Health Promotion International, Vol. 20 No. 3 doi:10.1093/heapro/dah611 Advance access publication 11 March 2005 © The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org Enabling youth participation in school-based computer-supported community development in Canada RUTA VALAITIS1,2 and LINDA O’MARA1 1 ABSTRACT Schools are a main setting for health promotion for youth. A qualitative case study was undertaken in an inner-city, Canadian school. It explored factors that enabled and constrained youth in the process of a school-based computer-supported community development (CD) project. Nineteen grade seven and eight students worked with four adult facilitators for 12 weeks. They completed a community assessment, planned and implemented actions to improve their school environment. Data were collected by: youth and adult interviews, participant observation, content analysis of online postings and two surveys. Constant comparison and triangulation from various data sources and methods were used to verify themes. Themes were categorized as intrinsic or extrinsic enabling and constraining factors. Intrinsic enabling factors were youth’ s perceptions that they were making a difference, and feeling recognized for and having ownership of their work. Extrinsic enabling factors included flexibility in youth’s choice of activities, supportive adults and community members and the use of incentives. Intrinsic constraining factors were the perceived slow pace of the CD process, and difficulties in getting group consensus/ decision-making. Extrinsic constraining factors included: school disruptions and schedules, a lack of ‘buy-in’ from teachers and parents, and resource demands—people and computers. Relationships between these factors are noted. Research and practice implications regarding school-based CD to promote youth resiliency are discussed. Key words: community development; computer; school; youth; participation INTRODUCTION Youth are interested and capable of working on community issues and offer valuable perspectives that can positively impact community programming and planning (Hart, 1997; Meucci and Schwab, 1997; Finn and Checkoway, 1998; Altman et al., 1998; Burgess, 2000; Kalnins, et al., 2002). Numerous advantages result from youth participation in their community. Youth have successfully participated in community action on public health issues related to drug abuse (Kelley, 1995; Delgado, 1995), gang activity (Torres, 1998), the development of play spaces (Salvadori, 1997) and safe spaces (Meucci and 260 Redmond, 1997), after-school programs (Jermaine et al., 1997) and environmental care (Hart, 1999). Youth participation in community action develops their sense of self-determination and citizenship from a community and individual perspective (Hart, 1997; Hart et al., 1997). In turn, community participation by youth is seen as a substantial community asset (Delgado, 1996; Finn and Checkoway, 1998). Therefore, youth and community benefit from young people’s participation. Browne et al. (Browne et al., 2004) conducted a synthesis of reviews related to non-clinical Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 McMaster University School of Nursing and 2City of Hamilton, Public Health and Community Services Department, Public Health Research, Education and Development (PHRED) Program School-based community development This qualitative case study explored experiences of youth in a school-based CD project, and identified enabling and constraining factors in the process. Computer technology was used as a tool to support the CD process. An in-depth examination of youth’s perceptions of their computer use is reported elsewhere (Valaitis, 2002a). METHODOLOGY Setting and youth participants The CD project was conducted in a southwestern Ontario, inner-city school with over 600 students from junior kindergarten to grade eight. Students lived within walking distance, staff was interested in supporting a school-based CD project, the school public health nurse (PHN) agreed to participate and students had computer access. The principal and teachers selected students to participate. Youth were in grade seven or eight, demonstrated reliability and capability in school life, had no behavioral problems and agreed to participate in the research. Adult facilitators, parents and youth consented to two project components: participation in the CD project and in the research. Thirty-five students were offered the opportunity to participate; 23 consented and four dropped out. Of 19 participants who completed the project, four were males and 15 were females; 12 were in grade seven and seven were in grade eight. Visible minority youth included three African-Canadians, two Asian-Canadians and one Native-Canadian. Thirteen youth were on the school honour roll and many participated in school duties such as lunch hour supervision. Students were predominantly inner-city wellfunctioning females. Adult facilitators Four female adult facilitators, including two senior nursing students, the school PHN and I (first author) began working with youth. The facilitators led team building games, supervised community outings, facilitated large group activities and discussions, assisted youth in analyzing data and preparing project newsletters and proposals, and