The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (GJWHF) programme was designed to help female youth increase their physical activity and develop life skills. Although in recent years there has been a rise in community-based physical activity programmes for youth, there remains a dearth of evaluation and research to understand the impact of such programmes.
The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the contextual factors viewed by participants as important in the delivery of GJWHF and the perceived developmental outcomes resulting from participation in the programme. The study specifically sought to examine whether the programme was perceived as embodying Petitpas et al’s framework for positive youth development.
Results indicate that the programme supported the framework. It was found that the GJWHF programme provided a trusting and caring environment, afforded positive and supportive leaders, and helped foster positive developmental outcomes in youth participants (i.e. a positive future orientation, a sense of identity, and life skills including teamwork and leadership). Overall, the results provide initial evidence that the programme may be having a positive effect on the development of female youth participants.
[This article has been edited by the Operating Team]
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