Young People in Focus

SECTION 3

3.6 Young Peoples’ and Parents’ Experiences of
the Projects

In this section we will explore a number of factors:

• What did the young people and parents expect from the project?
• Were their expectations met?
• How satisfied were young people and parents with different aspects of the project?

3.6.1 Young peoples’ and parents’ expectations

The ‘Before’  questionnaire asked participants to rate their expectations of the project on a 6 point scale and the ‘After’ questionnaire asked participants to rate the project upon completion using a similar scale.  Virtually all of the 73 parents who completed both questionnaires expected the project to be ‘very’ or ‘fairly helpful’. The young people were slightly more diverse in their expectations, with 44 of the 61 young people who completed both questionnaires expecting the project to be ‘very helpful’ or ‘fairly helpful’, 10 couldn’t say what they expected, 4 thought it would be ‘neither helpful nor unhelpful’ and the remaining 3 young people thought it would be ‘fairly unhelpful’ (n=2) or ‘very unhelpful’ (n=1). 

Overall, virtually all the parents, and just under ¾ of the young people reported that they expected the project they took part in to be helpful to them. The biggest other group were young people who couldn’t say.

Some of the 10 parents and 8 young people interviewed individually help to illustrate what we learnt from the questionnaires about parents’ and young peoples’ expectations before they attended their project.

In general, the parents interviewed (all 10 were mothers and most were lone/single parents) had felt unable to cope before the intervention and reported having felt isolated and a failure when it came to parenting. There were no real anxieties conveyed about the project itself, apart from some apprehension in participating in something new.  These parents wanted:

• to help their child ‘get better’, wanting them to be aware of their own actions and how it affects them as parents

He needed to see that there was light at the end of the tunnel. (Leigh)

• to set ‘boundaries’ with child – learn parenting techniques
• help and support – including reassurance from project workers/other parents.

Most of the 8 young people interviewed reported how they had hoped engagement with the project would help establish/improve communication with family members, particularly with their mother. They hoped that involvement with the project would provide the opportunity to talk about family problems and create a basis upon which to establish better relationships. 

Some of the young people hoped that their own behavioural problems could be tackled, enabling them to control and manage their anger more effectively:

Just like calm my temper down and that. (Debbie)

One young person who cited problems linked to school issues indicated that he was hoping to receive some assistance with his literacy difficulties

Cos I got spelling difficulties and that. (Jake)

Others hoped that the intervention would help them to return to (mainstream) school:

To help me get back to school, have an education and just achieve something from it. (Tracey)

There were no real anxieties conveyed about the individual projects apart from minor apprehensions about interacting with others.  One young person also asserted:

I sort of thought “oh not another one [intervention]”, but I thought “yeah this may help”. (Sam)

3.6.2 Were young peoples’ and parents’ expectations met?

Parents’ and young peoples’ expectations appear to have been met in the majority of cases. Of the 73 parents and 61 young people who completed both questionnaires all but one parent and 45 of the young people reported that they had found the project either ‘very’ or ‘fairly helpful’. Overall, there was not much change between expectation and final rating. However, one young person who expected the project to be ‘very unhelpful’, actually found it ‘fairly helpful’. Conversely, one young person who expected the project to be ‘fairly helpful’ found it ‘very unhelpful, it was a waste of time’. Three young people found it ‘neither helpful nor unhelpful’ and of these one had expected the same at the beginning, whereas one had expected it to be ‘very helpful’ and the other young person had expected it to be ‘fairly helpful’.

Of the 10 parents involved in individual interviews most spoke of the usefulness of the advice thatthey had received during the project. This included advice on communication and self-control skills as well as learning useful parenting techniques:

It taught you how to set boundaries on your children without being over-bearing... show you how to word things differently. (Ellen)

I think it’s absolutely invaluable ... [daughter] wasn’t going to go anywhere, but we did actually get her to go for some time, which was certainly better than what was happening. (Linda)

However, a couple of parents interviewed reported that they thought the intervention to be a complete failure and that nothing helped:

They kept telling me that everything he was doing, it was helping him.  Well if it was helping him then he wouldn’t have re-offended. (Kathryn)

One parent specifically commented on how much better informed they were about the service that they were receiving from the YOT via discussions with project staff. Other parents interviewed mentioned how proactive project staff were in obtaining literature for them if they requested help or advice in relation to a particular issue. For many the interventions were seen as an ‘outlet’ in that the project staff (and other parents where applicable) were available to listen and assist:

They help you, they understand what I used to go through, and I had someone to talk to, you know, cry to. (Aisha)

These parents were particularly grateful for support from project staff outside of the official session times. This extra support usually took the form of negotiating with schools and making themselves available to take phone calls.

However, having talked in depth about their own satisfaction with the project, when asked about what they thought their child accomplished during the sessions, it would appear that parents who had been in interventions with separate parent and young people sessions knew little about their child’s involvement with the IYPP interventions. They reported that their children didn’t really discuss what they had done in their sessions. However, they believed that their children enjoyed their involvement with the project.  Other parents felt that the young person had not opened up in front of them or the project worker.

