Strategies of youth engagement in health promotion: listening sessions, task force participation, surveys and other strategies

Abstract

Youth engagement is often purported as a critical dimension of health promotion for young people, but the strategies used to facilitate this engagement are seldom evaluated or studied. This study explored the strategies used to engage youth in a strategic planning process to develop comprehensive health and wellness plans in 28 US school districts. Participating school districts conducted listening sessions, administered anonymous surveys, included youth on a district task force, and employed other strategies to engage youth. Following this initiative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from all school districts (n = 34) to enumerate the use of these strategies across districts and understand their perspectives related to the effectiveness and importance of these strategies for engaging youth in health promotion. The most prevalent strategy used by districts was listening sessions (27 districts; 564 youth), followed by including youth on the task force (19 districts; 39 youth), anonymous surveys (18 districts; 1988 youth) and other methods (5 districts). Interviewees clarified the benefits and challenges of each strategy and provided commentary on youth engagement for health promotion. The results stress the importance of building trusting relationships with youth, using multiple strategies to engage youth, and embodying an equity mindset throughout the development and implementation of youth engagement efforts.

Keywords: listening sessions; schools; student engagement; youth engagement; youth involvement.