Citation

Bean CN, Kendellen K, Halsall T, Forneris T. Eval. Program Plann. 2014; 49C: 31-40.

Affiliation

School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, 125 University Rm 4o6B, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2014.11.007

PMID

25528962

Abstract

In recent years there has been a call for increased community physical activity and sport programs for female youth that are deliberately structured to foster positive developmental outcomes. In addition, researchers have recognized the need to empirically evaluate such programs to ensure that youth are provided with optimal opportunities to thrive. This study represents a utilization-focused evaluation of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, a female-only physical activity-based life skills community program. A utilization-focused evaluation is particularly important when the evaluation is to help stakeholders utilize the findings in practice. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to gain an understanding of the ongoing successes and challenges after year two of program implementation and (b) to examine how the adaptations made based on feedback from the first year evaluation were perceived as impacting the program. From interviews with youth participants and program leaders, three main themes with eight sub-themes emerged. The main themes were: (a) applying lessons learned can make a significant difference, (b) continually implementing successful strategies, and (c) ongoing challenges. Overall, this evaluation represents an important step in understanding how to improve program delivery to better meet the needs of the participants in community-based programing.

Language: en