Pathways to Youth Empowerment and Community Connectedness: A Study of Youth-Adult Partnership in Malaysian After-School, Co-Curricular Programs

The impact of coalition characteristics on outcomes in community-based initiatives targeting the social determinants of health: a systematic review

Background

Coalitions are a popular mechanism for delivering community-based health promotion. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize research that has quantitatively analyzed the association between coalition characteristics and outcomes in community-based initiatives targeting the social determinants of health. Coalition characteristics described elements of their structure or functioning, and outcomes referred to both proximal and distal community changes.

Methods

Authors searched six electronic databases to identify peer reviewed, published studies that analyzed the relationship between coalition characteristics and outcomes in community-based initiatives between 1980 and 2021. Studies were included if they were published in English and quantitatively analyzed the link between coalition characteristics and outcomes. Included studies were assessed for quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute analytical cross-sectional studies assessment tool.

Results

The search returned 10,030 unique records. After screening, 26 studies were included from six countries. Initiatives targeted drug use, health equity, nutrition, physical activity, child and youth development, crime, domestic violence, and neighbourhood improvement. Community outcomes measured included perceived effectiveness (n=10), policy, systems or environment change (n=9), and community readiness or capacity (n=7). Analyses included regression or correlation analysis (n=16) and structural equation or pathway modelling (n=10). Studies varied in quality, with a lack of data collection tool validation presenting the most prominent limitation to study quality. Statistically significant associations were noted between community outcomes and wide range of coalition characteristics, including community context, resourcing, coalition structure, member characteristics, engagement, satisfaction, group facilitation, communication, group dynamics, relationships, community partnership, and health promotion planning and implementation.

Conclusion

Existing literature demonstrates that coalition characteristics, including best practice health promotion planning and evaluation, influence community outcomes. The field of coalition research would benefit from more consistent description and measurement of coalition characteristics and outcomes, and efforts to evaluate coalitions in a wider range of countries around the world. Further research using empirical community outcome indicators, and methods that consider the interrelationship of variables, is warranted.

Trial registration

A protocol for this review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020205988).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13678-9.

Pathways to Positive Youth Development in Malaysian Undergraduate Co-curricular Programs: A Moderated Mediation Model of Youth Voice and Psychological Hardiness

Youth voice is gaining more attention globally as a core feature of program quality within positive youth development programs. Few studies have examined the relationship between youth voice and positive youth development in high power-distance cultures, however, where young people often face psychological barriers to exercising decision-making in their work with program adults. Research is needed on the psychological mechanisms that might help youth thrive within settings that are less structurally and psychologically supportive of youth voice. Drawing on bioecological systems and hardiness theories, this quantitative correlational study evaluates the moderating effect of psychological hardiness on the relationship between youth voice, the mediators of program safety and engagement, and the 6 C’s of positive youth development. A moderated mediation model was tested among 436 first-year undergraduate co-curricular program participants from public universities in Malaysia (M = 21.192 years, SD = 1.191 years; 65.6% female). Youth voice positively predicted positive youth development; the relationship was partially mediated by program engagement, but not safety. The mediated pathway through program engagement was more predictive for hardier youth. By combining programmatic and individual psychological factors into the hypothesized model, this research identifies the potential importance of hardiness on the practice of youth voice for young adults in high power distance cultures. The findings highlight the need to identify other individual and programmatic factors that may contribute to the development of positive youth development in diverse cultural settings.

Positive School Climate and Emotional Engagement: A Mixed Methods Study of Chinese Students as Ethnocultural Minorities in Malaysian Secondary Schools

Past research on ethnocultural minority students indicates that persistent inequities require greater attention to the multiple learning supports needed to enhance school success. The present study was designed to extend research in this area by exploring school climate and emotional engagement among minority ethnocultural Chinese students in Malaysian secondary schools. We employed quantitative surveys with 724 students ( Mage = 16.1 years; 47.9% female), followed by qualitative interviews with a subset of 25 students ( Mage = 16.1 years; 52% female). Path analysis indicated that feelings of safety, socio-emotional support from teachers and peers, and student voice were predictors of emotional engagement for Chinese students, which further predicted cognitive engagement, academic performance, and school behavior. Thematic analysis further revealed that language and communication barriers and bullying negatively impacted students’ sense of safety and engagement. Caring, respectful relationships with teachers led to students having opportunities to direct their own learning and make decisions on schoolwide activities, promoting students’ feelings of engagement. Support from peers increased students’ emotional engagement by reducing school-related stressors. The findings suggest that a mutually respectful, caring school climate and opportunities for student voice can enhance critical school experiences for ethnocultural minority high school students.

