Evaluation and Program Planning

Volume 49, April 2015, Pages 31–40

Putting program evaluation into practice: Enhancing the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun program

• Corliss N. Bean^, ,
• Kelsey Kendellen,
• Tanya Halsall,
• Tanya Forneris

doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2014.11.007

Get rights and content

---

Highlights

•

Using lessons learned from year one to enhance program can have a positive impact.

•

Youth and leader perspectives helped form a comprehensive understanding of program.

•

Partnerships between researchers and organizations can lead to sustainable programs.

---

Abstract

In recent years there has been a call for increased community physical activity and sport programs for female youth that are deliberately structured to foster positive developmental outcomes. In addition, researchers have recognized the need to empirically evaluate such programs to ensure that youth are provided with optimal opportunities to thrive. This study represents a utilization-focused evaluation of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, a female-only physical activity-based life skills community program. A utilization-focused evaluation is particularly important when the evaluation is to help stakeholders utilize the findings in practice. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to gain an understanding of the ongoing successes and challenges after year two of program implementation and (b) to examine how the adaptations made based on feedback from the first year evaluation were perceived as impacting the program. From interviews with youth participants and program leaders, three main themes with eight sub-themes emerged. The main themes were: (a) applying lessons learned can make a significant difference, (b) continually implementing successful strategies, and (c) ongoing challenges. Overall, this evaluation represents an important step in understanding how to improve program delivery to better meet the needs of the participants in community-based programing.

Keywords

• Evaluation;
• Female youth;
• Qualitative;
• Physical activity;
• Community programing

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 613 240 0358; fax: +1 613 562 5497.

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Corliss Bean, Ph.D. candidate, Corliss is a Ph.D. candidate under the supervisor of Dr. Tanya Forneris at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on examining the impact of youth sport programs on positive youth development, particularly with marginalized youth. She completed her MA in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa and is also the Research Coordinator for the Indigenous Health Research Group at the University of Ottawa. cbean@uottawa.ca.

Kelsey Kendellen, Ph.D. student, Kelsey Kendellen is a Ph.D. student in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on examining life skill development and transfer in the context of high school sport. She is also interested in understanding how Self-Determination Theory can be used to examine the underlying psychosocial mechanisms of youth development. She has been involved with the GJWHF program since 2012 and is looking forward to extending the community-based partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa. kkend091@uottawa.ca.

Tanya Halsall, Ph.D. candidate, Tanya Halsall is a doctoral student in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. Her primary research interests are in mental health promotion, positive youth development, program evaluation and research with First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth. She has been involved with program evaluations across Ontario using multiple approaches such as participatory evaluation, implementation science and developmental evaluation. She also has experience implementing program evaluations of several initiatives involving multi-sectoral collaborations to create mental health system change. tanyahalsall@gmail.com.

Tanya Forneris, Ph.D. Counselling Psychology, Tanya Forneris is an associate professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa. She has a background in sport and counseling psychology. Her research interests lie in the domain of positive youth development, and more specifically, the development, implementation, and evaluation of life skills based (e.g., goal setting, confidence building, leadership) sport and physical activity programs to enhance youth development, particularly with marginalized populations. She is working in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa to develop a life skills-based physical activity program for female youth. tanya.forneris@uottawa.ca.