Hi, my name is Caleb McDonald. I'm a doctoral candidate in the Biden's quote, Pope policy administration. I'm here today to present findings from my dissertation, sport in juvenile correctional facilities, a study of the scope and implementation. A quick overview of what we'll be talking about today. I'll provide a bit of background on the topic, introduced a conceptual framework. The first set of research questions, methods and findings, and then a second set of research questions, methods and findings, and then finally, implications for policy practice and future research. So a little background on juvenile justice in the States. Currently the US leads all industrialized nations, the number of youth and subsequently adults who are incarcerated. There's approximately 37 thousand young people who are housed in just over 1500 facilities across the states. And building a picture of who these young people are using detention are more likely to come from disadvantaged backgrounds with more limited economic and educational opportunities, as well as have unmet health needs upon entering into facilities. Used in facilities are disproportionately young men of color with a commitment, write that as five times that of white youth. Large number of these young people who interface with juvenile justice system have been found to have poor outcomes upon release. These include high recidivism rates, increase rates of adult incarceration, decrease rates of high-school graduation. In addition, any period of incarceration during adolescence is also associated with worse general health. Now if we move to literature on use for participation, there's a significant evidence base on the contribution of sport participation for the health and development of young people. This contingent on a multitude of programmatic social and cultural factors. Benefits that have been found include those to physical health, psychological and emotional benefits, as well as to social development. Of course, there are detriments to use for participation. There have been links that related to the inappropriate modeling of behaviors by adults and youth sport. Not all that surprising. Risk for traumatic and overuse injuries, among others. But what we found around the benefits and detriments used for participation has largely been found in school and community settings. And a lot less is known in non-traditional settings such as juvenile facilities. What we do know, there's an emerging body of international literature that's focused on the use of sport with individuals who are incarcerated and findings that show high levels of sport participation and interests specifically among youth who are incarcerated. Many of these benefits mirror what we see in the community. So then physical health benefits, mental health benefits, psychosocial benefits. Little bit more specific to the correctional setting are implications for facility management and rehabilitation and re-entry. But gaps in the literature continued to exist for the role of these six themes exclusively in juvenile correctional facilities. Studies in the states continue to be quite sparse. So based on the general view of the literature, sport is often a natural setting for intervention. It can be used for the broad health benefits including potentially positive youth development. But again, not enough is known about what programs and juvenile facilities. The complexity of the research problem with its interdisciplinary nature, requires a conceptual framework that integrates key concepts, variables, and theories across the fields of Juvenile Justice, positive youth development and post development through sport. This model was created by blending and adapting the model ecological systems theory and a model. Positive youth development through sport, as well as including additional features from the literature. I don't have enough time right now to really dig into the conceptual framework, but I know that we have a Q&A period at a later date, so I'd be happy to discuss more at that time. So the first set of research questions are really looking at the landscape of sport programs and long-term secure juvenile correctional facilities. Looking at that frequency, the type and the identified purpose. To answer the first set of research questions, a survey was used to gather data from these facilities in the states of which is about 211 that need that classification of long-term secure. The survey was designed and distributed in partnership with the council of juvenile justice administrators, which is a national non-profit. So the findings amongst survey respondents, approximately 55 percent reported operating programs in the facility compared to 45 percent who were not. Considering that sport is not federally mandated in juvenile facilities. It does appear promising that just over half of facilities are operating programming above that minimum requirement of recreation. There's one federal mandate that requires one hour of recreation for you, some facilities. Yet, this finding also highlights considerable variability in the landscape of sport programming by facility, which is important, as it suggests, integrable conditions and access to sport for youth who are incarcerated. Quickly, if we look at type of sport programs, we found substantial range and diversity. Basketball was the most frequently reported sport program AND operation with 42 programs than football, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer. Since positive youth development is not an inherent feature of sport participation, prior research has shown the importance of purposely constructing sport with an emphasis on contracts related to positive youth development were the five C's of PYT, which are competency, confidence, connection, character and caring and compassion to this was a question on the survey. And as you can see from the data, the five C's were six out of the top seven purposes selected by respondents. And then finally, a facilities who weren't operating as far as program 62 percent expressed an interest in starting one. So again, if we consider the strong literature base of the broad health benefits of sport participation. And then we also consider the decreased levels of physical activity and poor general health among youth who are incarcerated. The variance, since we're programming, it raises some questions about how knowledge, innovations, and programming gets transferred from the literature into real-world contexts. So the second set of research questions were advised to understand how exemplary programs are implemented. Secure settings with implications for practice and a larger literature. So guided by the conceptual framework, the second set of research questions explored how sport programs have been implemented in long-term secure juvenile correctional facilities. 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants at exemplar facilities utilizing an interview guide which was designed to broadly explore factors that the implementation and the creation of the god was informed by drilling into praise ecological framework for understanding effective implementation. So emerging findings that we found that community-level factors such as policy research and funding are helpful but do not play an essential role in the implementation of sport programs. Juvenile Justice System. Sport program implementation is considerably influenced by its correctional environment and as such, has an overarching focus on safety. The facility is the central factor in successful implementation currently of sport program. The characteristics of this program are both compatible with and adaptable to the juvenile justice setting. And sport programs in the juvenile justice system are implemented with a focus on PYT. This is really the first look that we've had at sport in juvenile facilities in the United States. And so as this data is helpful in identifying the landscape and the implementation, there's still a lot to be learned. I think first the implication is recognizing that sport has the potential to be a productive intervention with youth who are incarcerated. And that sport is being employment implemented in a compatible manner with the mission of facilities focused on treatment. And that facilities are adapting sport as a way to reinforce and practice treatment with youth who are incarcerated. Survey findings uncovered a variability in existing programs, reveals ineffable editions. Excuse me, my dog wants to make an appearance. Conditions and access to sport between facilities. Legal, inequality in access to sport for you, for us, rated the variability identified through survey data when considered with the findings from interviews, highlighted that sport programs were mainly implemented at the facility level and that there was very little influence from policy. That further suggests that that one federal policy does not provide enough guidance to states and facilities, leaving the potential for variance in inequity in sport access. So of course, the recommendations, revisions to that policy that include guidelines for sport programming in addition to that mandated recreation. Thank you so much for this opportunity to share my findings and I look forward to the Q&A later, we might be able to dig into a little bit more of this topic. Thank you.

