Randomized evaluation of a single semester transitional mentoring program for first year middle school students: a cautionary result for brief, school-based mentoring programs

McQuillin, Samuel D.; Smith, Bradley H.; Strait, Gerald G.

doi:10.1002/jcop.20475

Cited by 24 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus, the context and structures within the school environment may attenuate the influences of the relational mechanisms thought to be active in mentoring programs. In response to these findings, some researchers reasoned that the contextual limitations of the school environment may prohibit long‐lasting, close youth‐adult relationships and have suggested that school‐based programs emphasize goal‐directed activities as the primary mechanism for producing change (Cavell & Elledge, ; McQuillin, Smith, & Strait, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School‐based Mentoring

Lyons

McQuillin

Henderson

2018

American J of Comm Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

School‐based mentoring programs are popular prevention programs thought to influence youth development; but rigorous evaluations indicate that these programs often have small effects on youth outcomes. Researchers suggest that these findings may be explained by (a) mentors and mentees failing to develop a close relationship and (b) mentors not setting goals or focusing on specific skills necessary improve outcomes. We assessed these explanations using data from approximately 1360 mentor and mentee pairs collected through a national study of school‐based mentoring (called, “The Student Mentoring Program”). Specifically, we tested the influence of mentee‐reported relationship quality and mentor‐reported use of goal‐setting and feedback‐oriented activities on academic, behavioral, and social‐emotional outcomes. Results suggested that youth reported relationship quality was associated with small to medium effects on outcomes. Moreover, goal‐setting and feedback‐oriented activities were associated with moderate to large effects on outcomes. We also found significant interactions between relationship quality and goal‐setting and feedback‐oriented activities on youth outcomes. We conclude that there appears to be a “sweet‐spot” wherein youth outcomes are maximized. The results of this study suggest a need for school‐based mentoring programs to monitor and support mentors in developing a close relationship while also providing opportunities to set goals and receive feedback.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School‐based Mentoring

Lyons

McQuillin

Henderson

2018

American J of Comm Psychol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To illustrate the importance of collaboration and innovation in mentoring programmes, we review two iterative randomized trials designed to evaluate and improve a brief SBM programme for middle school students (McQuillin, Smith, & Strait, 2011;McQuillin, Strait, Smith, & Ingram, 2013). The first study is a previously published work and the second is currently under review for publication at the writing of this paper.…”

Section: Comparison Of Two Experimental Evaluationsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Participants McQuillin et al (2011) conducted the first study in the fall semester of 2009. Mentors were freshman at the University of South Carolina (USC) and were involved in a preexisting service learning initiative.…”

Section: The Ineffective Sbm Programmementioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation in school-based mentoring: matching the context, structure and goals of mentoring with evidence-based practices

McQuillin

Terry

Strait

et al. 2013

Advances in School Mental Health Promotion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Youth mentoring is a popular and well-respected volunteer activity in the USA. Although there is support for the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of community-based mentoring (CBM), the research on school-based mentoring (SBM) -the most popular form of youth mentoring -is mixed. Most of the SBM studies find inconsistent or small effects. The reason for the difference in the success of CBM and SBM may be the unique context, structures and goals of SBM relative to CBM. In an effort to guide SBM programmes towards larger and more consistent positive results, the authors review context-specific considerations of providing mentoring in schools. We present several evidence-based practices that are compatible with SBM and should strengthen the effects of this popular intervention. To illustrate the importance of these considerations, we provide a case example of redeveloping a failed SBM programme into a promising programme by reviewing two iterative randomized evaluations. Finally, we encourage school-based mental health experts' involvement in the redevelopment of SBM.

show abstract

“…Not only is length of match associated with more positive outcomes (Grossman & Johnson 1998;Rhodes et al 2005;Karcher et al 2006;Herrera et al 2007), but also a broken or foreshortened match can actually lead to negative and harmful outcomes for the youth Diversi & Mecham 2005;Karcher 2005;Rhodes 2007;Bernstein et al 2009;McQuillin et al 2011). For example, Bernstein et al (2009) found that matches lasting less than 6 months were actually more harmful to a child when compared with the youth's pre-match state (no mentor).…”

Section: Importance Of Match Lengthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One of the most consistent findings in the mentoring research literature is the difficulty and importance of maintaining a sufficiently long mentoring match (Grossman & Johnson 1998;Rhodes et al 2005;Karcher et al 2006;Herrera et al 2007). Foreshortened matches can be worse than ineffective; matches lasting less than 6 months can harm a child, leading to feelings of abandonment and negative outcomes Diversi & Mecham 2005;Rhodes 2007;Bernstein et al 2009;McQuillin et al 2011;Bartle-Haring et al 2012). Consequently, one of the critical issues facing the field of mentoring is how to encourage strong, meaningful and high quality matches, with particular attention paid to vulnerable populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving high quality and long‐lasting matches in youth mentoring programmes: a case study of 4Results mentoring

Higley

Walker

Bishop

et al. 2014

Child & Family Social Work

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A B S T R AC TMentoring programmes show significant promise for enhancing the well-being of youth with complex needs. Research indicates that high quality mentoring, although difficult to achieve, positively impacts youth development across behavioural, social, emotional and academic domains. The difficulty of sustaining long-term matches between mentors and youth, however, remains an important concern for the field of mentoring, as foreshortened matches can be harmful to youth. The 4Results mentoring programme has been identified as a Promising Practice through the Washington State Inventory of childserving behavioural and mental health programmes and has developed a unique infrastructure to support critical programme values such as match longevity. In 7 years, the programme has successfully retained 98% of mentors for at least 1 year with an average match length of 3.7 years. The following article describes the programme's guiding philosophy and approach to recruiting and training mentors in the context of existing best practices research.

show abstract

Randomized evaluation of a single semester transitional mentoring program for first year middle school students: a cautionary result for brief, school-based mentoring programs

Cited by 24 publications

References 25 publications

Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School‐based Mentoring

Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School‐based Mentoring

Innovation in school-based mentoring: matching the context, structure and goals of mentoring with evidence-based practices

Achieving high quality and long‐lasting matches in youth mentoring programmes: a case study of 4Results mentoring

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About