Negotiating life’s journey : development, implementation and evaluation of the Travellers project

Abstract

This thesis gives voice to the young people who participated in the Travellers Project. The purpose of the current project was to develop, implement and evaluate a targeted mental health promotion programme in a small group format, designed to enhance protective factors for more vulnerable early adolescents in their first year of secondary schooling in New Zealand. This thesis outlines the development and implementation of the Travellers Programme and presents the findings of the formative, process and outcome evaluations of the Travellers Project. The project was undertaken in collaboration with ten secondary schools in the Auckland and Northland region. The project design utilised a mixed method evaluation framework. The formative evaluation phase conducted in two schools as a pilot project aimed to determine whether Travellers was a feasible, acceptable and promising programme for young people within secondary schools in New Zealand. The process and impact evaluation conducted in ten schools over two years utilised a quasi-experimental design, with young people identified as potential programme participants being randomly allocated to either a Travellers Programme group or a usual care comparison group. The evaluation population were young people between the ages of 13 and 14 years in their first year of secondary school. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Key informant interviews were also conducted with school personnel including those trained to implement the Travellers Programme with young people. Phase One of the Travellers Project was conducted between July 2000 and June 2001. Phase Two was conducted between February 2002 and December 2003. The Travellers Project itself consisted of the development of a baseline screening survey, an eight to ten-session programme to be implemented over a period of eight to ten weeks with sessions of 60 to 90 minutes, the training of school personnel (mainly school counsellors) in the implementation of the Travellers Programme and the evaluation. The main measure utilised in the current project was a baseline screening survey consisting of four self-report measures: number of schools ever attended; feel-good; life events; and emotional distress. Young people scoring highly on one or more of these measures were identified as potential Travellers Programme participants. Programme and usual care comparison group participants completed pre and post-tests which included the following measures: feel-good; emotional distress; and help-seeking. Interviews were conducted with programme participants four to six weeks after taking part in the Travellers Programme. Key informant interviews were conducted in the second year of Phase Two. A total of 34 young people participated in the Travellers Programme during Phase One. Young people were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about most aspects of the Travellers Programme. School personnel reported that the Travellers Project was appropriate and acceptable to the school. During Phase Two a total of 319 young people participated in the Travellers Programme and a total of 178 young people were in the usual care comparison group at the start of the programme. Process evaluation findings indicated that young people experienced feeling safe in their groups; they were able to establish quality relationships with and connections to the group facilitator/s who were described as being trustworthy, competent and caring. Young people reported that they could relate to the journey metaphor, the creation of personal life maps, the key concepts, slogans, and session activities such as expressing feelings, diary-writing and relaxation techniques. Findings from key informant interviews indicated that parents were generally supportive of the programme, the baseline screening survey was effective in identifying more vulnerable young people, the experiential training was valuable, the gender and ethnicity mix of groups was not an issue, and the interactive nature of the programme activities and overall style of the Travellers Programme together were an effective way of working with young people. Impact evaluation findings indicated that those in the Travellers Group reported less distress than the usual care comparison group at the one month post-test (F=3.62 (df=2) p<0.05). Group membership had an influence on the way that the percentage of young people's help-seeking changed (x2=10.06, (df=2), p<0.01). Qualitative findings from interviews with both key informants and young people revealed positive changes with regard to emotional distress, feeling more positive, and better help-seeking and access to support. Young people who participated in the Travellers Programme also considered that they experienced: enhanced understanding of life experiences; improved school performance; no stigma in taking part in the programme; and increased social connectedness. Travellers group facilitators and other school personnel reported that the programme was acceptable to schools and considered it to be an integral part of their schools' ongoing pastoral care and guidance structures in the future. Targeted mental health promotion programmes grounded in evidence-based constructs provided within a supportive school environment by skilled facilitators can contribute to enhancing protective factors such as personal and interpersonal coping strategies, increased help-seeking behaviour, and enabling young people to feel more positive about themselves and their lives. The Travellers Programme has currently been implemented in an additional 34 schools in the Auckland and Northland region of New Zealand. All schools involved in the two phases of the Travellers Project have continued to implement the Travellers Programme. Informal qualitative follow-up data from the trial schools indicate that there have been longer-term gains for some very vulnerable young people.

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