Robin Banerjee & Fidelma HanrahanCRESS lab, University of SussexF.Hanrahan@sussex.ac.uk

CIRCY seminar 21st September 2015

Creative arts and family coaching interventions with at-risk youths: How and why might they impact the socio-emotional and motivational development of marginalised youths?

Background: Youth marginalisation and interventions

• Behavioural profile associated with disadvantaged backgrounds1

• Future trajectories associated with poor outcomes2

• Interventions to support and re-engage marginalised youth include – those utilising the creative arts3

– targeted family support4

1. Daniels et al., 2003; Jimerson, Egeland, Sroufe, & Carlson, 2000; Steer, 2000 2. Coles et al., 2002; DFE, 2012; Henry, Knight, & Thornberry, 2012; SEU, 19993. Daykin, Orme, Evans, & Salmon, 2008; Harkins, Pritchard, Haskayne, Watson, & Beech, 2011; Hughes & Wilson, 2004; Kinder & Wilkin, 1998; Wilkin, Gulliver, & Kinder, 20054. Boddy, Statham, Warwick, Hollingworth, & Spencer, 2012; Gray, 2003; White, Warrener, Reeves, & La Valle, 2008

Self-construal

s

Motivation

and aspiratio

ns

Social environm

ent

Theoretical model of the development of disaffection/engagement (Hanrahan & Banerjee, 2014)

• To explore and understand the lived experiences of vulnerable young people in Brighton & Hove involved in – creative arts projects– family coach interventions

• To gain insight into the commonalities and differences in how these interventions support young people

• To create a quantitative assessment protocol that could be used across interventions with young people to track psychological change

• To use a mixed-methods approach to achieve these aims– quantitative survey methods– semi-structured interviews

Cross-sectional pilot work – study aims

Study 1: Assessment Protocol

• Participants – 144 young people in total

• 41 young people from Brighton & Hove’s Stronger Families, Stronger Communitities (SFSC) programme, and 4 from one Brighton creative arts project (20 male, 24 female, 1 unknown; M = 14.5 years of age, age range = 12 – 18 years)

• 99 comparison young people from a school and a college in East Sussex (25 male, 72 female, 2 unknown; M age = 15.5 years, range = 13 – 20 years)

Method – Assessment Protocol

Measures

Global Self-Worth Scale(Harter 1988)

Affect (I-PANAS-SF) (adapted)(Ebesutani et al., 2012; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988)

Social Inclusion Scale (adapted)Secker et al. (2009)

The General Self-Efficacy Scale (adapted) (Schwarzer, & Jerusalem, 1995)

Aspiration Index(Grouzet, Kasser, et al., 2005)

Social Environment

Self

Motivation and

cognitionsEducation and work values

Thinking about yourself and how you normally feel, to what extent do you generally feel… e.g. determined, bored

How true each statement is for you… e.g. I like the kind of person I am.

How important is each statement. In the future… e.g. I will have people who care about me and are supportive; I will have lots of money.

How true is each statement: e.g. I can solve most problems if I put in the necessary effort.

How important and how likely is each statement. In the future… e.g. I will have a job that I like.

How often in the last month have you felt that each statement is true for you… e.g. I have felt that the adults I work with (e.g. social worker, teachers) try to understand my point of view; I have felt supported by my family.

Behaviours and

emotions

Positive Affect

Negative Affect

Self-worth

Self-efficacy

-.68

.61

.51

-.45

Self-worth

Self-efficacy

Education + Work values

Intrinsic values

.31

.25

.24

Extrinsic values

Social inclusion

Self-worth

Intrinsic values

.54

Extrinsic values

Positive affect

Education + Work values

Self-efficacy

.68

.52

.42

.29

Group differences in values

• after controlling for age and gender

Intrinsic Extrinsic1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Comparison Interventions

