An exploratory study of a mentoring project for African Caribbean boys with behavioural and emotional difficulties
Year: 2005
Type: dissertation
Abstract: It is increasingly recognised that the African Caribbean community are disadvantaged in\nmultiple domains including health, education, housing and employment. Indeed, statistics\nrelating to the penal system and the mental health system indicate that Black boys and men\nare over-represented in both. This highlights the need to work with young Black boys with\nemotional and behavioural difficulties, deemed 'at-risk' of developing difficulties in later\nlife.\nMentoring schemes, aimed at working with disaffected youth, are becoming increasingly\npopular throughout the UK. There is a body of evidence suggesting that the presence of an\nadult mentor, particularly for those boys who lack a father or a father figure, is valuable in\nhelping young people through the transitions from adolescence to adulthood. However, this\nliterature is largely quantitative and focuses on the teachers' and parents' reports of the\nimpact of mentoring schemes that are aimed at fostering adolescent academic ability and\npotential employment.\nThis thesis considers boys' and their mothers' individual experiences of a mentoring project\ncalled boys2MEN for African Caribbean boys aged 8 to 13 with emotional and behavioural\ndifficulties who lack a father figure. The research was concerned with exploring the impact\nof the project on behaviour and identity and the interpretations of the mentee-mentor\nrelationship. Semi-structured interviews were carried out individually with eight boys and\nsix mothers and the data analysed by means of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.\nThe analysis of the boys' interviews revealed two superordinate themes: the relationship to\nthe project and developing self-regard. The superordinate themes to emerge from the\nmothers' interviews were forming relationships with help providers and the role of\nboy2MEN. The participants' experiences of boys2MEN were frequently contrasted strongly\nwith their experience with professionals at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service\n(CAMHS) for which the accounts suggest a more negative experience. The theoretical and\nclinical implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions are made for future\nresearch and practice within CAMHS.
Author: George Hibbert
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W269903036