The Choices Program: Multisystemic Interventions for Enhancing the Personal and Academic Effectiveness of Urban Adolescents of Color

Abstract

Through a collaboration with a public school in a poor, urban, largely Latino neighborhood, a multisystemic program was designed to foster positive youth development and promote school success. Aspects of the program highlighted include (a) the rationale; (b) interventions developed with and for youth, their parents, and their teachers; (c) the process of incorporating cultural issues into the program; and (d) evaluation strategies. Recommendations for future program development are provided along with general ideas for program evaluation.

An Update on the Status of Sponsored Research in Counseling Psychology

“…The goals of counseling psychology have become increasingly focused on impacting society on a broad scale. A number of articles published in counseling psychology journals over the past decade have advocated that counseling psychologists engage in activities that result in broad societal impacts, such as social justice efforts (Goodman et al, 2004;Vera & Speight, 2003), preventive interventions that address mental health needs among children and families (Hage et al, 2007;Herman, Reinke, Stormont, Puri, & Agarwal, 2010), and integrating culturally relevant practices into a wide array of intervention efforts (Cabral & Smith, 2011;Coard, Foy-Watson, Zimmer, & Wallace, 2007;Tao, Owen, Pace, & Imel, 2015;Vera et al, 2007). Such activities complement existing contributions to the literature historically identified with counseling psychology, such as the field's focus on vocational psychology (see Juntunen & Evan, 2012) and psychotherapy process and outcome (see Scheel & Conoley, 2012).…”

Moving From Contemplation to Preparation: Is Counseling Psychology Ready to Embrace Culturally Responsive Prevention?

“…Many qualitative methodologies provide an excellent way to integrate our students' counseling skills (e.g., interviewing) with their research skills. Lerner (as cited by Vera et al, 2007) stated that well-developed interventions only occur after a great deal of listening. Qualitative methodologies may be particularly useful with populations that have historically been understudied and with newly developed interventions.…”

“…For the Choices program (Vera et al, 2007), there appeared to be a blend of research methods to enhance the program. One addition that I would suggest is to examine the weekly journal entries that the graduate students are required to write to process their experiences.…”

A Research Practitioner's Perspective on Culturally Relevant Prevention

“…For example, Vera et al (2007) cite the seriousness of low graduation and high dropout rates among Latinos; both are correlated with "criminal activity, violence, and teenage pregnancy" (p. 780). Reese and Vera (2007) report that a substantial disparity exists between minority youth and White youth in a variety of functional, academic, and other health areas.…”

“…These interventions need to take an ecological approach in which a confluence of systems-individual, family, institutional, and community-reinforce a common set of academic goals, health messages, and functional target behaviors. Researchers can use the strength-based Positive Youth Development theoretical model similar to the one that Vera et al (2007) employed in their academic support and competency-based approach. Given the alleged history of problem-oriented programs used with minorities, the focus on assets provides a higher level of face validity and credibility among minorities.…”