Sport in Juvenile Correctional Facilities: A mixed methods study of the scope and implementation, Kalyn McDonough

From Priyanka Mondal April 15, 2021

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The presentation will outline my dissertation research focused on understanding the landscape (frequency, type, identified purpose) of sport programs in long-term, secure juvenile correctional facilities across the United States as well as how these programs are implemented in a sample of exemplar facilities. There is an extensive literature base exploring the positive benefits of sport on the growth and development of young people in school and community-based settings, which has found significant physical, psychological/emotional, intellectual, and social benefits for youth participating in thoughtfully constructed sport programs (Holt et al., 2017; Neely & Holt, 2014; Whitley, Massey, & Wilkison, 2018; Blom, Bronk, Coakley, Lauer, Sawyer, 2013; Fox, Barr-Anderson, Neumark-Sztainer, & Wall, 2010; Camiré, Trudel, & Forneis, 2009). Yet, there is much more limited systematic exploration into sport with young people in secure settings, particularly in the United States. Considering the appeal of sport among young people, findings that show high levels of sport participation among incarcerated youth (Lewis & Meek, 2012), and poor health outcomes for youth who have been incarcerated (Massagolia, 2008); more research is needed in this area. The studies focused on addressing two significant gaps in the literature related to (1) the landscape of this phenomenon across the United States and (2) how such programs are implemented in secure facilities. Findings will be presented from both the first study: a national survey on sport programs in juvenile facilities conducted in partnership with the Council of Juvenile Justice Administrators (CJJA); as well as the second study: interviews with key informants at exemplar facilities, established through survey data, in which themes for implementation were identified. Implications of the findings will be discussed in connection with existing literature, policy, and practice.

Department Name: Biden School
Appears In: GSG presents 10th Annual Graduate Students’ Forum

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