Date on Senior Honors Thesis

3-2018

Document Type

Senior Honors Thesis

Degree Name

B.S.

Department

Social Work

Degree Program

School of Social Work

Committee Chair

Gattis, Maurice

Committee Member

Rote, Sunshine

Committee Member

Woodruff-Borden, Janet

Author's Keywords

LGBTQIA+; mental health; adolescents; peer-support

Abstract

This paper will discuss the correlation between participation in a mental health peer-support training and adolescents’ self-reported feelings of preparedness to deal with mental health crises. The paper will focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other non-heterosexual, non-cisgender youth (LGBTQIA+) between the ages of 13 and 21 years old. The study used a quantitative, written survey with eighteen questions before the intervention, and another with five questions after the intervention. The study originally involved eleven participants, but the number of participants decreased to seven due to attrition. The intervention was administered to every participant. The data were analyzed to find the averages and standard deviations for each category. The results found that the average preparedness increased after the intervention. Due to lack of a control group, the researcher was not able to determine causation, but they were able to determine correlation. The researcher concluded that there was a short-term increase in feelings of preparedness to deal with crises in correlation with receiving the mental health training.

Lay Summary

This study taught teenagers how to deal with their friends' mental health emergencies. It focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and other non-heterosexual, non-cisgender teenagers. It determined that teenagers felt that they were better able to deal with mental health emergencies after participating in the study.

Download

Included in

Social Work Commons

Share

COinS