Putting program evaluation into practice: enhancing the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun program.

In recent years there has been a call for increased community physical activity and sport programs for female youth that are deliberately structured to foster positive developmental outcomes. In addition, researchers have recognized the need to empirically evaluate such programs to ensure that youth are provided with optimal opportunities to thrive. This study represents a utilization-focused evaluation of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, a female-only physical activity-based life skills community program.

Understanding how organized youth sport maybe harming individual players within the family unit: a literature review.

Within the United States, close to 45 million youths between the ages of 6 and 18 participate in some form of organized sports. While recent reviews have shown the positive effects of youth sport participation on youth health, there are also several negative factors surrounding the youth sport environment. To date, a comprehensive review of the negative physical and psychological effects of organized sport on youth has not been done and little to date has documented the effect organized sport has on other players within a family, particularly on parents and siblings.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: a process evaluation of a female youth-driven physical activity-based life skills program.

Introduction: Integrating a positive youth development framework into physical activity programming has become popular as it is believed that this integration can create the development of both physical and psychosocial skills. However, there has been a lack of intervention fidelity research within the field of positive youth development.

Case Description: The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun program was designed in response to increased calls for physical activity programs for female youth and is a theoretically-grounded physical activity-based life skills program that aims to empower female youth.