Mentoring up-cycled: creating a community-based intervention for sexually abused adolescents

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to detail a project that created a community-based mentoring intervention for sexually abused children and adolescents. The project features the use of family and community strengths, trauma sensitivity, current research and ecological theory to develop a curriculum for training mentors.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods to create a community-based intervention designed for sexually abused children and adolescents. This model supports the building and maintenance of the often fluid and relationship-driven processes that are characteristic of CBPR. The stages included: identification of research questions; assessment of community strengths, assets and challenges; defining priorities; developing research and data collection methodologies; collecting and analysing data; interpretation of findings; dissemination of findings; and applying findings to address action.

Findings

The results include a recommendation to include community members in interventions for sexually abused adolescents.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this study include recommendations for a culturally relevant training curriculum for mentors of sexually abused children and adolescents. Hallmarks of the resulting curriculum included using a hybrid of natural and programme mentors and inclusion of trauma sensitivity in training the mentors. The results from the pilot study are not generalisable since the pilot only included a small number of mentors and the effectiveness of the intervention was not tested. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of the intervention.

Practical implications

The paper includes implications for further development of a mentoring curriculum for sexually abused children and adolescents. This curriculum promotes several potential benefits, including: incorporation of families and communities in discussion and awareness of sexual abuse and trauma sensitivity; and formal training for individuals who have the potential to remain important in the life of the child or adolescent long after formal services have ceased.

Originality/value

The literature shows a lack of community level interventions for sexually abused children and adolescents. The focus of this project was to expand the traditional ecological context of mentoring from a micro or individual level intervention to a community level intervention.

Citation

Williams, J. and Nelson-Gardell, D. (2014), "Mentoring up-cycled: creating a community-based intervention for sexually abused adolescents", Journal of Children's Services, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 235-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-09-2013-0034