Mea

n sc

ore

**

Summer 2014 start, girl aged 17, intensive SFSC support

Self-worth Education/Work value1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Mea

n sc

ore

Summer 2014 start, girl aged 17, intensive SFSC support

Self-w

orth

Education/W

ork va

lue

Intrinsic

value

Extrinsic

value

Self-e

fficacy

Socia

l inclu

sion

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Mea

n sc

ore

Study 2: Interviews with young people

• Participants: Interviews at one time point with 17 young people – 7 young people in creative arts projects (5

female, 2 male; M age = 17.14, age range = 14 – 21)• All had been involved with creative arts groups for at

least 6 months.• Voluntary participation• experiences of homelessness, drug and alcohol misuse,

poverty, chaotic family experiences violence, involvement in crime, mental health difficulties, school and social exclusion, and bullying at school

– 10 parent-child dyads involved in family coaching intervention (4 female, 6 male; M age = 14.7, age range = 13 – 19)• experiences of bullying, school exclusion or poor school

attendance, mental health difficulties, chaotic family experiences, involvement in crime

Method – Semi-structured interviews

Changes

Changes experienced

Family dynamics

Positive changes in behaviour, outcomes,

coping skills, trajectories

Self changes

Aspirations, opportunities,

belief in positive

possible future selves

New ways of relating to

others

Kerri: I weren’t going to school, like drinking and stuff. Like, I got arrested […] like drugs and stuff.

[…] I don’t think I would have changed if it weren’t for her [family coach]. […] So

she’s really helped, and I’m a completely different person now.

Danielle: [Prior to involvement in creative

arts project] I used to drink to like, forget things, forget my problems.Int: How do you cope now?

Danielle: People help.

Changes experienced

Positive changes in behaviour, outcomes,

coping skills, trajectories

Sarah: [Prior to involvement in creative arts project] I used to see it [the future] as like… mother of like two kids at the age of however old, with […] a boyfriend’s in prison all the time

[…] I used to think I was gonna die young as well.

[…] But now I think I’m going to die of old age […].

Harry: Before [Family Coach involvement] I thought I was just like a boy who had all this

anger, and now I think I’m a boy who’s gonna get a good job, who’s gonna get good grades, who’s gonna have a good life.

Changes experienced

Aspirations, opportunities,

belief in positive

possible future selves

Marie: I’ve got more confidence [since involvement in creative arts project]. […] [I am] a lot more sure, a lot more confident, a lot more

like… I feel a lot more better about myself, through the group. I used to hate myself all the time, and now I love myself all the time.

Kerri: Before [family coach involvement] […] if someone was like, “Oh yeah, do this”, I would be too afraid to say no

[…]. Now, if I don’t want to do it, I say no, whereas before, I would just do it, yeah, cos everyone else wants me to,

but now I just put my foot down. […] She [family coach] just gave me the confidence to say like if I want to do something or not.

Changes experienced

Self changes

Family dynamics

(Family coaching only)

Int: Has anything changed for the rest of your family do you think?

John: Less shouting so they’re a bit more happy.

Changes experienced

Int: Is there anything else that you think you’ve learnt from being involved […]?

Sarah: Em… To be more polite to people. Like with police and stuff like that. […] Like, when I

used to get in trouble, […] I never used to see them as like a human being. So I just used to see them as, like, police, and they’re out to get everyone and... But really they’re just doing their jobs.

New ways of relating to

others

(Creative arts groups only)

Changes experienced

Relationships with practitioners

Distinctive professional relationship

Different kind of

relationship

Different communicati

on style

Different types of support

(practical and

emotional)

Distinctive professional relationship

Different kind of

relationship

Kerri: [Family coach] spoke to me a lot, and

I could tell her

and she didn’t judge, even though I was really bad, she didn’t judge

Kate: You’ve actually got people who believe in you [at creative arts project], […] they want you to come on and do better things. […] Instead of making you feel like you

can’t do it, they’re like, ‘Oh, that’ll be great!’, ‘You can!’, and stuff like that.

Charlie: He [family coach] wouldn’t say, ‘That is the best thing’, he’d be like, ‘I reckon’ or ‘This is a good thing’, but […] he wouldn’t say definitely that that’s what you have to do. […]Int: And why is that a good thing? Charlie : Cause it shows that he’s

not just always giving orders, he’s letting us know, like, we have a choice.

Distinctive professional relationship

Different communicati

on style

Sam: Like instead of just assuming that you’re always wrong, you know,

they listen and they, you know, think of it and

then they try the idea and if it works then fair enough, it don’t, you know, they don’t go “oh yeah, I told you”,

they’ll just say “maybe instead of doing it that

way we could do it this way”.

