Summary

In this presentation, we share the professional social work for the youth who are involved in minor crime. They are forced to stay in the adolescents’ home instead of in the juvenile care center. In this “home”, the youth can go to normal schools and have daily regular life. They accept the service of professional projects, such as job skill training, music therapy, health check, emotional training etc. Usually, their family are dysfunction, many of them stay in the home until they are 18 years old and are defined as an adult in Taiwan. The purpose of this social work organization is trying to help them have better temper control, keep away from bad friends or behaviors, finish their basic education, build up more human capital, and make their original family accept them. This home also tries to “train” them how to survive independently before they are forced to move out or to go back home. Two projects will be discussed in this paper, “band project” and “job skill training.” Using interview data and regular evaluation scare, we will analyze the effect of music therapy and job skill training on those youth. We will discuss to what extend the projects affect their self-esteem and achievement. Finally, issues of challenge and further work are raised to build up a better good practice for empowerment.  

Keywords (separate with commas)

the youth, high-risk family, empowerment, band project

Summary

Adolescence is a unique period of physical, social, and emotional development. Yet, this development can be hampered by structural inequalities, adverse childhood experiences, and difficulties experienced in environmental contexts. These conditions may exasperate mental health issues and negatively impact adolescent well-being. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine the empirical literature on promising prevention approaches targeting youth mental health and to consider their application in both Canada and China.The scoping review was conducted using Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework and PRISMA-ScR reporting guidelines (Peters et al., 2020; Tricco et al., 2018). Terms related to each concept (e.g., adolescent/youth, prevention, mental health/wellbeing) were used to search the titles, abstracts, and keywords in eleven electronic databases, and studies published from 2010-2022 were included. The location, study objectives, methodology, sample, prevention program/approach, and findings were extracted and reviewed via content analysis.A total of 54 studies were deemed eligible and included for analysis. Most of the studies were from the USA (n=19), followed by Canada (n=6), Australia (n=5) and China (n=3)/Hong Kong, China (n=2). Twenty-two studies evaluated a specific prevention program, with half of them (n=11) implemented in school-based settings. Among all studies, some prevention initiatives and approaches included peer mentoring, sports/recreational activities, healthy eating programs, mindfulness-based stress reduction programs, academic supports, psycho-education workshops, mental health screening, and a crisis support text line.The authors of all studies reported promise in the prevention programs or initiatives examined.This scoping review is limited in its exclusion of grey literature, which could have eliminated promising prevention efforts that have not been evaluated and/or published in academic journals. Future research efforts could focus on examining a narrower scope and definition of mental health for a more targeted approach.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Child and youth mental health (CYMH), Adolescence, Prevention, Social Programs, Promising Practices, Scoping Review

Summary

Objective: The primary goal of this project evaluation study is to understand the impact of basketball training on vulnerable youth. Increasing evidence suggests that sports can enhance the physical and mental well-being of adolescents in vulnerable situations. In line with its corporate social responsibility, CTBC Bank aims to provide stable basketball training support to schools for vulnerable youth who are at risk of dropping out due to adverse family factors. The goal of this project is to enhance the youths' sense of self-worth through basketball training, reducing the likelihood of drug abuse or gang involvement. This evaluation study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the project from the perspective of social work and provide recommendations for project improvement.Methods: Starting from April 2022, two junior high schools, around 50 students participated in this project, the team employed various methods to evaluate the project's outcomes. These included regular on-site observations of basketball activities, pre- and post- self-evaluate-questionnaires completed by participating students to understand their thoughts about the training, comparison of academic performance before and after joining the project, and focus group interviews with teachers to gather their perceptions about participating students.Results: Current provisional findings indicated that participating students showed improvements in physical fitness, mental well-being, and increased motivation and energy for learning. They also expressed a higher willingness to attend school, learned the importance of teamwork, exhibited better adherence to group discipline and norms, experienced increased self-esteem, and established life goals. On the other hand, the varying skill levels of participants in basketball lead to learning frustrations, and the scarcity of female members posed challenges in terms of training difficulty for this project.

Keywords (separate with commas)

vulnerable youth, adverse family, youth work, youth basketball project

Summary

In this paper, I present the findings from the participatory research with 18 young participants (ages 15-23) who shared their experiences of racism in Vancouver, Canada. The study revealed that addressing racism directly can be difficult, especially for young people living in multicultural societies. This paper focuses on the motivations and tactics of ethnoracial minority youth that emerged in response to racist encounters. I will explore three primary reasons for their reluctance to confront racism directly. First, the participants expressed challenges arising from the difficulty of identifying whether an incident qualifies as racist, which leads them to second-guess the situation and their experience. Second, I\ will explore how youth were hesitant to perpetuate harmful narratives and reinforce stereotypes.\ Third, I will delve into their fear of triggering a negative feedback loop that influences their decision-making process. Their concerns about inadvertently increasing racial tensions and exacerbating discrimination will be discussed in detail. One notable finding in these stories is the profound impact of bystander silence in the presence of racism. The inaction of others shaped their responses and highlighted the societal norms and systemic underpinnings that perpetuate racial disparities. By incorporating narratives and perspectives shared by study participants in the interviews and focus groups, I highlight the complexity of their thought processes, internal conflicts and unspoken challenges they face. These multifaceted reasons behind their silence in the face of racism deepen our understanding of youth's challenges in addressing racism. The lived experiences of this group of ethnoracial minority youth offer new understandings that invite us to rethink resisting racism directly. In conclusion, I will propose practical implications for social action to disrupt these patterns of racial oppression.

Keywords (separate with commas)

Racism, Canada, multicultural societies, ethnoracial minority youth, lived experiences, confronting racism, stereotypes, racist encounters, unspoken challenges, systemic underpinnings\