supported other CD activities. After each youth session, the facilitators met to debrief and plan for future sessions. As a participant observer, I focused on supporting Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 mental health programs for school-age children. They found a strong body of literature related to strengthening ‘the mental immune system in children, termed resilience’ (p. 3). The resilience theory suggests that increasing children’s ability to use healthy coping mechanisms to respond to adversity will greatly benefit them. Results show that youth programs are more effective when they integrate multiple domains of family, school and community and focus on increasing competence and skills rather than reducing existing negative behaviors (Browne et al., 2004). Blum’s (Blum, 1998) key components of resilience-based youth programming are closely related to community action. Blum’s PCAC model incorporates people (adults who care and are involved with youth), contributions (opportunities to contribute to family, neighborhood and community), activities (activities to develop a sense of belonging) and place (a place for youth to congregate). Therefore, youth community participation with adult supports can build youth resiliency. Schools are an important community for youth. Youth participation in school-based community action can improve critical thinking and problem solving, social and psychological development, and have positive effects for those served (Conrad and Hedin, 1991). Despite claims that school and community participation activities are valuable for youth health individually and for communities collectively, little is known about facilitating this process. Finn and Checkoway (Finn and Checkoway, 1998) researched over 200 community projects involving young people and evaluated 10 top projects. Four components enabled project success: (i) youth were considered competent in identifying and solving youth problems at a community level; (ii) they were provided with opportunities to practice leadership skills with mentors and support, (iii) they were involved in organized committees where decision-making occurred through critical action and reflection, and (iv) they needed adults to foster success. Computers have the potential to support youth community participation by improving communication, civic participation and education (Schuler, 1994; Howley, 1998; Schon et al., 1999; Lombardo et al., 2002). However, scant research exists, which examines the potential of technology to support youth in the community development (CD) process or factors that enable or constrain the process. 261 262 R. Valaitis and L. O’Mara adult facilitators and participants with computers and co-facilitated CD activities. Data collection Qualitative case study method is suited for process evaluation of CD (Billings, 2000). Case study documents the history of a project. Data collection methods used included participant observation, youth and adult interviews, content analyses of communication in CMC, and two short open-ended surveys. As a participant observer, I made field notes during my engagement with youth and facilitator debriefing and planning meetings. Raw field notes were later expanded and reflective notes were added. This provided a detailed description of the context of the case and created an audit trail. One to two weeks after the project ended, all youth participated in semi-structured interviews. The interview included broad questions such as, what students liked and disliked about the project, and what surprised them. Adult facilitators were also interviewed using similar questions. Interviews were audio taped, Analysis Data were chunked into meaningful segments and first level codes were assigned using ATLAS.ti qualitative analysis software (1999). They were arranged into pattern codes, which held commonalities and formed sub-themes. Constant comparative method (Lincoln and Guba, 1985) was used to extract sub-themes, which were later grouped under major themes. Memos were kept, which contained reflective remarks regarding categorization of data and possible relationships (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Multiple data collection strategies were used to obtain between-method triangulation and thus gain an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon (Sim and Sharpe, 1998). Certain subthemes were repeated across data sources. For example, the code ‘school disruptions’ was found in field notes, interviews and CMC notes. To increase credibility, three adult facilitators reviewed sub-themes as a member check (Lincoln and Guba, 1985) and corroborated the findings. