Results of a utilization-focused evaluation of a Right To Play program for Indigenous youth.

This paper presents an evaluation of the Promoting Life Skills for Aboriginal Youth (PLAY) program that is operated by Right to Play (RTP). The focus of the program is to help youth develop a variety of life skills and become leaders within their communities. Piloted in 2010 with 2 communities, the program is now implemented in 88 communities in Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Alberta. This study applies a utilization-focused evaluation to examine staff perceptions related to program implementation. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis was performed. Themes emerged related to: 1) Integrating program flexibility to help facilitate community ownership, 2) Building capacity through skills training for Community Mentors (CMs), 3) Having a motivated staff and organizational learning, 4) Balancing the integration of culture and 5) Challenges related to adapting to multiple stakeholders and program pace. Findings are discussed in relation to relevant literature and recommendations for program improvements are provided. We also describe program improvements that were made as a result of applying the findings. This research contributes to the expanding literature related to programming for youth and evaluation practice within Indigenous communities.

[1]  V. Braun,et al.  Using thematic analysis in psychology , 2006 .

[2]  C. Herrera,et al.  Pygmalion in the Program: The Role of Teenage Peer Mentors' Attitudes in Shaping Their Mentees' Outcomes , 2010 .

[3]  Tara-Leigh F. McHugh,et al.  Lessons learned: participatory action research with young Aboriginal women. , 2009 .

[4]  A. Giles,et al.  An Examination of Cross-Cultural Mentorship in Alberta’s Future Leaders Program , 2014 .

[5]  V. CrooksClaire,et al.  Navigating Between Rigour and Community-Based Research Partnerships: Building the Evaluation of the Uniting Our Nations Health Promotion Program for FNMI Youth , 2013 .

[6]  Jennifer A. Fredricks,et al.  Family socialization, gender, and sport motivation and involvement. , 2005 .

[7]  B. Kidd,et al.  A new social movement: Sport for development and peace , 2008 .

[8]  Alexandra Arellano,et al.  Sport-for-development and the failure of aboriginal subjecthood: re-imagining lacrosse as resurgence in indigenous communities , 2018, Settler Colonial Studies.

[9]  J. Boffa,et al.  A process for the inclusion of Aboriginal People in health research: lessons from the Determinants of TB Transmission project. , 2011, Social science & medicine.

[10]  A. Giles,et al.  Youth Development Through Recreation: Eurocentric Influences and Aboriginal Self-Determination , 2013 .

[11]  Janice Cindy Gaudet.  Rethinking Participatory Research with Indigenous Peoples , 2014, Native American and Indigenous Studies.

[12]  T. Forneris,et al.  Exploring the community and external-agency partnership in sport-for-development programming , 2016 .

[13]  R. Lerner,et al.  More than child's play: variable- and pattern-centered approaches for examining effects of sports participation on youth development. , 2009, Developmental psychology.

[14]  M. Patton.  The Sociological Roots of Utilization-Focused Evaluation , 2015 .

[15]  Helen Moewaka Barnes,et al.  Collaboration in community action: a successful partnership between indigenous communities and researchers , 2000 .

[16]  Fred Coalter,et al.  The politics of sport-for-development: Limited focus programmes and broad gauge problems? , 2010 .

[17]  Michael Quinn Patton,et al.  Essentials of utilization-focused evaluation , 2012 .

[18]  Fred Coalter,et al.  A Wider Social Role for Sport: Who's Keeping the Score? , 2007 .

[19]  Joseph A Durlak,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of After-School Programs That Seek to Promote Personal and Social Skills in Children and Adolescents , 2010, American journal of community psychology.

[20]  R. Larson.  Toward a psychology of positive youth development. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[21]  A case study of culturally relevant school-based programming for First Nations youth: improved relationships, confidence and leadership, and school success , 2015 .

[22]  Shawn Wilson.  Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods , 2008 .

[23]  Karen Eileen Kirkhart,et al.  Eyes on the Prize: Multicultural Validity and Evaluation Theory , 2010 .

[24]  T. Forneris,et al.  Evaluation of a leadership program for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Youth: Stories of positive youth development and community engagement , 2018 .

[25]  S. Simpkins,et al.  Participating in Sport and Music Activities in Adolescence: The Role of Activity Participation and Motivational Beliefs During Elementary School , 2010, Journal of youth and adolescence.

[26]  Deborah Lowe Vandell,et al.  Out-of-school settings as a developmental context for children and youth. , 2005, Advances in child development and behavior.

[27]  Alnoor Ebrahim,et al.  The governance of social enterprises: Mission drift and accountability challenges in hybrid organizations , 2014 .

[28]  M. Turner.  Mental Wellness through Culture: An Examination of Youth Suicide Rates in Canada's Aboriginal Communities and Recommendations for Public Policy , 2014 .

[29]  Rhonda Johnson,et al.  Pan-Arctic TV Series on Inuit wellness: a northern model of communication for social change? , 2011, International journal of circumpolar health.

[30]  M. RestouleBrenda,et al.  First Nations Mental Wellness: Mobilizing Change through Partnership and Collaboration , 2015 .

[31]  T. Forneris,et al.  Facilitating Positive Youth Development through Residential Camp: Exploring Perceived Characteristics of Effective Camp Counsellors and Strategies for Youth Engagement , 2016 .

[32]  A. Giles,et al.  ‘I want to come here to prove them wrong’: using a post-colonial feminist participatory action research (PFPAR) approach to studying sport, gender and development programmes for urban Indigenous young women , 2015 .

[33]  Michael Quinn Patton,et al.  Utilization-Focused Evaluation , 1979 .

[34]  Ihirangi Heke,et al.  Enhancing Youth Development Through Sport , 2004 .

[35]  R. Catalano,et al.  Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research Findings on Evaluations of Positive Youth Development Programs , 2004 .

[36]  Michael Quinn Patton,et al.  Working with evaluation stakeholders: A rationale, step-wise approach and toolkit. , 2011, Evaluation and program planning.

[37]  M. Chandler,et al.  Cultural Continuity as a Hedge against Suicide in Canada's First Nations , 1998 .

[38]  Alexandra Arellano,et al.  Resurgence and critical youth empowerment in Whitefish River First Nation , 2016 .

[39]  M. Patton.  An alternative evaluation approach for the problem-solving training program: A utilization-focused evaluation process , 1984 .

[40]  J. Eccles,et al.  Extracurricular Activities and Adolescent Development , 2003 .

[41]  M. Patton.  Qualitative research & evaluation methods , 2002 .

[42]  Eric MacIntosh,et al.  An exploration of stakeholder values: In search of common ground within an international sport and development initiative , 2012 .

[43]  N. Young,et al.  Promoting resilience and wellbeing through an outdoor intervention designed for Aboriginal adolescents. , 2014, Rural and remote health.

[44]  L. L. Armstrong.  A utilization-focused approach to evaluating a “youth-friendly” mental health program: The Youth Net/Réseau Ado story , 2009 .

[45]  S. Epps,et al.  Empowered Families, Successful Children: Early Intervention Programs That Work , 2000 .

[46]  T. Forneris,et al.  Behind the Scenes of Youth-led Community Events: A Participatory Evaluation Approach Using Photovoice in a Canadian First Nation Community. , 2016 .

[47]  R. Levermore.  Evaluating sport-for-development , 2011 .