1 - (IOP 12) The Necessity of Youth, Teacher, and Caregiver Voices: Qualitative Research in the Early Measure Development of Social Emotional Competency for Early Adolescents

With the U.S. youth mental health crisis resulting in disproportional outcomes of girls (Walters, 2023) and youth with marginalized identities (Calhoun, 2023), it is more essential than ever to bridge the gap to quality care access. School-based programs that promote social emotional competencies (SECs; e.g., inter- and intra-personal skills), such as social emotional learning (SEL) programs, have consistently shown to reduce negative behaviors and internalizing symptoms (Ross & Tolan, 2017). SEL programs were intended to be included across education and urbanicity levels (Durlak, 2011); however, relatively more research has evaluated their implementation in urban elementary schools. Current evaluation tools for adolescent student outcomes are generally inadequate and too expensive for sustainable use in schools. They often do not include developmental considerations of adolescent unique challenges and changes. This comprehensive consideration requires input from people who spend time with them (i.e., teachers, parents), as well as the students themselves, whose perspectives are often overlooked (Mahoney et al., 2021).

The aim of this project is to develop a SEC measure for early adolescents (6th to 8th grade) that will be public domain, developed through stakeholder input from teachers, caregivers, and students, and include developmentally appropriate items that comprehensively measure SEC changes. This presentation will (1) overview the background of this measure development, including the need for this tool and the importance of participatory action methods. It will also address (2) the results of the stakeholder-informed item development project phase, including the items generated and lessons learned from participant collaboration.

Participants included three groups: 6th to 8th grade students, full-time middle school teachers, and caregivers of middle school students, recruited for representative demographics similar to state and national levels (i.e., socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, urbanicity). Participants were interviewed individually, either virtually or in-person, using an open-ended, semi-structured interview guide to understand how middle schoolers function at different levels across domains of inter- and intra-personal skills. Data collection will be completed in April 2025 with a total of 45 participants or until saturation is reached. Interviews have been completed by 34 participants.

Qualitative data from transcribed interviews will be analyzed using both deductive and inductive approaches. Coding themes will be developed from a priori categories of five core social emotional competencies (deductive) or emerge from analysis (inductive), as is consistent with Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis. In order to increase the reliability and confidence in findings, triangulation methods will be used to test for consistency through use of multiple data sources, methods, and perspectives (Patton, 2014). Analysis will be completed by August 2025. Overall, findings will generate comprehensive items that will be the foundation of this new measure that schools can use to evaluate SECs in students and evaluate whether programs that are bridging access to care are effective.