Youth with chronic health problems: how do they fare in main-stream mentoring programs?

Abstract

BackgroundYouth with chronic physical health problems often experience social and emotional problems. We investigate the relationship between participation in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada community-based mentoring programs (BBBS) and youth social and mood outcomes by youth health status.MethodsYouth newly enrolled in BBBS were classified by health status (one or more chronic physical health problems without activity limitation, n = 191; one or more chronic physical health problems with activity limitation, n = 94; no chronic health problem or activity limitation, n = 536) and mentoring status (yes/no) at 18 month follow-up. Youth outcomes measured at follow-up were social anxiety, depressed mood, and peer self-esteem.ResultsYouth with chronic health problems and activity limitation were more likely to live with two biological parents, use mental health or social services, and have parents who reported difficulties with depressed mood, social anxiety, family functioning and neighbourhood problems. At 18 month follow-up, mentored youth in this health status group experienced fewer symptoms of social anxiety and higher peer self-esteem compared to non-mentored youth. Mentored youth with chronic health problems without activity limitation and mentored youth with no health problems or limitations did not show significant improvements in social anxiety and peer self-esteem. Regardless of their health status, mentored youth reported fewer symptoms of depressed mood than non-mentored youth.ConclusionsYouth with chronic health problems, particularly those with activity limitation as well, demonstrate a capacity to experience social and mood benefits associated with mentoring.

Can Mentoring Promote Self-esteem and School Connectedness? An Evaluation of the Mentor-UP Project

“…Our findings showed that mentees reported higher levels of general self-esteem after seven months, whereas a decrease over time was detected in students not involved in the program. Therefore, in line with previous findings (e.g., Kolar & McBride, 2011;Liang, Lund, Desiliva Mousseau, & Spencer, 2016;Lipman, DeWit, DuBois, Larose, & Erdem, 2018) the results of the present study suggest that the Mentor-UP program was effective in promoting self-esteem in mentees. In other terms, it is more probable to observe an increase in self-esteem among mentees than among the control group.…”

“…A possible explanation for this result is that some specific features of mentoring programs (such as, mentor engagement, family and school involvement, and community exploration) foster the development of mentees' self-esteem. For example, mentors dedicating ample time and energy to understanding the specific needs and resources of their mentees and accordingly selecting joint activities are more likely to be effective in increasing mentees' general self-esteem (Lee et al, 2015;Lipman et al, 2018). Indeed, when mentors are very flexible and easily accessible to the mentee, they can monitor their progress, give positive feedback, and plan future activities according to their new attitudes and tastes.…”