Evaluation & Evidence Base

Take a Hike evaluates youth for mental health and development indicators each year, to ensure the program is achieving our envisioned impact –
that vulnerable youth are empowered to change the trajectories of their lives, and are resilient individuals who can navigate the challenges of young adulthood after they move on from Take a Hike.

Last year we implemented a new program outcome evaluation, and we’ve been working with an evaluation consultant to distil these measures into 2-3 key performance indicators to monitor program impact.

Youth completed pre, mid, and post-program surveys that focus on the desired outcomes of Take a Hike, and we’re pleased to present our first full year of results. 

Measurements focus on 15 youth mental health and development indicators, divided into five domains, outlined below. Youth reported gains in 14 of the 15 areas from pre- to post-survey. Further to this, seven items were statistically significant (noted with *) from pre- to post- survey, with effect sizes ranging from small (S), medium (M) to large (L). As some effect sizes fall between the cut offs for small, medium and large effect sizes, they are noted as such, e.g., M/L denotes an effect size between a moderate and large change. (-) indicates items with losses.
The domains with the most significant changes include ‘feeling cared for by adults at school’ and ‘short-term self-regulation.’ 

 

Domain One: Relationship Skills

  • Feeling cared for at school* (M/L)

  • Feeling connected with adults in their home

  • Feeling connected to neighbourhood adults* (S/L)

  • Feeling a sense of belonging with peers

  • Feeling close with peers (-)

Domain Two: Self-Awareness

  • Understanding ones’ moods, feelings and behaviours* (S)

  • Feeling gratitude* (S)

  • Life satisfaction 

Domain Three: Self-Management

  • Regulating emotions in the face of challenge* (S)

  • Short-term self-regulation* (L)

  • Long-term self-regulation

  • Being able to persevere* (S/M) 

 

Domain Four: Social Awareness

  • Feeling empathy for others

  • Being able to take the perspective of others 

Domain Five: Responsible Decision-Making

  • Being able to make responsible decisions

 

The only area in which youth did not report a gain was ‘feeling close with peers’. Given that schools were closed for three months, youth would not have had as many opportunities to connect and build relationships with peers (note that youth did report fewer opportunities due to COVID-19).

Adverse Childhood Experiences

There is a direct relationship that has been studied between the number of harmful events or conditions a child experiences in life and subsequent health impacts and high risk behaviours in adulthood. The adverse childhood experience (ACE’s) framework is an approach to understanding these outcomes and to working with youth.

The ACES study researchers found a graded relationship between the number of ACEs reported and high risk behaviours. For example, adults who had experienced four ACEs had a 4 to 12- fold increased health risk for alcoholism, drug abuse, depression and suicide attempts, a 2 to 4-fold increase in smoking, poor self-rated health, having more than 50 sexual intercourse partners, and sexually transmitted diseases, and a 1.4 to 1.6-fold increase in physical inactivity and severe obesity. Further to this, there was a graded relationship to the presence of many chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and lung disease. The ACEs framework continues to be utilized as an approach to both understanding health outcomes and as a way to inform effective approaches to working with youth.

Take a Hike youth are not asked directly about the ACEs, but rather their clinical counsellor reports on the ACEs that they know youth have experienced in their lives. Therefore, ACEs data in this evaluation should be considered as a conservative ACE score.   

ACEs include experiencing any of the following in the first eighteen years of life: 

  • physical abuse 

  • emotional abuse 

  • sexual abuse 

  • physical neglect 

  • emotional neglect 

  • mental illness of a family member 

  • interpersonal violence against the mother 

  • divorce 

  • incarcerated member of the household 

  • problematic substance use by a member of the household 

 

To understand more about risk factors in the lives of Take a Hike youth, our clinical team documented the number of ACE’s that each youth has experienced.

Among the 81 youth participating in evaluation: 

  • 8 youth had no ACEs 

  • 30 had experienced 1 or 2 ACEs 

  • 22 had experienced 3 or 4 ACEs 

  • 12 had experienced 5 or 6 ACEs 

  • 9 had experienced 7 to 9 ACEs 

Take a Hike offers youth a place to heal, develop and thrive in a non-traditional education setting. Youth were also asked to respond to several questions that examined their feelings about the emotional and physical safety in the program, as well as the degree to which they feel able to connect with staff. In all areas, youth reported positive changes from pre- to post- program, in the following areas:

Counselling.png

  • In Take a Hike there is an adult who I can talk to about my success and other good things that may be happening in my life.

  • There is an adult I can talk to if something is bothering me.

  • I feel I belong at Take a Hike.

  • I feel like I am important to Take a HIke.

  • I can be myself at Take a HIke.

  • I feel safe to express my emotions at Take a Hike.

  • I feel physically safe at Take a Hike.