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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:19 pm
Time: 9:19 pm
Results for chronic delinquency
1 results foundAuthor: Karcher, Michael J. Title: An Evaluation of Advocacy-Based Mentoring as a Treatment Intervention for Chronic Delinquency Summary: The primary goal of the proposed research project was to provide estimates of the effectiveness of youth advocacy in general, and more specifically as delivered through the Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP). YAP is a national nonprofit organization active in twenty states that provides a treatment intervention for reducing serious and chronic delinquency for court-referred youth. This study examined processes and outcomes in the YAP program in four cities to inform juvenile justice policy and practice regarding the possible benefits of advocacy-based interventions for this population. This grant focused on evaluating four Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP) in separate regions of the country in order to increase variability in model delivery and youth participants. The research design was based on information collected about YAP services from prior research and focused both on identifying key mentoring and advocacy processes that may interrupt chronic delinquency and measuring proximal and distal outcomes related to crime and prosocial behavior of participation in youth mentoring with paid mentors who prioritized advocacy as one element of mentoring. Project Goals to achieve these objectives were two-fold: (1) Estimate the degree to which intended program objectives were realized (i.e., program impact and effectiveness) through attempts to quantify the association between participation in the YAP program and changes in youth delinquency and on related outcomes using a rigorous quasi-experimental research; and (2) identify ways in which advocacy and specific types of mentoring interactions contribute to youth outcomes through program participation. The overall goal of this study was, therefore, to better understand the viability of advocacy as an intervention for youth at high risk for future criminal activity, to identify critical practices that may be relevant to YAP and other programs using individualized treatment approaches to reduce delinquency and recidivism through advocacy efforts, and to learn more about which interpersonal interactions and participant characteristics are most influential in successful advocacy efforts. Two adaptations to the originally proposed methods and design of the project were necessitated by factors and events beyond the control of the report authors. A formative evaluation of each program’s fidelity of implementation was omitted from the final report because the data on which initial findings were to be based were not available once unforeseeable changes in project staffing occurred. Second, initially the quasiexperimental method for detecting effects associated with program participation was propensity score analyses. Data collected by a consultant on the project, however, were unsuitable for propensity score analyses. Therefore, this report does not include results related to implementation fidelity or propensity score analyses of causal effects. In short, the data was insufficient to cross check findings or reach reliable conclusions. However, another quasi-experimental design was used to estimate program causal effects, thereby allowing Study 1 to address the question about program impact. Study 2 uses program activities and participant characteristics to try to explain the changes reported in Study 1. Details: Final report to the U.S. Department of Justice, 2016. 139p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 3, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250454.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250454.pdf Shelf Number: 145890 Keywords: Chronic DelinquencyHabitual OffendersJuvenile DelinquentsJuvenile OffendersMentoring ProgramsSerious Juvenile OffendersYouth Mentoring |