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      Enabling relationship formation, development, and closure in a one-year female mentoring program at a non-governmental organization: a mixed-method study

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          Abstract

          Background

          Mental health problems among young women aged 16–24 have increased significantly in recent decades, and interventions are called for. Mentoring is a well-established preventative/promotive intervention for developing adolescents, but we have yet to fully understand how the relationship between the mentor and the protégé forms, develops, and closes. In this study, we focused on a female mentoring program implemented by a Swedish non-governmental organization, The Girls Zone. First, we examined the psychological and social characteristics of the young women who chose to take part in the program as protégés. Second, we investigated adolescent female protégés’ own experiences of the relationship process based on a relational-cultural theory perspective.

          Methods

          The mixed-method study included 52 questionnaires and five semi-structured interviews with young women aged 15–26 who had contacted The Girls Zone between 2010 and 2012 in order to find a mentor. Their experience of the mentoring relationships varied in duration. Data were analysed statistically and with inductive qualitative content analysis.

          Results

          The group of protégés was heterogeneous in that some had poor mental health and some had good mental health. On the other hand, the group was homogenous in that all its members had shown pro-active self-care by actively seeking out the program due to experiences of loneliness and a need to meet and talk with a person who could listen to them. The relationships were initially characterized by feelings of nervousness and ambivalence. However, after some time, these developed into authentic, undemanding, non-hierarchical relationships on the protégés’ terms. The closure of relationships aroused feelings of both abandonment and developing strength.

          Conclusions

          Mentorships that are in line with perspectives of the relational-cultural theory meet the relationship needs expressed by the female protégés. Mentor training should focus on promoting skills such as active listening and respect for the protégé based on an engaged, empathic, and authentic approach in a non-hierarchical relationship. These insights have the potential to inform interventions in several arenas where young women create authentic relationships with older persons, such as in school, in traditional health care contexts, and in youth recreation centres.

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          Most cited references43

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          Positive Youth Development, Participation in Community Youth Development Programs, and Community Contributions of Fifth-Grade Adolescents: Findings From the First Wave Of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

          R Lerner (2005)
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            The prognosis of common mental disorders in adolescents: a 14-year prospective cohort study.

            Most adults with common mental disorders report their first symptoms before 24 years of age. Although adolescent anxiety and depression are frequent, little clarity exists about which syndromes persist into adulthood or resolve before then. In this report, we aim to describe the patterns and predictors of persistence into adulthood. We recruited a stratified, random sample of 1943 adolescents from 44 secondary schools across the state of Victoria, Australia. Between August, 1992, and January, 2008, we assessed common mental disorder at five points in adolescence and three in young adulthood, commencing at a mean age of 15.5 years and ending at a mean age of 29.1 years. Adolescent disorders were defined on the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) at five adolescent measurement points, with a primary cutoff score of 12 or higher representing a level at which a family doctor would be concerned. Secondary analyses addressed more severe disorders at a cutoff of 18 or higher. 236 of 821 (29%; 95% CI 25-32) male participants and 498 of 929 (54%; 51-57) female participants reported high symptoms on the CIS-R (≥12) at least once during adolescence. Almost 60% (434/734) went on to report a further episode as a young adult. However, for adolescents with one episode of less than 6 months duration, just over half had no further common mental health disorder as a young adult. Longer duration of mental health disorders in adolescence was the strongest predictor of clear-cut young adult disorder (odds ratio [OR] for persistent young adult disorder vs none 3.16, 95% CI 1.86-5.37). Girls (2.12, 1.29-3.48) and adolescents with a background of parental separation or divorce (1.62, 1.03-2.53) also had a greater likelihood of having ongoing disorder into young adulthood than did those without such a background. Rates of adolescent onset disorder dropped sharply by the late 20s (0.57, 0.45-0.73), suggesting a further resolution for many patients whose symptoms had persisted into the early 20s. Episodes of adolescent mental disorder often precede mental disorders in young adults. However, many such disorders, especially when brief in duration, are limited to the teenage years, with further symptom remission common in the late 20s. The resolution of many adolescent disorders gives reason for optimism that interventions that shorten the duration of episodes could prevent much morbidity later in life. Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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              How Effective Are Mentoring Programs for Youth? A Systematic Assessment of the Evidence.

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                madelene.larsson@oru.se
                camilla.pettersson@oru.se
                Therese.skoog@oru.se
                charli.eriksson@oru.se
                Journal
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-2458
                24 February 2016
                24 February 2016
                2016
                : 16
                : 179
                Affiliations
                [ ]Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, 701 82 Sweden
                [ ]School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, 701 82 Sweden
                Article
                2850
                10.1186/s12889-016-2850-2
                4765214
                26905222
                6e6b5df0-0d55-4ef1-a2c8-8b3932967842
                © Larsson et al. 2016

                Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 21 May 2015
                : 9 February 2016
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2016

                Public health
                mixed methods,mentoring,gender,intervention,emerging adulthood,young women,prevention,ngo,relationship process,sweden

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