Developmental Intervention Science (DIS) Outreach Research Approach to Promoting Youth Development: Theoretical Methodological, and Meta-Theoretical Challenges

• NCJ Number: 222442
• Journal: Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2008 Pages: 268-290
• Author(s): Marilyn J. Montgomery; William M. Kurtines; Laura Ferrer-Wreder; Steven L. Berman; Carolyn Cass Lorente; Ervin Briones; Wendy Silverman; Rachel Ritchie; Kyle Eichas
• Date Published: May 2008
• Length: 23 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For other articles in this issue, see NCJ-222439-41 and NCJ-222443-46.

Annotation

This article describes three broad challenges (theoretical, methodological, and meta-theoretical) that the authors faced in developing and implementing community-supported intervention programs built on a developmental intervention science outreach research approach, with a focus on the Changing Lives Program (CLP) for troubled youth in Miami's alternative schools (Florida).

Abstract

Developmental intervention science outreach research involves the application and development of theories of positive human development in the course of designing, delivering, and testing interventions for problem youth. The CLP is one of the developmental intervention science programs currently being developed and implemented for multiproblem youths in Miami's alternative high schools. The article first describes the theoretical challenges the authors encountered in developing the conceptual framework for their community-supported intervention. The challenges were centered in the application of a psychosocial developmental life course approach that targets the developmental and historical moment and changes harmful life courses. The authors then discuss the challenge of developing and refining a methodological framework for evaluating positive youth development interventions in "real-world" settings. This involved challenges of measuring qualitative life-course changes and the unification of various theories that focus on different factors involved in life course changes. The third part of this article addresses the meta-theoretical challenges that arose in the course of implementing community-supported positive-development programs for troubled youth. These challenges pertain to the process of fusing and unifying as co-equals measures, methods, and data-analysis strategies for testing research hypotheses derived from "rival" meta-theoretical traditions. The authors advise that addressing challenges in these three broad areas is critical in the design and implementation of effective interventions for troubled youth with diverse profiles seeking to forge a positive life path in diverse settings. 4 tables and 32 references