coaches using the updated program delivered higher quality programming than coaches using the original program. Coaches also reported higher program quality scores than the researchers observed, identifying discrepancies between coach self-perceptions and researcher observations. Collectively, the findings from this Master’s thesis are a novel contribution to the literature by providing a nuanced exploration into the teaching of life skills and quality of delivery of Golf Canada’s Learn to Play programming.

Thesis (DEd (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Many youth experience some form of identity crisis as they transition into adulthood. This crisis is amplified in the lives of many working-class youth who have to contend with heading households owing to the absence or death of parents and a socioeconomic context of poverty, lack of access to quality learning opportunities, unemployment and deepening inequality. A recent analysis of youth unemployment statistics in South Africa shows that at the end of 2016, at least 7.5 million youth were not in employment, education or training (NEET), with a large percentage residing in the Western Cape. The growing NEET numbers present a huge problem to youth, communities and the state, as youth who are not in employment, education or training have a greater propensity to become disengaged and disconnected from self, family and social, economic, political and cultural activities, further minimising their opportunities for growth and development. Despite the growing NEET numbers, there remains a paucity of research on credible and sustainable solutions to the NEET crises, including research that gives credence to youth voice and experience. The key purpose of the study was to explore youth experiences of a holistic approach to personal transformation as one particular programmatic approach or developmental pathway for vulnerable youth. The imperative is to explore ways of addressing the current NEET crisis and simultaneously deepen the theory and practice of youth development. The study used an ecological perspective as its theoretical framework that illuminated the influence of relationships and contexts on the development of children and youth. A phenomenological approach was chosen as it was deemed best suited to exploring and understanding people’s perceptions and experiences of a particular phenomenon. Narrative inquiry was employed as the methodological framework to explore the views of five youth respondents and their parents or guardians. Techniques to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of the data included triangulation, which was effected through the collection of two sets of data, an extensive literature review and use of a reflective journal. The findings illustrate that a holistic perspective, as one particular philosophical and programmatic approach to personal transformation, has the potential to foster connection with self and family, enhance the psychological capital of young people and provide the impetus for them to remain on a positive developmental trajectory. The significance of a holistic approach lies in its ability to recognise and integrate all dimensions of their being into the learning process and meet a variety of needs as a result of their particular socioeconomic and psychosocial realities.

The primary purpose of the research project was to explore the impact the Namibian Youth Credit Scheme (NYCS) modelled on the Commonwealth Youth Scheme (CYS) is impacting the programme beneficiaries in the Omaheke Region. Namibia as a whole as well as the research locale has a high percentage of youth unemployment where most of the youth experience chronic poverty with limited opportunities to change their fortunes around. Through a qualitative research strategy, the researcher set out to investigate the level and type of impact the programme has had on the beneficiaries of the programme, as well as to ascertain the challenges and sustainability thereof. The researcher utilized the opportunity provided by one of the post-training workshops by converting it into two focus groups of fifteen participants in each. Two implementing agents (IAs) were individually interviewed to gain some insight from employees into the inner working and outlook of the workers in the NYCS programme. Lastly, ten beneficiaries were interviewed as a form of internal triangulation in sourcing credible data. The research found the programme has made a tremendous difference economically in the lives and families of beneficiaries. The programme not only improved their livelihood but it also contributed educationally to their knowledge base and skills formation. Psychologically the programme improved their social outlook generally and their political stance specifically, the latter as it pertains to the NYCS programme in particular. The study concluded by making several recommendations on how the programme could improve. These recommendations are not definitive; they are suggestive. In order for the recommendations to be conclusive, several other factors in terms of the research process would have to be considered. Even so, within its research dimension the research proved the programme to be highly effective.

The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to examine former high school athletes’ perspectives on life skill development and transfer. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 individuals (12 females, 10 males) between the ages of 18-56. Participants were recruited from the Southwest and Eastern regions of Ontario, Canada. Based on the data collected, two articles were written. Article one presents the participants’ perspectives on their developmental experiences and the influence of the context associated with their high school sport participation. The findings revealed that different types of life skill experiences emanated from high school sport, but that negative experiences also ensued. Participants reported differences in terms of how high school sport was experienced in rural settings compared to urban settings. In article two, the Conceptual Framework for Life Skills Interventions was used to examine the participants’ life skill development and transfer experiences. The findings are consistent with aspects of the framework and provide tangible examples of life skill development and subsequent transfer for the same skill by the same individual. Collectively, the findings from this Master’s thesis illustrate how the life skills learned during high school sport are being transferred for use at various stages across the lifespan.

Recreational organizations that deliver activities to youth within their communities can provide an effective setting for positive youth development (PYD) endeavours due to being fun, engaging, and an environment where skill-building is inherent. However, not all recreational organizations offering PYD aimed programs are successful and many are cancelled after a short amount of time. A framework or guide for (1) promoting PYD through community recreation and (2) evaluating and identifying PYD outcomes does not yet exist. This research seeks to develop a model to inform recreational program design to bring about positive developmental outcomes in youth participants using empirical data collected from three successful organizations. Both one-on-one interviews and a focus group with youth participants and adult staff were utilized following a qualitative multiple case study approach. Data collected was concerned with the positive developmental outcomes experienced by youth participants in the organizations and mechanisms used to realize these outcomes. The key themes, derived through inductive and deductive analyses, are presented as a five-step logic model. These themes help identify the intended results of programs along with the resources and processes needed to achieve these results, thus making this study’s findings easy to integrate into recreational programming. The model’s process factors included a series of inputs (i.e., contextual factors and external assets) and activities (i.e., direct and indirect strategies). Findings identified as intended PYD outcomes included outputs (i.e., objective measurable indicators), short-term outcomes (i.e., life skills), and long-term impacts (i.e., the four Cs including life skill transfer and contribution). This study elaborates on concepts identified in previous research that are conducive to PYD while bringing them together into a framework for designing recreational programs with the goal of promoting positive developmental outcomes in youth. However, further testing through quantitative, longitudinal, and intervention research may be needed.

