Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Educational and Psychological Studies
Major Professor
Shannon Suldo, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Sarah Fefer, Ph.D.
Committee Member
John Ferron, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Deidre Cobb-Roberts, Ph.D.
Keywords
cultural relevance, intervention effectiveness, middle school, mixed methods, positive psychology, representativeness
Abstract
Schools are well-situated to be a primary setting to provide mental health services to youth. In fact, most minoritized students who receive mental health services do so through school (Ali et al., 2019). However, even school-based mental health services are not equitably accessed and provided for diverse populations of students, and minoritized students are less likely to have their mental health needs met in schools (Gudiño et al., 2009; Thomas et al., 2011). There are several reasons for the disparity in mental health services amongst students including the cultural relevance of interventions (Santiago-Rosario et al., 2021) and the early departure of minoritized students from treatment (Whitaker et al., 2018). In addition to these reasons, there are gaps in intervention research that aid in maintaining this disparity. Intervention studies have often failed to use representative samples and have also failed to analyse the effectiveness of interventions across racial/ethnic groups (Cipriano et al., 2022; Gaias et al., 2020; Sinclair et al., 2018). This means that diverse students may be receiving interventions that may be less effective for their unique needs (Castro-Olivo, 2017). The purpose of this research project was to address these gaps in the literature. This study focused on a school-based positive psychology intervention, the Well-Being Promotion Program, as delivered as a Tier 2 support in public middle schools. The dataset included qualitative and quantitative data from (a) 286 youth participating in the Well-Being Promotion Program during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years at eight middle schools in two states, (b) 45 school mental health providers who delivered the Well-Being Promotion Program to small groups of the youth participants, and (c) 6 research team members who provided coaching to the interventionists. This study examined the cultural relevance of the intervention as perceived by the students; the participation of students in the intervention across racial/ethnic subgroups; the effectiveness of the intervention on youth mental health outcomes across racial/ethnic subgroups; and the strategies used by interventionists to increase the cultural relevance of the intervention. This study concluded that the study sample was partially representative of their larger school populations, and that students from different racial/ethnic groups respond similarly to the WBPP with regards to outcomes in life satisfaction and negative affect. However, Students who identify as Asian who have average scores at baseline, score higher in post intervention positive affect than their White counterparts who also have average scores at baseline. Lastly, the qualitative findings showed that students feel comfortable in their groups and also feel connected to their interventionists, however, the interventionists used a limited range of strategies to incorporate students’ culture into intervention delivery.
Scholar Commons Citation
Francis, Gabrielle, "The Cultural Relevance of the Well-Being Promotion Program" (2024). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/10190
