Cultivation of Natural Mentors to Strengthen Resiliency in Youth: A Program Theory of Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM)

Dam, Levi van; Schwartz, Sarah E. O.

doi:10.18352/jsi.623

Cited by 7 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Thus, most youth were able to position mentors who fulfill their most important needs of trust and warmth. The findings are in line with the program theory of YIM, which assumes that trust and strong connection are key factors explaining the effectiveness of YIM (van Dam & Schwartz, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Needs of Youth and Parents From Multi-Problem Families in the Search for Youth-Initiated Mentors

Koper

Creemers²,

Dam

et al. 2021

Youth & Society

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Youth-initiated mentoring is an innovative youth care approach in which youth recruit supportive adults from their social networks as a mentor for youth and a partner for parents and professionals. This qualitative interview study documents what youth ( n = 15) and parents ( n = 13) from multi-problem families look for in a mentor, what mentors ( n = 8) believe they have to offer, and whether what mentors believe to offer matches youth’s and parents’ needs. Youth and parents indicated that a strong connection and trust were most important, or even prerequisites, as youth who were unable to find mentors did not have strong relationships of trust. Youth and parents also voiced preferences for an understanding, sensitive mentor who offered youth perspective by providing support and advice and (according to some) setting rules. What mentors believed to offer matched youth’s and parents’ needs, suggesting that most youth successfully recruited suitable mentors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Needs of Youth and Parents From Multi-Problem Families in the Search for Youth-Initiated Mentors

Koper

Creemers²,

Dam

et al. 2021

Youth & Society

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show abstract

“…YIM is a novel and innovative approach to natural or informal mentoring (Van Dam & Schwartz, 2020 ; Schwartz et al, 2013 ). In contrast to formal mentoring programs, where youth are matched to non-parental adults who volunteer within a non-professional context, such as a school or community program (Raposa et al, 2019 ), informal mentoring programs focus on involving a non-parental adult from within the adolescents’ social network, someone with whom the relationship already naturally exists.…”

Section: Youth-initiated Mentoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, when turning to action-oriented prevention, one should primarily focus on strengthening factors that build resilience and, in turn, desistance against delinquent behaviour, such as increasing involvement with education, employment, leisure, or recreation and building positive relationships with family, peers and others within the social network (e.g., Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005 ; Seigle et al, 2014 ; Stagner & Lansing, 2009 ; Ward & Stewart, 2003 ; Zimmerman, 2013 ). Theoretically, Youth-Initiated Mentoring (YIM) is a promising approach for preventing reoffending because it directly or indirectly strengthens several of these factors (Van Dam & Schwartz, 2020 ; Schwartz et al, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness, working mechanisms, and implementation of youth-initiated mentoring for juvenile delinquents: a multiple-methods study protocol

Boering,

Groenman,

van Dam

et al. 2024

Health Justice

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Background The societal costs associated with juvenile delinquency and reoffending are high, emphasising the need for effective prevention strategies. A promising approach is Youth-Initiated Mentoring (YIM). In YIM, professionals support youths in selecting a non-parental adult from within their social network as their mentor. However, until now, little (quasi-)experimental research has been conducted on YIM in the field of juvenile delinquency. We will examine the effectiveness, working mechanisms, and implementation of YIM as a selective prevention strategy for juvenile delinquents. Methods This multiple-methods study consists of a quasi-experimental trial and a qualitative study. In the quasi-experimental trial, we aim to include 300 juvenile offenders referred to Halt, a Dutch juvenile justice system organisation which offers youths a diversion program. In the Netherlands, all juvenile offenders between 12 and 18 years old are referred to Halt, where they must complete the Halt intervention. Youths will be non-randomly assigned to region-matched non-YIM-trained and YIM-trained Halt professionals implementing Care as Usual (CAU, i.e., the Halt intervention) or CAU plus YIM, respectively. Despite non-random allocation, this approach may yield comparable conditions regarding (1) the characteristics of professionals delivering the intervention and (2) case type and severity. Youth and caregiver(s) self-report data will be collected at pre-and post-test and a 6-month follow-up and complemented with official Halt records data. Multilevel analyses will test whether youths following CAU plus YIM show a stronger increase in resilience factors and a stronger decline in the need for formal support and delinquency than youths following CAU. In the qualitative study, we will organise focus group interviews with YIM-trained professionals to explore boosters and barriers experienced by professionals during the implementation of YIM. Discussion The proposed study will help identify the effectiveness of YIM in strengthening resilience factors and possibly decreasing juvenile delinquency. In addition, it may offer insights into how and for whom YIM works. Finally, this study can help strengthen the implementation of YIM in the future. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.Gov (# NCT05555472). Registered 7 September 2022. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05555472?cond=Youth+Initiated+Mentoring&draw=2&rank=1.

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“…It aims to increase effectiveness of care compared to treatment as usual in two ways. First, the approach differs from treatment as usual for multi-problem families [ 24 ] in that it provides care by a multidisciplinary team consisting of professionals specialized in youth and family care, psychiatry, addiction care, and care for people with mild intellectual disabilities. The InConnection approach thus not only includes a case manager who coordinates care from different organizations or types of expertise, but also brings the different types of expertise and care together within one approach and team.…”

Section: The Inconnection Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary treatment with youth-initiated mentoring for youths with mental health needs from multi-problem families: a quasi-experimental study

Koper,

Boin,

Creemers

et al. 2024

BMC Public Health

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Background Children from multi-problem families have an increased risk for experiencing mental health problems. These families face problems in several domains that are often found to be chronic and intergenerational. Yet, the effects of mental health care for youths from multi-problem families are small at best, urging research on new treatment programs. The InConnection approach is an integrated care program to improve resilience of youths with mental health needs from multi-problem families by connecting professional expertise from multiple disciplines with the informal social network of the youth. Youths are asked to nominate a youth-initiated mentor (YIM) from the supportive adults in their network. Methods This quasi-experimental study compared the effectiveness of the InConnection approach to treatment as usual in a sample of 107 families (n = 66 intervention group, n = 41 control group) with n = 115 youths receiving treatment (cases). Youths (n = 102 reports, Mage = 15.59 years), parents (n = 85 reports) and case managers (n = 107 reports) responded to questionnaires four times over 15 months. Using these data, we measured youth resilience as the primary outcome, seven secondary outcomes, and three intermediate outcomes. Results Latent growth models showed only one significant change in outcomes over time across conditions, namely a decrease in case manager-reported child unsafety, and only two condition effects, which were both parent-reported. Parents in the InConnection group reported improvements over time in youth’s emotional and behavioral problems and their own positive parenting, whereas control parents reported no changes (ps ≤ 0.013). Discussion The treatment conditions were not effective in improving most of the youth and parental outcomes over time, except for child safety reported by the case manager. The InConnection approach only outperformed care as usual on two parent-reported outcomes. Future research should examine for whom and under what circumstances the InConnection approach works more convincingly. Trial registration Netherlands Trial Register NL7565. Retrospectively registered on 05/03/2019.

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Cultivation of Natural Mentors to Strengthen Resiliency in Youth: A Program Theory of Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM)

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

Needs of Youth and Parents From Multi-Problem Families in the Search for Youth-Initiated Mentors

Needs of Youth and Parents From Multi-Problem Families in the Search for Youth-Initiated Mentors

Effectiveness, working mechanisms, and implementation of youth-initiated mentoring for juvenile delinquents: a multiple-methods study protocol

Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary treatment with youth-initiated mentoring for youths with mental health needs from multi-problem families: a quasi-experimental study

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