Scheduled for Research Consortium Poster Session: Thematic Early Childhood and Elementary Education Posters, Friday, March 16, 2007, 8:45 AM - 10:15 AM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall Poster Area I


Satisfaction of Youth Participants Toward After-School Enrichment Programs

James Jianhui Zhang1, Charles E. Byrd1, Eddie T. C. Lam2 and Wei Bian3, (1)University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, (2)Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, (3)Southern Illinois University C, Carbondale, IL

Organized youth sport and recreation programs usually take place during after school hours, and academic literature supports that children are well served by carefully organized and supervised activities after school. Although the nature and curriculum of after school programs are often heterogeneous, programs typically include five fundamental components: enrichment activities (e.g., sport and recreational activities), academic enhancement, personal skill development, community involvement, and good citizenship. To accomplish the stated objectives, it is critical for after school programs to have quality program curricula, organization, implementation, supervision, facilities, and evaluation procedures. Quality programs can assist youth in their physical, social, and academic growth, and help them avoid high risk and unsupervised situations. To ensure program quality and encourage continued participation, obtaining feedback from the participants is essential. The purpose of this study was to examine participants' satisfaction toward the quality of after school enrichment programs using the Scale for After School Enrichment Programs (SASEP; Zhang, Smith, Lam, Brimer, & Rodriquez, 2002), which was developed through rigorous measurement procedures, including development of a theoretical framework, test of content validity, exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses. The SASEP consists of 27 items on a 3-point Likert scale within three factors: Personal and Social Benefits, School and Community Benefits, and Overall Program Benefits. The survey was conducted at the end of a recent academic year, and followed procedural guidelines developed by the researchers, whereby program directors, site coordinators, and staff members administered the scale. A total of 15,224 youth participants from 235 after school programs responded to the survey. Of the participants, 48.0% were male and 52.0% were female. These participants represented all K-12 grades, with 68.0% in elementary school, 25.4% in middle school, and 6.6% in high school. Descriptive statistics and one-sample t-tests with adjusted alpha level revealed that the three factors had mean scores that were significantly (p < .05) greater than their respective midpoint scores, and all of the items had a mean score that was significantly (p < .05) greater than the item midpoint (i.e., 2 on a Likert 3-point scale). Overall, youth participants were very satisfied with the after school programs in terms of Personal and Social Benefits, School and Community Benefits, and Overall Program Benefits. The findings indicated that providing well-organized after school programs is necessary to offer quality personal, social, and academic benefits to youth participants.
Keyword(s): community-based programs, youth sports, youth-at-risk

Back to the 2007 AAHPERD National Convention and Exposition (March 13 -- 17, 2007)