Having completed the project, most of the 8 young people interviewed felt that it had benefited them and their family because it enabled them to develop a problem solving approach and to learn new techniques to modify their behaviour. Some felt that involvement in the project was useful in the sense that they were able to discuss their problems rationally rather than expressing themselves in the form of aggression:

I was having a good time… like talking about your problems instead of taking them out on someone like I normally do. (Sam)

I can’t talk to no one, but there I could talk about everything. (Debbie)

Interventions which provided an opportunity to bring family members together to discuss difficult issues were particularly valued by some young people. One young person indicated that the intervention enabled his wider family to better understand how he was feeling and what he was ‘going through’. Some of these young people considered it to be an excellent opportunity to spend time with their main carer/family members. One young person thought there were some advantages to working with their parents but also that it would have been helpful to have separate time:

I like it when my Mum’s with us because then she can she can hear what I’m saying, she’ll understand it. But there’s some things I would like just to talk about with just some other person that actually understands me. (Sam)

However, other young people did not like being in a group with their parents.

For projects that did not bring together parents and young people, the interviews revealed that parents and young people had different opinions about the mode of delivery for the intervention which they had received. The parents interviewed who had taken part in these projects particularly expressed that it would have been preferable to have had at least one session with their child

Sometimes it’s best to work with children as well, to see what they’re like. (Aisha)

These young people on the other hand appeared to feel more comfortable being in a group with peers rather than parents.

3.6.3 Parents’ and young peoples’ satisfaction with different aspects of the project

Both parents and young people were asked in the ‘After’ questionnaires to comment on whether:

• The project was interesting
• The project workers knew what they were doing
• The project workers understood how the young person/parent was feeling
• The project workers listened to what the young person/parent had to say

They were asked to indicate whether they found these statements to be: ‘very true’, ‘fairly true’, ‘neither true nor untrue’, fairly untrue’, ‘not at all true’ or ‘can’t say’.

Over 90% of parents who completed this section of the ‘After’ questionnaire (n=69) found all these statements to be ‘very’ or ‘fairly true’. Over 80% of parents found the statements that project workers knew what they were doing, understood how they were feeling and listened to what they had to say to be ‘very true’. Slightly fewer parents found it ‘very true’ that the project was interesting but this still amounted to 65% of parents.  

Although over 80% of the 65 young people⁸ who completed this section of the ‘After’ questionnaire found all these statements to be ‘very’ or ‘fairly true’, their responses overall were more variable than the parents. Almost the same number of young people agreed that it was ‘fairly true’ that the project was interesting as felt it was ‘very true’ (roughly 40% each). A few young people found it ‘neither true nor untrue’, a few ‘fairly untrue’ and a few ‘not at all true’ that the project was interesting and that the staff understood how they were feeling. A couple of young people found it ‘not at all true’ that the staff knew what they were doing.

Overall then most parents and young people found the projects interesting and the staff competent, understanding and felt the staff listened to them. However, a few young people did not find this to be the case.

Some of the 10 parents interviewed and 8 young people help to illustrate what we learnt about parents’ and young peoples’ satisfaction with different aspects of the projects.

Reflecting back on their experiences some of these young people commented:

It was just like a place that you can go to and relax and just get everything out of your system. (Debbie)

I liked the people that I met but sometimes the sessions were quite boring… we just kept going over the same things… listening to the same things… At the end of it most of us thought that the only good thing about it was the break. (Simi)

The staff were nice. They were like friends as well, cos you used to have a laugh and cos you used to sort your problems out. (Debbie)

Almost all of the 8 young people who were interviewed also commented upon their relationship with project staff in positive terms. Staff were considered by some young people to be ‘easy to talk to’, ‘supportive’ and ‘trustworthy’ when it came to giving out what was deemed to be ‘good advice’. It was apparent that some young people’s relationships with the programme staff had been different to that with staff from previous programmes. The young people commented upon how the staff had really ‘understood children’ and looked attentive:

...as if they understood children other counsellors, all they did was listen and they didn't ask questions. They [previous counsellors] didn't really understand what you were saying. They [current project staff] were thinking about everything you said. (Sam)

Parents interviewed were also generally very positive about the staff with whom they had interacted. The staff were described as ‘trustworthy’ and ‘helpful’ when it came to giving good advice or needing further information. Staff were also considered to be understanding, and caring:

She’s very personable, she’s so easy going and relaxed and she doesn’t make you feel like you’ve got someone official sitting there in the chair... And that makes you open up that much more easily. (Irene)

Most of the 10 parents and 8 young people interviewed considered their relationships with staff to have been an important factor in keeping them engaged with the programme and helping them with their difficulties. 

3.6.4 Summary of young peoples’ and parents’ experiences of the projects

Of the 73 parents and 61 young people who completed both ‘Before’ and ‘After’ questionnaires:

• All parents except one expected  and found the project to be very or fairly helpful
• Nearly ¾ of young people expected and ¾ found the project to be very or fairly helpful
• 10 young people couldn’t say what they expected
• 1 young person found the project ‘very unhelpful, it was a waste of time’

Of the 69 parents and 65 young people who responded to these sections in the ‘After’ questionnaires:

• Most parents found it very or fairly true that the project was interesting, that the staff knew what they were doing, understood how the parent was feeling and listened to them
• Most young people found it very or fairly true that the project was interesting, that the staff knew what they were doing, understood how the young person was feeling and listened to them – however they were not quite as positive overall as the parents
• A few young people did not find the project interesting, nor feel that the staff knew what they were doing, nor think that the staff understood how the young person was feeling nor that the staff listened to them

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