Evaluation of SHINE — Make Every Child Count: a school‐based community intervention programme

Abstract

Many barriers to health and emotional well‐being for children are prevalent within inner‐city communities, and often result in negative consequences for education. Health promotion strategies have previously cited mentoring schemes as interventions through which targeted pastoral support can be effectively provided to children. This paper draws on detailed focus group interviews in order to evaluate SHINE ‐ Make Every Child Count, a student‐led charity operating five mentoring programmes across the London boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth. Following content analysis, this paper identifies six themes associated with mentor support: rapport; emotional well‐being and development; social behaviour; enabling; emerging ambition; and attitudinal development. Results show participant children have gained considerable enjoyment from mentor support. Successful friendships are built and emotional well‐being supported, with children actively including mentors as part of their support network. Children recognise the impact of a mentor on relationships with peers, behaviour within the classroom and social responsibility, in addition to direct educational support. Children also show an increased interest in learning, and evidence of considering ‐ often for the first time ‐ their own future aspirations. Findings demonstrate the impact of the mentoring programmes, as perceived by participant children. Evaluation can be used to inform future development of the programmes, as well as expansion to further schools, with the organisation working towards achieving long‐term sustainability.

The Effects of a Health Promotion Program Using Urban Forests and Nursing Student Mentors on the Perceived and Psychological Health of Elementary School Children in Vulnerable Populations

“…This result shows a similarity to the results of previous studies that explored the effect of mentoring programs [ 31 , 34 ], in which the relationship between mentors positively affected the psychological health of vulnerable youths. According to the qualitative study of Akrimi, et al [ 46 ], which explored the experience of school-aged children participating in a charity mentoring program with volunteer university-student mentors, the unconditional and supportive relationship between the children and mentors were commonly experienced. The developments of social-emotional, cognitive, and identity of the youth are accomplished based on their emotional connectedness with mentors and result in positive outcomes for the youth [ 33 ].…”

The Experience of Peer Mentoring in Grades 4, 5, and 6 Students From the Heart Healthy Kids Program

“…Peer mentoring interventions with children have also focused on enhancement of self-esteem and goal setting skills (King et al, 2002). Further interventions involving mentoring of children and youth have focused on providing academic support and skills (Akrimi, Raynor, Johnson, & Wylie, 2008;King et al, 2002). Finally, a cost analysis comparing the costs of risky behaviours of youth to the costs of a peer mentoring intervention targeting social involvement and engagement in recreational activities determined that peer mentoring is a sustainable option that offers excellent "value for money" (Moodie & Fisher, 2009).…”

“…Interventions involving peer mentoring of youth to improve psychosocial or mental health have varying results. Many studies have concluded that mentoring was beneficial in improving social skills, peer bonding, and relationships (Akrimi et al, 2008;Cheng et al, 2008;Fair et al, 2005;Matthews et al, 2009;Moody et al, 2003;Pini, 2009). Other studies have concluded that peer mentoring was beneficial in improving school and family connectedness (King et al, 2002;Moody et al, 2003).…”

“…Studies have also indicated positive results related to self-esteem, self-efficacy, body image, ambition, and emotional and attitudinal development (Akrimi et al, 2008;Cheng et al, 2008;Moody et al, 2003). Two studies indicated that positive results were seen in depressive symptoms in association with peer mentoring (Hurd & Zimmerman, 2010;King et al, 2002).…”

Editorial

“…Many people who are experiencing 'distress' prefer informal (and not clinical) interventions (Walters et al, 2008) and in our study of mutual aid for mental health needs, British community groups typically chose to work with creative activities such as gardening, painting, music or dance (Baldacchino et al, 2008). Creativity can be enabling, as the volunteer mentors working with Southwark schoolchildren found (Akrimi, 2008) through helping young people with their school play or art display. One of the insightful observations of Watts et al (2006) is that a thankful approach to experience engenders creativity: 'gratitude would seem to command a response above and beyond mere reciprocity'.…”