Open Collections

Participative health promotion and program evaluation with street-involved youth : a Vancouver based case study

University of British Columbia

The following document is intended to profile the participative development, implementation and evaluation of a health promotion program for street-involved youth entitled the Youth Wellness Project (YWP). Program planning, implementation and evaluation logic models are applied to this program. In the context of these logic models, we describe the resulting health promotion program and outcomes associated with its evaluation. The results presented in this report draw upon observational data and focus groups conducted with key partners and workshop participants. This report demonstrates how marginalized youth can make remarkable contributions to advocacy as well as research and educational initiatives when provided with opportunities to take on roles of active citizenship. The youth bring inherent abilities, energy, and new perspectives to health promotion. Providing youth with opportunities to develop tangible skills, make management decisions and contribute to their community instils a sense of social responsibility among these individuals, builds capacity and establishes credibility in the community. This study provides a best practices model for the development of a respectful and synergistic relationship between academics and community-based participants. It further investigates how this partnership can ultimately transform their lives. The YWP is an example of how street-involved youth and medical students alike can simultaneously gain a capacity to stand back from their world and transform their reality.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-08-17

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12260

Health Care and Epidemiology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/