More than Data Collectors: A Systematic Review of the Environmental Outcomes of Youth Inquiry Approaches in the United States.

Over the last twenty years, research on the impact of engaging children and adolescents in the generation of new knowledge about their lives, schools, and communities, has grown tremendously. This systematic review summarizes the findings from empirical studies of youth inquiry approaches in the United States, with a focus on their environmental outcomes. Searches of four interdisciplinary databases retrieved a total of 3,724 relevant articles published between 1995 and 2015. Sixty-three distinct studies met the systematic review inclusion criteria, of which, 36 (57.1%) reported that the youth inquiry approach contributed to positive changes among adults, peers, organizations, and/or institutions. These environmental outcomes were qualitatively recorded, inductively categorized, and then organized into Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework. Youth inquiry approaches led to practitioner growth and changes in peer group norms at the micro-system level, program development or improvement and research benefits at the meso-system level, and school, city, and state level policy adoption at the exo-system level. Qualitative methods, especially case studies, were most commonly used to evaluate the impact of youth inquiry approaches on environmental outcomes. Studies of approaches that utilized advocacy to create change, targeted decision-makers as the audience for the youth's work and convened for a longer duration were more likely to report improved environmental outcomes. This systematic review suggests that youth inquiry approaches are a promising strategy for ecological systems change.

Reconciling Adaptation and Fidelity: Implications for Scaling Up High Quality Youth Programs.

In the field of prevention science, some consider fidelity to manualized protocols to be a hallmark of successful implementation. A growing number of scholars agree that high-quality implementation should also include some adaptations to local context, particularly as prevention programs are scaled up, in order to strengthen their relevance and increase participant engagement. From this perspective, fidelity and adaptation can both be seen as necessary, albeit mutually exclusive, dimensions of implementation quality. In this article, we propose that the relationship between these two constructs may be more complex, particularly when adaptations are consistent with the key principles underlying the program model. Our argument draws on examples from the implementation of a manualized youth voice program (YVP) in two different organizations serving six distinct communities. Through a series of retreats, implementers identified examples of modifications made and grouped them into themes. Results suggest that some adaptations were actually indicators of fidelity to the key principles of YVPs: power-sharing, youth ownership, and engagement in social change. We therefore offer suggestions for re-conceptualizing the fidelity-adaptation debate, highlight implications for measurement and assessment, and illustrate that the de facto treatment of adaptation and fidelity as opposing constructs may limit the diffusion or scaling up of these types of youth programs.

A Systematic Review of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) in the United States: Methodologies, Youth Outcomes, and Future Directions.

OBJECTIVES: To use a systematic review methodology to describe the state of the youth participatory action research (YPAR) literature and synthesize findings about the youth outcomes reported in these studies. METHODS: We screened and coded studies using a process consistent with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Of the 3,724 articles found in the database search, 67 reports of 63 distinct studies were included in the final sample. These reports were coded for reports of YPAR principles and project characteristics, study methods, and reported youth outcomes. RESULTS: The YPAR literature comprises predominantly qualitative studies, with only two randomized trials. The most common outcomes associated with participation in YPAR were those related to agency and leadership (75.0%), followed by academic or career (55.8%), social (36.5%), interpersonal (34.6%), and cognitive (23.1%) outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review provides emerging evidence of the skills and competencies youth may develop through YPAR and offers methodological recommendations for future research that can provide greater evidence of causality.

Race, Exclusionary Discipline, and Connectedness to Adults in Secondary Schools.

This study examines racial differences in students' connectedness to school adults and considers the possibility that disparities in exclusionary discipline practices may reduce all students' sense of connection to educators, not just those who have been disciplined or are from racial groups overrepresented in out-of-school suspensions. Data sources include a self-report survey of secondary school students (n = 29,148) linked to administrative data (n = 107 schools) from a large urban district. Multilevel modeling techniques were used to estimate the relationships between students' racial background, youths' connection to school adults, and school-level racial discipline gaps. Controlling for school racial composition, gender, grade level and other covariates, students of color were significantly less likely to feel connected to school adults than their White peers. Additionally, the racial discipline gap was significantly and negatively associated with connectedness for all students. Results indicate that strategies to improve educational outcomes for youth of color need to attend to relational dynamics between students and school adults. Research findings also suggest that efforts to reduce discipline disparities may improve all students' connectedness.

Help-seeking in the school context: understanding Chinese American adolescents' underutilization of school health services.

BACKGROUND: This article examines whether school contextual factors, such as referral practices and peer dynamics, contribute to Chinese American students' underrepresentation in school health programs. METHODS: Data from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 1,744) as well as interviews and focus groups (N = 51) with Chinese American users and nonusers of high school health programs were analyzed to identify aspects of the help-seeking process unique to Chinese American students. RESULTS: Chinese American students primarily defined the need for school health services as having personal problems, engaging in early sexual activity, or using drugs. For the most part, they did not recognize their own health or psychosocial concerns as falling in these categories. Teacher referrals and peer dynamics were also salient factors in students' decisions to seek help from school health programs. Relationships with providers in strengths-based prevention programs improved their utilization of individual therapy and reproductive health services. CONCLUSIONS: To increase Chinese American students' access of needed services, the organizational systems and social contexts of school health programs (in addition to the practices of individual clinicians) must be responsive to the needs and preferences of these ethnic minority youth.

The relationship between use of school-based health centers and student-reported school assets.

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between student-reported, school-based health center utilization and two outcomes: (1) caring relationships with program staff; and (2) school assets (presence of caring adults, high behavioral expectations, and opportunities for meaningful participation) using a school district-wide student survey. These relationships were also explored across schools. METHODS: Using student-reported data from a customized version of the California Healthy Kids Survey from the San Francisco Unified School District (n = 7,314 students in 15 schools), propensity scoring methods were used to adjust for potential bias in the observed relationship between student utilization of services and outcomes of interest. RESULTS: Estimates generally pointed to positive relationships between service utilization and outcome domains, particularly among students using services ≥10 times. Exploratory analyses indicate that these relationships differ across schools. CONCLUSIONS: Use of school-based health centers appears to positively relate to student-reported caring relationships with health center staff and school assets. Future research is needed to confirm the robustness of these observed relationships.