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Research Snippets

What qualities do resilient people have?

  • prosocial orientation
  • stong interpersonal skills
  • committment to school or work

Across studies of resiliency, what is the most common finding that differentiates resilient children and youth from those who are struggling?

  • a relationship with a supportive adult

Needs Assessments and Research

When organizations and communities identify a potential gap in services, a broader needs assessment and targeted research allows the voices of the end users to be heard. Needs assessments and research help guide planning by ensuring that program development matches the current needs. Examples of needs assessments and research completed to date are:

  • Child care needs assessments
  • Out-of-school programs needs assessments
  • Adolescent needs in relation to cancer prevention education
  • Social-emotional and health needs of children in middle childhood
  • Best practices in youth substance use prevention education
     

 

Program Design

By listening to the needs of clients and incorporating best practices, programs (e.g., workshops, materials, curriculum) are designed to assist people in gaining the necessary knowledge that they require in their field of focus. Examples of programs designed to date include:

  • Development of pre-school Sun Safety curriculum
  • Development of numerous workshops for parents, teachers and clinicians focusing on social-emotional competence, resiliency, attachment, and mental health
  • Development of curriculum materials for a psychoeducational group for girls focusing on building resiliency
  • Creation of frameworks for best practices in early childhood development and health literacy

Program Delivery

After carefully designing workshops of varying lengths, these programs are delivered to various groups of people with the goal of increasing skills and knowledge. In turn, as most of the workshops are conducted with adults who have a stake in child development, these individuals can then apply learning to their direct practice. Examples of workshops include.

  • Fostering social-emotional competence in children (3 day workshop for school personnel and clinicians)
  • Attachment and resiliency in clinical practice
  • Mental health in early childhood: What educators need to know
  • Program evaluation for program enhancement

Program Evaluation

Evaluation of programs (e.g., workshops, long-term programs) is critical in order to continually focus on program improvement. This is a fundamental part of ensuring that programs are of high quality and are of benefit to clients. Arbor conducts evaluations for these purposes. Examples of Arbor evaluation projects include:

  • Evaluation of “Jessie's Hope” Men's Health Group for Men with Disordered Eating
  • Implementation Evaluation of the “Seeds of Empathy” Program
  • Evaluation of the BC Cancer Agency’s “Stop Smoking Before Surgery” material
  • Evaluation of "Respectful Relationships": A School-Based Violence Prevention Program
  • Evaluation of "Reducing Barriers" for transitional housing programs for women fleeing violence 
  • Evaluation of youth substance use prevention initiatives

For more details, please go to the various sections of this website.

Upcoming Workshops

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Recent Publications

Promoting Social Justice Through Building Healthy Relationships: Evaluation of SWOVA's "Respectful Relationships" program (Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, November, 2010)

The Power of Connection (Verlag Press, 2009)

Words to Ponder

"If we think about it, save for the vagaries of birth, errant biology, class and status, or simply circumstance, we are all but a half step away from the ‘other’ families we describe as in need of service or ‘at risk.’ In the final analysis, it is not ‘us’ and ‘them.’ It is all of us. Together"

Irish economist, T. K. Whittaker (1997)