Youth workers often feel underrated and poorly understood in multidisciplinary conversations. While it may make us feel better to complain about our relatively marginalised youth worker status, it would be better for us to be proactive about explaining what it is that we actually do in language that makes sense to others. This article articulates…

Pro-social behaviors serve essential societal functions. This study examines the factors affecting the quality of social networks, in terms of network size and perceived respect. It further explores the role of social networks in enhancing helping intention and helping behaviors. Eight hundred and eighty people were randomly interviewed by phone.…

In 2010, at the beginning of my doctoral program at Northeastern University, I started a project to examine a teacher's emotional and professional repercussions from witnessing a school shooting. I had read articles indicating that school personnel need support after such an event, but I found minimal scholarly literature on this subject. The need…

The aim of the current study is to investigate the impact of counselling-based training on online peer support by comparing the interventions of trained peer supporters as opposed to non-trained peer supporters. Two independent raters analysed 746 support posts published during a period of one year at the "Student to Student" online peer…

This study assessed mental health literacy in Irish adolescents (N = 187), and explored participants' help-giving responses toward hypothetical depressed peers. Participants read five vignettes, each describing an adolescent experiencing a life difficulty; two of the characters met "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"…

In this article, the authors share findings from an ethnographic study drawn from an evaluation of an after-school program directed by a Catholic diocese to meet the educational needs of children attending urban Catholic schools. The authors used critical research methods within the context of Catholic social teaching (CST) as a theoretical…

Given the passivity of many adolescents upon witnessing peer victimization, the goal of this study was to evaluate the features of school-based peer victimization events that promote helping. A sample of 470 early adolescents (52% girls; 71% White, 9% Black, 6% Latino, 2% Asian, 1% American Indian, 8% Multiethnic, and 3% Other) reported likelihood…

Purpose: This case study aimed to examine the factors influencing the implementation of health promotion (HP) policies and programs in secondary schools and the consequences for professional assistance. Design/methodology/approach: Group interviews were held in two schools that represented the best and worst case of implementation of a health…

This article addresses professional learning as intrinsic to social practices. It takes its point of departure in a sociocultural notion of mediation and communication in human activity and addresses the constitutive nature of language and artefacts as material-semiotic tools in the social coordination of perspectives and action, meaning-making…

This exploratory, qualitative study examined the professional identity of 238 practicing counselors and how they perceived counseling as distinct from psychology and social work. Participants' professional identities seemed to be grounded in a developmental, prevention, and wellness orientation toward helping. Participants also seemed to embrace a…

This book aims to reflect the contours of the notion of aid as it is questioned by current scientific research. This notion appears as fuzzy in its scope of intervention, in its methods of multidisciplinary and multi-referential approaches in theoretical frameworks convened. Present in different areas that we propose to investigate in the book…

Despite a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data regarding the positive effects of higher education mentoring programs on faculty satisfaction, retention, tenure, and promotion, mentoring programs are not widespread. The authors examine evaluative data from the first four years of the Faculty Mentoring Program at West Chester University. Of…

The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the persistence of university seniors pursuing a baccalaureate degree and preparing for medical school admission. This topic is important as a vast majority of students who begin their undergraduate studies identifying as "pre-med" change this objective early in their academic…

The study presented in this report evaluates the effects of a school-based theatrical performance "Walk In Our Shoes" on a group of predominantly Latino youth in Santa Barbara County, California. The performance follows the lives of four (fictional) high school students and introduces their various experiences with both mental health…

We studied the impact of the diagnostic label of osteoarthritis and educational information on family members' attributions, perceptions, and willingness to help older parents with pain. Undergraduate students (N = 636) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions where they read vignettes about an older mother with chronic pain, which varied…