Sponsor
Portland State University. Social Work and Social Research Ph. D. Program
First Advisor
Thomas E. Keller
Date of Publication
Summer 7-8-2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Social Work and Social Research
Department
Social Work
Language
English
Subjects
Problem youth -- Social networks -- Case studies, Mentoring -- United States -- Case studies, Social work with youth
DOI
10.15760/etd.3104
Physical Description
1 online resource (vii, 226 pages)
Abstract
When mentoring programs are well-designed and well-implemented, young people can experience positive gains in a number of social, emotional, behavioral, and educational areas. While some of the processes underlying mentoring relationships have been explored, the voices and perspectives of participants themselves have thus far been largely excluded from the mentoring literature. The lack of participant voice in mentoring research suggests that an important source of empirical and interpretive information is unavailable to the field in the process of designing, implementing, and researching mentoring programs. This study used interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore how youth participants in the Friends of the Children (FOTC) mentoring program experience and understand their long-term mentoring relationships.
This study used an innovative approach to IPA that combines traditional phenomenological techniques with poetry writing as a key interpretive tool to explore the interplay between the content and meaning of participants' experiences. IPA methods were used to collect and analyze interview data from 12 FOTC participants who had been in the program for more than ten years and who had the same mentor for at least the last four years. Participants were selected purposively to maximize the potential depth and richness of the data. The study included several elements to ensure trustworthiness, including a reflexivity journal, an audit trail, and member checking.
Findings suggest that for the participants in this study, long-term mentoring relationships meant: 1) unconditional support and commitment, 2) consistent and reliable help in difficult situations, 3) the chance to develop and appreciate one's own identity, and 4) a path to expanded opportunities in many facets of life. Subthemes within each category are described and interpreted. The poems created from the interview transcripts provide powerful and complementary illustrations for emergent themes by capturing some of the emotional content that can be lost in the process of analyzing, categorizing, and describing complex human phenomena. Key recommendations for mentoring programs and social work professionals are provided. Implications for future research are also discussed.
Rights
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/18083
Recommended Citation
Jones, Kevin Richard, "An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of Long-Term Mentoring Relationships from the Youth Perspective" (2016). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3107.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.3104