Young people’s participation in service evaluation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol25iss4id64Keywords:
otago youth wellness trust, youth advisory group, service evaluation,Abstract
The Otago Youth Wellness Trust is a charitable organisation that has been operating for 15 years in Dunedin, New Zealand. It decided to evaluate the wraparound service it provided to young people in the community. The young people are referred by other agencies, including schools, and are usually deemed to be in need of significant support. In this article, members of a Youth Advisory Group (YAG), describe the experience of being involved in this service evaluation project. The YAG was made up of a small number of ‘service users’ who developed methods for engaging young people as evaluation participants. Overall we reported positive experiences, but there was a steep learning curve for all of us to navigate the evaluation process. This article demonstrates that it is possible for young people to have a significant influence in service evaluation.References
Barker, J., & Weller, S. (2003). ‘Is it fun?’: Developing children centred research methods. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 23(1): 33-58.
Beals, F. (2012). Moving beyond the academic doors: Addressing ethical issues in NGO youth research. Youth Studies Australia 31(3): 35-42.
Bland, D., Carrington, S., & Brady, K. (2009). Young people, imagination and re-engagement in the middle years. Improving Schools 12: 237-248.
Bruns, E.J., Walker, J.S., Adams, J., Miles, P., Osher, T.W., Rast, J., VanDenBerg, J.D. and the National Wraparound Initiative Advisory Group (2004). Ten principles of the wraparound process. Portland, OR: National Wraparound Initiative, Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health, Portland State University. Online. Retrieved from http://www.nwi.pdx.edu/.
Clarke, G., Boorman, G., & Nind, M. (2011). ʻIf they don’t listen I shout, and when I shout they listen’: hearing the voices of girls with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. British Educational Research Journal 37(5): 765-780.
Cohen, E., Mackenzie, R.G., & Yates, G.L. (1991). HEADSS, a psychosocialrisk assessment instrument: Implications for designing effective intervention programmes for runaway youth. Journal of Adolescent Health 12: 539-544.
Dart, J.A., & Davies, R. (2003). A dialogical, story-based evaluation tool: The most significant change technique. American Journal of Evaluation 24: 137-155.
Fettersman, D.M., & Wandersman, A. (Eds.) (2005). Empowerment evaluation principles in practice. New York: Guilford Press.
Gaffney, M., & Munro, J. (2012). Young people’s participation in service evaluation. In J. Fleming & T. Boeck (Eds.). Involving children and young people in health and social care research. Oxon, UK: Routledge: 138-148.
Gallagher, M. (2008) ‘Power is not an evil’: rethinking power in participatory methods. Children’s Geographies 6(2): 137-150.
Holland, J., Thomson, R., Henderson, S., McGrellis, S., & Sharpe, S. (2000). Catching on, wising up and learning from your mistakes: Young people’s accounts of moral development. International Journal of Children’s Rights 8: 271-294.
Johnson, V. (2010). ‘Rights through evaluation and understanding children’s realities’. In B. Percy-Smith & N. Thomas (Eds.) A handbook of children and young people’s participation: Perspectives from theory and practice. London: Routledge.
Lansdown, G. (2010). ‘The realisation of children’s participation rights: Critical reflections’. In B. Percy-Smith and N. Thomas (Eds.) A handbook of children and young people’s participation: Perspectives from theory and practice. London: Routledge.
Mertens, D.M. (2009). Transformative research and evaluation. New York: Guildford Press.
Ministry of Youth Affairs (2002). Youth development strategy Aotearoa. Wellington: Ministry of Youth Affairs.
Munford, R. and Sanders, J. (2003). Action research. In C. Davidson and M. Tolich (Eds) Social science research in New Zealand: Many pathways to understanding (2nd ed.). Auckland: Pearson Education in New Zealand: 263-274.
Nairn, K., Higgins, J., & Sligo, J. (2007). Youth researching youth: ‘Trading on’subcultural capital in peer research methodologies. Teachers College Record, 16 pages. Date of Publication June 09, 2007. Retrieved from www.tcrecord.org, ID number: 14515.
Nairn, K., Munro, J., & Smith, A. B. (2005). A counter-narrative of a ‘failed’ interview. Qualitative Research 5(2): 221-244.
Patton, M.Q. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use. New York: Guilford Press.
Pillow, W. (2003). Confession, catharsis, or cure? Rethinking the uses of reflexivity as methodological power in qualitative research. Qualitative Studies in Education 16(2): 175-96.
Shufflebeam, D.L., & Shinkfield, A.J. (1985). Systematic evaluation. Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.
Valentine, G. (1999). Being seen and heard? The ethical complexities of working with children and young people at home and at school. Ethics, Place & Environment 2(2): 141-155.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.
You and any co-authors
If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.
First publication
By submitting the work you are:
- granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
- confirming that the work is original; and
- confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.
Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.
Copyright
You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.
The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.
A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.
Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.
This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.
Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.
The copyright of others
If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:
- falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
- that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.