Group Mentoring for Immigrant Youth: Lessons Learned from Canadian Newcomers

Background and Purpose

In the last five years, there has been an influx of immigrant youth entering North America. In Canada, for example, one-third (or approximately 400,000) of all new immigrants are children (Statistics Canada, 2011 National Household Survey).  Immigrant youth are vulnerable to a range of risk factors, including psychological and behavioral problems (Birman & Morland, 2014), and preliminary research reinforce the potential of culturally competent mentoring strategies in responding to the needs of these young people.

Findings from the first year of a three-year evaluation of the “Conversation Club” (CC), an innovative group mentoring program of Big Brothers/Big Sisters Canada aimed at addressing the needs and strengths of immigrant adolescents new to Canada, are shared here. It is hypothesized that participation in CC will result in improvement in important psychological outcomes (sense of belonging, connectedness, and hopefulness) when compared to similar immigrant youth not involved in the Conversation Club.

 

Methods

Findings are the result of a quasi-experimental, mixed method design involving youth participants in CC (n=67) and similar youth in a control condition (n=25; average age of both groups 15.5 years).  Both groups completed a questionnaire at two time points (i.e., baseline in early Fall and at end of school year) that included demographic questions and scales focused on sense of community, belonging, and overall sense of hope for the future (i.e., Perceived Cohesion Scale (PCS) and Children’s Hope Scale (CHS)).  In addition, 13 CC participants (7 female, 6 male), sampled for their high or low level of CC involvement, were interviewed at program end. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically, exploring domains similar to the quantitative scales.

Results

A paired-samples t-test was conducted on specific items of the questionnaire.  Based on analysis of the pre-and post-tests for the CC and Comparison groups and analysis of youth interviews, the following conclusions can be drawn from the data:

Conversation Club increased newcomer’s sense of hope.  CC youth reported statistically significant changes on the CHS at post-test on specific items related to hope compared to the control group.

Conversation Club increased young people’s sense of belonging.  CC youth reported a strong connection to the group, reporting statistically significant change over time on the PCS.  This finding was demonstrated across all CC group sites. Interview data supported this finding (e.g., “I know what it feels like not to know anybody…at first, I was pretty shy to start a conversation, due to my language…but now I know people and I’m happy, I feel more belonged in the community.”)

Conclusions and Implications

Results represent encouraging findings regarding the potential scope of mentoring for immigrant youth. This collaborative evaluation between research and practice suggests that group mentoring, when done well, can facilitate an important sense of belonging following a transition often rife with challenges.  Future research should focus on ways by which membership in the Club may impact more broadly the adjustment of immigrant adolescents across this developmental stage.