Masters Thesis

Determining The Efficacy of Vista Community Clinic’s Youth Prevention Program

Objective: The objective of this program is to analyze the dosage of the program and compare teens that completed the VCC program to those who did not complete the program. Methods. Vista Community Clinic's Youth Development program project REACH is a youth prevention program working with youth who are at higher risk of engaging in negative behaviors that can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. The survey was comprised using 3 assessment tools. The first section used components of the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) to measure involvement in risky behavior such as alcohol and drug use, sexual activity, and violence. Development Asset Profile (DAP) survey that assesses internal and external assets is used to measure protective factors shown to reduce/prevent involvement in risky behavior measured by the CHKS. Stress Index measured 3 different environmental stress factors (life transitions, circumscribed events, and exposure to violence). Using SPSS software to generate descriptive statistic using cross-tabulations and paired sample t-test to compare means between males and females in regards to their participation in risky behavior. We also used a paired sample t-test to compare DAP scores and stress index scores. Results. The overall result indicated an overall increase in protective factors measured by the internal and external captured by the DAP. There was an overall significant increase in Internal Asset Scores for males p.05, p=.031. The subscales within the internal asset having significance were Social Competencies p.05, p=.032. Conclusions. The data indicated that the youth prevention program Project REACH is overall an effective program. It is increased protective factors proven to prevent youth from participating in unhealthy behaviors measured by the CHKS. Future work with a larger sample is needed to confirm results of the evaluation of the program.

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