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Themes were categorized as enabling and constraining factors in the CD process. These were further sub-divided into intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors (Table 1). For example, feeling ‘recognition and a sense of ownership’ is an intrinsic or psychological enabling factor; having ‘supportive adults and community members’ represents an extrinsic or externally controlled enabling factor. Quotes from males are marked (male), while facilitator comments are marked (F*); all others represent female youth. Intrinsic factors Intrinsic enabling factor: perception that they were making a difference An important enabling factor was that youth felt they were making a difference. Youth Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 The community development project The project ran for 12 weeks, 3 days per week and for 1 h 30 min per day during lunch and one classroom period. Students moved through the CD process including, getting started in the participatory process, initiating community involvement, conducting a community assessment, making decisions about priority issues, planning community action, interventions and evaluating their progress. Youth regularly worked in small groups, with at least one adult facilitating. Large group sessions were held to define community boundaries, reach group consensus and update project group members on individuals’ and small groups’ progress. Six computers were used to: send emails to community and project group members using a computer-mediated communication system (CMC), create newsletters and proposals, search the Internet, conduct on-line polls and develop web pages illustrating their findings. Youth assessed their school and broader neighborhood community. They focused interventions on ‘do-able’ school improvements, such as removing graffiti from walls and beautifying grounds. In addition, students prepared proposals to initiate a student-run school store and establish a student council. transcribed and checked for accuracy. Youth shared project feedback in the CMC system. Therefore, content from CMC notes was also analysed. A paper-based survey in week 4 and an online survey in week 9 were completed. They explored the youth’s general feelings about their use of computers and the CD project. School-based community development 263 Table 1: Enabling and constraining themes and sub themes Themes Intrinsic factors Extrinsic factors Enabling factors Constraining factors Perception that they were making a difference Recognition and sense of ownership of work Flexibility in youth’s choice of activities Supportive adults and community members Incentives Slow pace of the CD process Group consensus/decision making School disruptions/schedules Lack of parent and teacher ‘buy-in’ Resources demands Intrinsic constraining factor: slow pace of the CD process Many students felt the pace of the CD process was slow. S.L. (male) shared that, ‘at the beginning, it was really slow. If we had started right off cleaning the school and all that, right from the beginning, [we] would have been far ahead now. We would have seen more improvement’. C.B. expressed her frustration, saying, ‘we have researched, but have not made many changes!’ F* expressed in the interview, ‘[I was frustrated with] how long we needed to take with gathering data … I was feeling the same way that the students were … Let’s balance this with some action somehow …’. Cognitive work was perceived as slowing down the process, and reduced the speed of community change. Kalnins et al. (Kalnins et al., 2002) found that children’s strategies for community action focused on immediate short-term solutions. Kalnins et al. (Kalnins et al., 1994) suggested making clear to youth, what they were doing and why. Schwab (Schwab, 1997) indicated 13– 14-year-old youth needed more support in learning about community organizing than older youth. Regardless of the community intervention, findings support the need to explicitly link cognitive work with hands-on actions, while working to ‘make a difference’. Intrinsic enabling factor: recognition and sense of ownership of work Although the pace was slow, youth felt recognized and had ownership of their individual and group work. Photovoice, a technique to express ideas through photography, can support participatory needs assessment (Rudd and Comings 1994; Wang and Burris, 1994; Wang and Burris, 1997; Wang et al., 1998; McIntyre, 2003). Students photographed images of community problems and strengths and uploaded them into web pages. Photos illustrated community pride (high school) and community needs (pollution from steel mills). Youth expressed great excitement viewing their live websites; Y.B. (male) yelled out, ‘Cool! Great!’ In the interviews, D.C. stated ‘I never thought we were going to do our own web pages and have our own email!’ Youth earned recognition for and developed a sense of ownership in their work. Resnick et al. (Resnick et al., 1999) worked with computer clubs and found that youth often develop a sense of ownership that ‘facilitates personal connections to knowledge’ (p. 270). Giving and earning recognition is not always simple. School policy, did not permit youth to add their names to their websites; cybernames were Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 understood that the project’s purpose was to make community improvements. At a parent school council meeting, the principal asked ‘… what have you accomplished?’ S.G. confidently replied, ‘We see improvements in the washrooms and the greening on the grounds’. In the final interviews, C.P. enthusiastically explained ‘What surprised me was that we actually did make a difference’; T.S. was surprised that ‘we got a new [student run] store!’ Most students felt they had made a difference. In a CD project with grade four children, Kalnins et al. (Kalnins et al., 1994) reported that youngsters needed to experience success. Hart et al. (Hart et al., 1997) reviewed child development theory and concluded that youth’s actions must ‘make a difference’ to support their empowerment (p. 52). Therefore, community workers are encouraged to have youth reflect often on small successes. Little’s (Little, 1993) resiliency-based programming, which incorporates the dimension of competence, supports this theme. Competence involves areas that improve quality of life, such as literacy and a sense of being able to contribute to community. This enabling factor was threatened, however, by an intrinsic constraining factor – slow pace of the process. 264 R. Valaitis and L. O’Mara Intrinsic constraining factor: group consensus/decision making Coming to group consensus was another intrinsic constraining factor. Youth struggled to gain consensus about community boundaries. They solved this through a mapping exercise. Youth used colored dots to plot locations where they lived, worked, learned and played. Others support mapping activities to help define neighbourhood boundaries (Meucci and Redmond, 1997; Salvadori, 1997; Schwab, 1997). With a month left in the project, everyone was frustrated with the lack of agreement on priorities issues. The ‘Brain Drain Lottery Game’ was devised to encourage consensus building. Four major issues were identified: air pollution, substance abuse, violence and need for school improvements. Criteria found in Table 2 helped youth prioritize. On large easel paper, they wrote Table 2: Criteria for prioritization of community issues a) Evidence: do you have proof that the problem exists? b) Sense of urgency: does this need to be done now or can it wait? c) Resources: do you have what you need to accomplish your goal? d) Political will: are there people with power or influence that agree that something needs to be done and will support you? Valaitis et al. (Valaitis et al., 1999) Stop, look and listen: an interactive guide to working with communities [Computer Software]. Canadian Public Health Association, Ottawa. as many ideas as possible for each community issue using the criteria. They received a ticket for each new idea and lost one for putting down others’ ideas. Tickets were later exchanged for prizes. Participants then discussed the results and quickly reached consensus. Table 3 illustrates responses for their chosen priority—need for school improvements. Youth were very positive about the activity. C.C. said, ‘I liked the Brain Drain Lottery Game. It was fun. You got candy and stickers’. C.P. valued that ‘no one would laugh at your idea’. A sense of direction and enthusiasm was reinstated in the group. Schwab (Schwab, 1997) reported that Latino and Mexican American youth also struggled to reach consensus on priority issues. The process was necessary, albeit a struggle. Extrinsic factors Extrinsic enabling factor: flexibility in youth’s choice of activities Allowing youth’s choice in activities was enabling. For example, not all youth were drawn to technology. F* stated in the final interview that ‘I think I was surprised about how some of those kids really took to the computers … and others didn’t even want to look at [them]’. Many enjoyed participating in different project activities. One youth wrote, ‘I like the way you don’t have to use [computers]. You have a choice’. Self-determination is a motivator in learning. Allowing choice and freedom in youth’s activities was a main ingredient in the success of technology-based clubs (Gillingham and Youniss, 2000; Grosshandler and Niswander-Grosshandler, 2000). Extrinsic constraining factor: school disruptions A recurring constraining factor was school disruptions. The library meeting space was often Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 used instead. It was a struggle to maintain confidentiality, while ensuring personal safety and recognizing the students’ work. Using free software, participants conducted an online survey of 171 peers. Peers were asked to rank community needs and strengths. Many youth felt this activity increased peers’ awareness of their project. When asked, how others learned about the project, L.P. answered, ‘… the [online] survey. Because everyone got to do it and they got to see what we were thinking about, what were our problems’. M.M. shared her views. ‘I liked the [online survey]. That was my favorite thing’. Thus, increasing project awareness and recognition from peers was important. This theme relates to another of Little’s (Little, 1993) components in resiliency-based programming— confidence-building to give a sense of success in setting and meeting goals. Other strategies to build awareness and recognition were used. Email messages sent by adult facilitators thanked, praised and encouraged youth. Newsletters and posters illustrated community assessment findings and were distributed and displayed throughout the school. Authors and artists were individually acknowledged. Many participants shared their excitement having viewed the newsletters. ‘I’m famous! I’m just about on every page!’ (S.L. (male)). One facilitator felt that ‘… when [youth] put the posters up, that brought awareness within the school community about what [youth] were doing’. Practitioners need to ensure that youth are recognized and have ownership of their work. School-based community development 265 Table 3: Example of results from the Brain Drain Lottery Game used for consensus building on priority issues; chart for need for school improvements Evidence Resources Political will Voted that school improvements was the most urgent problem Face-to-face peer survey feedback Online peer survey results Bathrooms need paint, locks, soap and mirrors Pop machines never work Gym is small and needs cleaning Lockers are all different—looks bad Graffiti Need more people in the lunch room store No student council School needs more playthings Internet access problems Need more computers Need flowers outside School playground problems (garbage, grass and weeds) Need to pave school playgrounds Need to put things in garbage—lots of litter Kids in school Project members Principal Three teachers Parent School Council Care Taker Parents Neighbours Police Officer PHN Kodak Canada Principal Teachers School council Project members Parent School Council Parents PHN disrupted by school activities and events, such as school picture days and team try-outs. Many youth were late or missed project meetings due to gym class, class tests or important lessons. Missing school and, for some, falling grades was a serious deterrent to regular attendance. P.F.’s email stated, ‘Sorry about the missed meetings and all. I still want to be in the project, but I just want to go to my classes as well’. Project meetings occurred during lunch, which was also a deterrent for youth who wanted to be with friends. Others have noted constraints from disruptions. Ploeg’s (Ploeg, 1999) process evaluation of CD with seniors identified that delays and interruptions characterize the CD process. Lynagh et al. (Lynagh et al., 1999) indicated that competition with curriculum, timetabling and resources were barriers to the successful establishment of health-promoting schools. School schedules also bound the CD project described by Kalnins et al. (Kalnins et al., 1994). O’Mara’s (O’Mara, 2001) study of a school-based peer-led health initiatives found there was competition for time and attention with school activities. Integrating CD activities with curricula may help and could increase teacher involvement. Browne et al. (Browne et al., 2004) review of non-clinical mental health programs indicated that school-based services are important to ensure continuing youth participation. However, they also point out that conducting non-curricular activities in schools present a challenge. Although programs offered by community centers can serve a larger area and provide more confidentiality, a combination of both venues may be most beneficial. Extrinsic constraining factor: lack of parent and teacher ‘buy-in’ An unfortunate constraining factor was a lack of ‘buy-in’ from parents and teachers. In a debriefing meeting, F* ‘felt a bit disappointed after the [parent school council] meeting. The kids were great! But … the parents, they did not get it’! C.P. expressed her disappointment that ‘[I was] surprised because [teachers] said they would visit [the web site] and then none of them did!’ In the final interview, a facilitator discussed her thoughts about the lack of teacher ‘buy-in’. F*: The principal has been a staunch supporter of these kids and this project and I always sensed that the staff didn’t really buy into it … And I’m thinking now maybe in a future project it would be helpful to have a staff person involved in the project in some way … Right from the very beginning [teachers] may have seen it as extra work. Lynagh et al. (Lynagh et al., 1999) found that poor parental and family support in schools was common adding to teacher and staff ambivalence. Future research should consider ways to increase parental and teacher involvement in youth programs. Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 Sense of urgency 266 R. Valaitis and L. O’Mara Extrinsic enabling factor: supportive adults/community Despite the lack of parent and teacher ‘buy-in’, a number of adults were supportive. Many youth were surprised by the interest shown by the broader community and some school staff. SL (male): I didn’t think we’d get that kind of support. To get free pizza. I didn’t think that would happen … I was surprised by … all the donations we got. Extrinsic enabling factor: incentives The use of incentives was the final extrinsic enabling factor. School staff suggested that students would respond well to material incentives. Project and research consents were quickly returned using baseball cards and bracelets as incentives. Throughout the 12 weeks and especially during trying times, fun activities and material incentives were used to motivate youth. Stickers and pizza were also popular. Although youth viewed the project as an extension of their schoolwork, they enjoyed getting out of regular classes. S.L. (male) expressed, ‘… I was ready to get out of school for Extrinsic constraining factor: resources demands A lack of human and computer resources constrained the project. F* explained, ‘I thought to myself, wow! How could one person do this … with [19] kids? It took four adults!’ Computer resources were used extensively despite certain problems; the CMC system was unstable at times, school Internet access was unreliable, and computer support technicians were scarce. Because computers were located in the library, computer settings were constantly changed creating problems for project youth. There was frustration with technology. S.L. (male) was overheard saying, ‘The stupid computer did not work. The Internet did not work!’ A peer retorted, (C.B.) ‘As usual!’ In addition, some youth had poor computer skills. Thus, having a facilitator with good computer skills was essential. CONCLUSION Health promotion has been defined as the ‘process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their heath’ (WHO, 1986). Community health assessment should be ‘of the community, by the community, and for the community if it is truly to be empowering’ (Hancock and Minkler, 1997). A new dimension is added when applying these ideas to increasing youth participation in communities. Participants in this school-based CD project chose to work on improving their school community, rather than on broader neighborhood issues. Based on Konu’s and Rimpelää’s (Konu and Rimpela, 2002) work on indicators of school health and wellbeing, youth choose appropriate areas for action. Through the CD process, they were empowered Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 During week nine, there was a high level of activity. A parent volunteer, who ran the school store, and the custodian worked intensely with the group. A facilitator reported, ‘there was a real sense of community today with all community members coming in to the group. It was a very empowering environment.’ B.G. was surprised that the police officer, who worked with them, ‘would really be interested that much’. M.M. wrote that ‘we learned that adults do listen to some of our ideas…’. It is vital that supportive relationships are built between adults and youth. As other have found (Caputo, 1999; Morrow, 2000), youth felt unheard and mistrusted by adults in the community (Valaitis, 2002b). With adult support, this sense of disempowerment was slowly eroded over 12 weeks. Kalnins et al. (Kalnins et al., 2002) reported that children had little confidence that they could successfully access community resources, and therefore required adult guidance. Browne and colleagues (Browne et al., 2004) argued for the continuing presence of appropriate adult staff to deliver effective mental health programs to school-aged children. Blum (Blum, 1998) described the connection with people in caring relationships as critical to resiliency-based youth programs. a few days. That’s what I liked about it. It was a break.’ Team efforts were encouraged by Pizza Fridays. Although Hart et al. (Hart et al., 1997) warned that rewards could set up a competitive atmosphere; there was no evidence of this in the project. Many even shared their rewards with friends. Altman et al. (Altman et al., 1998) surveyed 2609 grade nine youth in six inner-city schools involved with heart health activities. Perceived incentive value was the largest factor associated with increased youth participation. Extrinsic rewards helped maintain youth’s interest in the CD project, build youth ‘buy-in’ and provided a tangible form of encouragement. School-based community development ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank Drs Lynn Davie and Ilze Kalnins for their assistance in reviewing earlier versions of this manuscript. Support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Doctoral Fellowship) and the City of Hamilton, Public Health and Community Services Department, Public Health Research Education Research and Development (PHRED) Program is also gratefully acknowledged. Address for correspondence: Ruta Valaitis 1200 Main Street West, Room HSC 3N28E McMaster University Hamilton ON L8N 3Z5 Canada E-mail: valaitis@mcmaster.ca REFERENCES Altman, D., Feighery, E., Robinson, T. and Haydelet, F. (1998) Psychosocial factors associated with youth involvement in community activities promotiong heart health. Health Education and Behavior, 25, 489–500. Billings, J. R. (2000) Community development: a critical review of approaches to evaluation. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 31, 472–480. Blum, R. W. (1998) Healthy youth development as a model for youth health promotion: a review, Journal of Adolescent Health, 22, 368–375. Browne, G., Gafni, A., Roberts, J., Byrne, C. and Majumdar, B. 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Downloaded from heapro.oxfordjournals.org by guest on February 2, 2011 to improve their school conditions, build stronger school relationships, and increase their means for self-fulfilment through the establishment of a student council and a student-run store. This school-based CD project shared features of successful resiliency-based programs for healthy youth development and mental health. Numerous intrinsic and extrinsic enabling and constraining factors were identified. Despite the rhetoric about empowering community members to participate, a fine balance is needed between giving youth control and guiding them. To keep youth engaged, careful pacing of the process and clear and achievable goals for authentic problems are essential. Valuing of skills and recognizing youth’s work will support them to ‘make a difference’. Careful consideration of resources is required. 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