Kate: when there was family stuff going on like… I could come in and instead of like me feeling like shit all day,

I could actually like talk to someone about it. Harry: Yeah, [Family Coach] is just always

there, she’s like that, the fact that she’s like helping me with my anger and stuff like that, it’s nice to have someone there, like if I can’t talk to my mum or my sisters or anyone, I

could go to her and talk to her and she’d like understand.

Distinctive professional relationship

Different types of support

(practical and

emotional)

A unique space and

process(creative arts groups only)

Being part of something

positive and productive

An opportunity for self-

expression

Working towards

something and sense of achievement

New perspectives learnt and

shared

Positive friendships

Enjoyment

Belonging

Experience of engagement and intrinsic motivation

Safe, stable, space

Marie:

They’re my second family here [at creative arts group], they really are.

Kate: it’s just the most bit of normality, [laughing] […] even though it’s not normal! [Laughing] Int: What do you mean by normal?Kate: […] Like, here it’s not about like, you’ve gotta get stoned to do this and you gotta have drink to do that… Like,

you can come here and actually be yourself, and just… You don’t have to fit in either.

Can you say a bit more about why you enjoy coming here?

Danielle: Cause we just all get on, and feel yourself, and don’t feel judged.

Int: What keeps you coming back?Danielle: The people. And I

just, like… From Friday, I look forward to the next Thursday […] it’s something to look forward to.

Int: So what are the best bits about being involved? […]

Sarah: I dunno, working towards something. […] Just working towards and knowing that at

the end of it […] you’re gonna be able to show something.

Amy: What did you expect it [Miss Rep] to be like?YP3: I thought I’d be like, bored, and get distracted at

first, but… I did what everyone else was doing and by the time you know it, it was the end of the day.

Sam: It’s good because […] you’ve rapped how you feel. You’ve put your emotions and everything that you’ve had done to you over the week, you know, you can just sit there and remember while you’re listening to a track that you’ve made.

Danielle: Yeah, it’s just something to do, like, instead of sitting, walking the streets all day, or sitting at home bored.

It keeps me motivated. And I enjoy it.

Int: What do you get out of being involved would you say?

Danielle: Experience about stuff and about other people and about, like, someone you might not have got on with, or, you might have someone who said something but there’s gotta be a reason behind it, and just stuff like that.

Kate: Whatever we talk about there’s always like… someone always disagrees or someone always agrees, so then

there’s a discussion and everyone thinks differently about it by the end of it.

• unstable home life or living situation• something unpredictable or chaotic

happening• unhelpful behaviour patterns (e.g. lack of

routine) and negative thoughts (e.g. self-doubt)• being categorised or labelled negatively by

society• unclear pathway or goal• young person’s mental health or health

issues

Potential barriers to reaching goals identified by young people

Commonalities and differences

• Commonalities• Positive changes experienced • Supportive and consistent relationships with practitioners –

whether creative arts or family coach – underpinned changes seen

•Differences• changes in family dynamics vs new ways of relating to others• creative arts projects = unique opportunity for social and

emotional development, achievement experiences, development of positive social networks and sense of social inclusion• family coaching intervention = holistic work with whole family

Limitations and discussion points

• Limitations• Not comparing like with like• Cross-sectional study• Do all creative arts projects confer the same benefits?•What about other types of interventions?

•Discussion• Those interventions which target values – intrinsic vs extrinsic

– may be most beneficial• Importance of social inclusion – creative arts groups

particularly advantageous here• Need for more integrated services to enable peer learning,

opportunities for achievement experiences and social inclusion, as well as support for changes in family dynamics

What’s next?

Beating the Odds 2• Longitudinal work with multiple creative arts

projects over 2 years – tracking experiences and change over time

• Quantitative and qualitative research methods• Targeted and non-targeted projects –

commonalities and differences• Further development of assessment protocol for

use in BHCC’s Children’s Services – Early Help

Thanks for listening.

And thanks to…

all of the young people who generously shared their experiences, and the support of practitioners for our work.

And to the support of…

Questions? Contact me at F.Hanrahan@sussex.ac.uk