Long-term impacts of youth programs – University of Adelaide
In 2024, researchers from the University of Adelaide and City of Onkaparinga Youth Team collaborated on a pilot project exploring the long-term impacts of participating in youth programs.
Research funding and team
The project was funded by a University of Adelaide (UoA) Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics (ABLE) Interdisciplinary Grant. The research team included UoA staff from Anthropology (Dr. Dianne Rodger, Dr. Johnny Karanicolas) and Media (Dr. Kim Barbour, Dr. Matt Hart, Dr. Aaron Humphrey and PhD student Megan Moon).
Aims and methods
The central project aim was to examine how attending youth programs / services can inform people’s adult lives and to share these insights using short videos as well as more traditional academic outputs like journal articles.
Thirteen South Australians who attended a diverse range of youth services when they were aged between 8 and 25 years-old participated in semi-structured interviews. Here is a list of participants in alphabetical order with their current job title:
- Lilla Berry - Manager, First Nations Programs
- Mike Brown – Social Planner
- Joel Byrne - Manager, Funding Programs
- Sophie Harpas – Youth Worker
- Luke Hein - Senior Ranger
- Jude Henshall – Producer, Arts Programs
- Li Ingle – Riverland Youth Theatre
- Mark Koen – Youth Worker and Founder Restored Connection
- Nick O’Connor – Music Specialist
- Blaze Pilgrim - Founder of Digido Studios
- Jeffery Purves - Community Development Officer (Youth Recreation)
- Alexis Tindall – Manager, Digital Stewardship
- Sam Wannan – ActNow Theatre
Interviews were recorded using Zoom. Questions focused on past involvement in youth programs and how these experiences had impacted their lives including educational outcomes and career opportunities. People were asked about the skills that they developed and the social networks they formed, but also areas where youth services could improve. The interviews were thematically analysed to identify patterns and produce themes. The core themes were: 1) Confidence and Resilience 2) Networks and Relationships 3) Skill for Life and 4) Participation Barriers.
Video outputs
Four videos representing each research theme were produced by editor Megan Moon:
Theme 1: Confidence and Resilience
Theme 2: Networks and Relationships
Theme 3: Skills for Life
Theme 4: Participation Barriers
Conclusion
This research helps to fill a gap in knowledge by sharing the stories of people who attended youth services and can now look back at and reflect on their experiences. Together, these videos highlight the profound and ongoing impacts of participation in youth programs. The research team is continuing to work on academic research outputs from this pilot project and exploring ways to extend this work in larger-scale projects.
To discuss this project or future research ideas please contact:
Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank everyone who gave up their time to be interviewed for this project.
We also thank Carlew for supporting recruitment, including staff participation in the project.
Special thanks to the City of Onkaparinga and especially Jenna Bloom (Team Leader – Youth) for being a driving force behind this research.
Research activities were approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee at UoA (H-2024-144). People gave consent to be recorded and included in public videos.