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Improving outcomes for at-risk youth: findings from the Prodigy Cultural Arts Program
- Authors:
- RAPP-PAGLICCI Lisa, STEWART Chris, ROWE William
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 9(5), October 2012, pp.512-523.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
The Prodigy Cultural Arts Program comprises cultural art classes with a skill based curriculum targeted at at-risk youth and those diverted from the juvenile justice system. The classes are used to build social skills, anger management, and problems solving skills. The programme runs for 8 weeks with the youth attending 3 hours per week. A quasi experimental pre- and posttest was conducted to evaluate programme effects on participant’s mental health symptoms. The sample comprised 140 adolescents aged 8-18 years who entered the programme between March 2007 and March 2008. Most of the sample (77%) had been adjudicated by the state juvenile system. The findings showed a significant reduction in mental health symptoms (particularly for females) and behavioural dysregulation (particularly for males), and increases in academic performance and family functioning. There was also a relationship between decreased mental health symptomology and perceived academic performance. The article concludes that the Prodigy Cultural Arts Program appears to be successful in intervening with youth who present challenges to the juvenile justice system due to the complexity of their mental health symptoms and behavioural regulation difficulties.
Can a self-regulation skills and cultural arts program promote positive outcomes in mental health symptoms and academic achievement for at-risk youth?
- Authors:
- RAPP-PAGLICCI Lisa, STEWART Chris, ROWE William
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Service Research, 37(3), May 2011, pp.309-319.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Self-regulation involves an integrated set of skills drawn from both executive functioning and emotional regulation capabilities. Previous research has demonstrated an association between youth with mental health, behavioural and academic problems and inadequate self-regulation skills. Self-regulation skills programmes and arts-based programmes have separately demonstrated reductions in internalising and externalising disorders and academic difficulties. This study sought to evaluate an after-school programme ‘Prodigy’, which incorporates both arts and self-regulation skills, with regard to changes in mental health symptoms and academic performance. Prodigy is an 8 week programme which offers at-risk youth in Florida the opportunity to participate in classes which use cultural arts as a medium to build self-regulation skills such as social skills, anger management, and problem-solving skills. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design was conducted with 108 at-risk adolescents and their parents to evaluate the programme effects. The results demonstrated significant reductions in internalising and externalising mental health symptoms and increases in academic self-efficacy. Positive, but not statistically significant, trends in improved academic achievement were also shown. Future research regarding the potential of arts and self-regulation programmes is discussed.