Physical activity programs are contexts that have the potential to foster adolescents’ development, yet researchers assert that the environment must be deliberately designed for this to occur (Danish et al., 2004). The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (GJWHF) program was developed for this purpose and was implemented over the course of one year at a local Boys and Girls Club. The objective of this research project was to evaluate the GJWHF program as there is a dearth of evaluations of community-based programs (Salmon et al., 2007). Results identified successes, challenges, and practical recommendations for community programmers. Further, results found that GJWHF adhered to Petitpas et al.’s (2005) framework for planning youth sport programs that foster psychosocial development. Specifically, GJWHF was successful in providing a positive and supportive female-only environment for female youth that utilized positive leader support to foster the development of friendships and identity formation, and facilitate the development of a variety of life skills, including leadership and teamwork.

The purpose of this doctoral thesis was to develop, implement and evaluate the PULSE program, a community-based physical activity and life skills program for at-risk youth. The thesis is composed of four articles. The first paper describes the rationale and development of the PULSE program which was designed to help youth develop the skills to self-regulate and successfully perform physical activity. The second article presents a process evaluation of the PULSE program. This article examines how the youth progressed through the program with regards to the five levels of the Teaching and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model, one of the frameworks on which the PULSE program is based. A second purpose of this study was to understand the youths’ perceptions of the impact of the program on these five levels. The results indicated that the program led to slight increases in the five levels of the TPSR model and the youth reported transferring the skills they learned related to the levels in their lives outside of the program. The third paper represents an outcome evaluation of the PULSE program. Results showed that youth who participated in PULSE increased their fitness, physical activity levels as well as a number of positive youth development outcomes. Finally, the fourth paper examined how the PULSE program helps support the tenets of Basic Needs Theory. The results indicated that the program successfully nurtured the three basic needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. The overall findings suggest that the PULSE program is a practical, evidence-informed program that may help youth understand and apply life skills to be physically active as they approach adulthood, and also more generally in their lives. The current findings show promise for both Physical Activity (PA) and Positive Youth Development (PYD) outcomes but further research is needed to make causal links.

The thesis serves as an evaluation of the psychometric properties of a measure of cognitive competence used with a multi-ethnic, adolescent sample. The primary goal of this study was the development of the Critical Problem Solving Skills Scale – Qualitative Extension, using Relational Data Analysis (RDA). This study builds on previous work that has been conducted to provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the RDA framework in evaluating youth development programs (Kurtines et al., 2008). Inter-coder percent agreement among the TOC and TCC coders for each of the category levels was moderate to high, with a range of .76 to .94. The Fleiss’ kappa across all category levels was from substantial agreement to almost perfect agreement, with a range of .72 to .91. The correlation between the TOC and the TCC demonstrated medium to high correlation, with a range of r(40)=.68, p

Thesis advisor: Belle Liang / Research has documented the benefits of youth purpose (i.e., a sustained intention that facilitates engagement in activities and contributes to the world beyond oneself) (Damon, Menon, & Bronk, 2003). Youth purpose has been considered a developmental asset (Benson, 2006) and predictive of flourishing (e.g., Seligman, 2002). A sense of purpose can also serve as an important psychological resource for people experiencing adversity (e.g., Frankl, 2006). Similarly, critical consciousness (CC) has been associated with positive outcomes among youth, including improved mental health and vocational commitments (Diemer, 2009; Diemer & Li, 2011), and can help youth cope with oppression and marginalization (Diemer, Kauffman, Koenig, Trahan, & Hsieh, 2006). Given the benefits of youth purpose, additional research on how purpose develops is warranted (Liang et al., 2017a). Theoretical models of character development (e.g., Lerner & Callina, 2014) have suggested that purpose and CC develop in similar, parallel ways, though research often has not connected these two constructs explicitly. The youth purpose and CC literatures suggest that a study of the possible link between CC and purpose, whereby CC helps facilitate the development of purpose, is warranted. Therefore, this dissertation sought to expand the literature on purpose development in college students, as well as better understand if and how CC facilitates purpose development in this population. This study included 17 interviews with purposeful college students who had either relatively higher or lower levels of CC, as measured by the Critical Consciousness Scale (CCS) (Diemer, Rapa, Park, & Perry, 2017). A modified Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) method was used to analyze the data and yielded 60 categories to describe the factors that contributed to the students’ purpose development (Hill, Thompson, & Williams, 1997). Additional analyses suggested that CC facilitated purpose development via a healing and/or directing pathway. Students were able to heal from marginalization and trauma, which was important for helping them pursue their goals; and/or they were better able to direct their prosocial motivations toward specific beneficiaries. Implications for practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.