Examining the Implementation of Girls Circle and the Council for Boys and Young Men in Schools

Children face a myriad of challenges during adolescence. While girls and boys share common risk factors, problem behaviors are often scripted by gender. Traditional constructs of masculinity and femininity can increase risk behaviors, including antisocial behavior, violence, and school dropout rates among boys, and depression, eating disorders, and sexually transmitted diseases among girls. Girls Circle and The Council for Boys and Young Men, founded by the One Circle Foundation, are structured support groups for middle and high school youth implemented on the national level. For both programs, groups of 9-12 students meet weekly for 10-12 sessions. Facilitators help guide girls and boys in strengths-based, gender-specific discussion and skill building activities, thereby bolstering protective factors such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, prosocial behavior, and perceived social support. Groups have been implemented throughout the U.S., and have served thousands of youth nationwide.

Previous efficacy evaluations of the One Circle Foundation programs have found positive results for the interventions’ effectiveness in promoting the protective factors listed above, as well as reducing recidivism. However, with the exception of a recent study examining Girls Circle outcomes for girls on probation, these evaluations have lacked an experimental design. Given that the majority of groups take place in school-based settings, where allocation of curriculum hours is of key significance to students, teachers, and administrators, it is essential to employ a more rigorous experimental design to evaluate program outcomes, specifically as they pertain to school-based implementation efforts.

The current study is a program evaluation created in partnership between school personnel, the juvenile department, and a research team. It is a randomized control trial with three groups: intervention, waitlist control, and school services as usual. The sample includes 200 youth enrolled in eight middle and high schools that have been administering the Girls Circle and The Council for Boys and Young Men groups in Clackamas County, Oregon. Developmental outcomes for youth will be measured using a 75-item survey at baseline, 12-15 weeks later, and 24-30 weeks later for all students in the study. The surveys measure the constructs targeted by the intervention, including school engagement, self-efficacy, prosocial behavior, perceived social support, and body image. This presentation will describe sample characteristics, report outcomes for students in the intervention and control groups, and discuss the collaborative evaluation process undertaken by the research team, schools, and practitioners.