Understanding afterschool engagement: Investigating developmental outcomes for adolescents

Though student engagement is hypothesized to be a factor in explaining student level differences in afterschool programs, the measurement of student engagement in this context is inconsistent, and findings from the small number of studies about how engagement impacts developmental and academic outcomes are mixed. In this study, we tested the factor structure of Wang and colleagues' school engagement scale with a sample of middle school students (N = 197) who attended an afterschool program in an urban setting. Results suggest that a bifactor model of engagement best fits the data, meaning that engagement consists of four specific factors (affective, behavioral, cognitive, social) and a global factor. We then used structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between engagement, academic outcomes, and positive youth development (PYD). Results also showed positive associations with student mathematics achievement and PYD, but no significant associations were found between engagement and English achievement. This study provides a theoretically aligned way to measure engagement and evidence to support engagement as a key factor in predicting youth outcomes in an out-of-school context.

The role of adult facilitators in arts-based extracurricular settings: Perceived factors for success of adult-youth relationships

Extracurricular arts programmes and supportive adult relationships provide youth with opportunities for positive development, however, more research about how relationships within these programmes develop and what factors and practices adults use to guide their work would help to improve youth programmes' outcomes. Eight Film Club facilitators at an after-school film-making club for students in grades 5 through 8 were interviewed about their perceived their role and what practices they successfully utilised. The semistructured interviews were then thematically analysed. Facilitators perceived the development of authentic and supportive relationships provided a foundation for meaningful learning. Rather than being directive, the facilitators had a collaborative approach to engagement, which allowed for social and emotional learning opportunities and established youth agency. Relationships within creative extracurricular spaces, which are youth-led and include supportive adult facilitators may provide young people with valuable opportunities for social, emotional and identity development.

Poly-Strengths and Peer Violence Perpetration: What Strengths Can Add to Risk Factor Analyses

Adolescence is a high-risk time for perpetration of different forms of peer-based violence including harassment, bullying, and sexual assault. Research documents a number of important risk factors but less understood are protective factors like sense of mattering or how combinations of strengths may reduce perpetration risk. The current study examined how protective factors (i.e., positive social norms), including a diversity of strengths (termed poly-strengths), influenced the perpetration of harassment, bullying, and sexual assault for young people, while accounting for the use of alcohol both cross-sectionally and over time. Youth (N = 2232, 52.6% female) in grades 7-10 enrolled in a study using active parental consent (53% response rate) and completed online surveys in school that asked about bullying and harassment, alcohol use, positive social norms related to violence prevention, and a composite of intra-personal strengths. Follow-up surveys took place 6 months later (N = 2150). Logistic regression analyses examined how social norms and poly-strengths influenced odds of perpetration after accounting for demographic variables and the risk factor of alcohol use. Use of alcohol increased the odds of perpetrating all forms of violence. Strengths were significantly related to lower perpetration at Time 1 but not Time 2. Positive social norms reduced perpetration at both time points. The findings suggest adolescent perpetration of bullying, harassment, and sexual violence is lower in the presence of positive social norms over time and more proximally, in the presence of a diverse strengths portfolio. Prevention efforts that incorporate positive social norms and alcohol reduction strategies may reduce peer violence.

How High Schools Become Empowering Communities: A Mixed-Method Explanatory Inquiry into Youth-Adult Partnership and School Engagement

Educational reform efforts emphasize empowerment and engagement, but these concepts are rarely translated into policy or classroom practice. This inquiry explores how schools can become places where students take ownership over their own learning. Phase 1 of this inquiry, a survey of students from diverse high schools, examines pathways to school engagement. Results indicated that youth voice in decision-making, particularly when the experience is situated within supportive adult relationships and a sense of safety, significantly predicts emotional and cognitive engagement. Phase 2, a case study of an exemplary high school, sought to explain these pathways. Grounded in the theoretical perspectives of "empowered community settings" and "youth-adult partnership," analyses highlighted the importance of a shared belief system and core instructional activities that were student-centered, affirmative, and strength-based. Within this context, the opportunity role structure allowed students to exercise voice in creating their own educational program. The relational environment offered partnership and safety for academic risk-taking. Teachers broke down traditional roles and power hierarchies in ways that helped students discover their own sources of engagement. The article identifies ways that community psychologists, as policy framers and as researchers, can help schools become places of empowerment and engagement.

Youth-Adult Partnerships and Youth Identity Style

Youth-adult partnerships (e.g., youth leading programs, participating as members of advisory boards) are a common and widely recommended practice in youth work and youth-serving program settings. Although researchers have suggested that these opportunities contribute to youth's identity development, empirical evidence is lacking. In the current study, we tested associations between identity style and degree of youth voice, collaborative youth-adult relationships, and youth's program engagement in 194 youth participating in youth-adult partnerships (M _age = 17.6, 62 % female). We found that these characteristics of youth-adult partnerships predicted higher informational identity style, although only program engagement emerged as a unique predictor. Furthermore, exploratory analysis indicated that these associations were moderated by the type of organization. The findings suggest the need for more research on the multiple dimensions of youth-adult partnerships and their association with youth functioning, as well as pointing to the importance of the broader organizational context of youth-adult partnerships.