Instruments That Measure Youth Engagement and Facilitator Quality: A Toolkit for Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Grant Recipients

This toolkit provides information on instruments that Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grant recipients can use to measure youth engagement in SRAE programs and what facilitators do in the classroom that promotes this engagement (which we refer to as facilitator quality that promotes youth engagement, or more simply, facilitator quality). Measuring youth engagement and facilitator quality may inform program improvement efforts. 

• The toolkit focuses on instruments that measure how youth engage with the program overall, with program facilitators, and their peers—youth engagement.
• It also includes instruments that capture how facilitators work with youth participants and the quality of those interactions—facilitator quality.
• The toolkit does not replace the performance measures collected through entry and exit surveys.

1. How to use this toolkit
2. Getting to know the toolkit instruments
3. Instrument profiles Involvement and Interaction Rating Scale 
   • Participant Satisfaction Survey (also known as the Participant Feedback Survey) 
   • Program Observation Form for TPP Program Grantees
   • Program Quality Instrument for Youth (PQI-Youth
   • Tiffany-Eckenrode Program Participation Scale (TEPPS)
   • Youth Development Assessment Device (YDAD) 
   • Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA)

      Appendices

Youth engagement and facilitator quality are broad topics comprised of several elements that specify characteristics or actions essential to the topic. For this toolkit, youth engagement and facilitator quality are each defined by three topic elements that are relevant to SRAE programs. 

Youth engagement:

• Behavioral. Youth’s attendance at program meetings and sessions, or participating in specific lessons and activities
• Emotional or psychological. Youth’s interest in and perceptions of the program, and the relationships they build with the facilitator and peers
• Cognitive. Youth’s investment in the program through their understanding and application of the content provided 

Facilitator quality:

• Classroom management. Managing youth behavior and the facilitator’s general preparedness for and organization of the class
• Supportive climate. Creating an atmosphere that fosters engagement and promotes positive relationships between facilitators and youth, and among the youth
• Content delivery. Making the class interesting and delivering the program in a clear way that challenges youth

Since youth engagement and facilitator quality span a variety of disciplines, we set clear screening criteria to help identify the eight instruments for the toolkit. We looked for instruments that assess: 

• Youth risk prevention programs and youth development programs, which are relevant to SRAE programs that use the positive youth development framework in their programming.^[1]
• A curriculum or intervention delivered by a facilitator
• Programs taking place in a group setting that includes middle school and high school aged youth
• At least one topic element of youth engagement or facilitator quality

All the instruments in the toolkit have the following characteristics:

• A survey or observation form that met one of the following approaches:
• Was tested to confirm its performance
• Used repeatedly within a study, across multiple studies, or as a performance measure for federal grant recipients
• Developed or used in the past 20 years
• Developed or used with a U.S. sample
• Available in a hard copy version with no administration costs
• Intended to be administered during the program, not after extended follow-up
• Available with documentation and simple scoring (averages, percentages, etc.)

The toolkit includes individual instrument profiles for eight instruments that measure youth engagement and facilitator quality. The instrument profiles cover key dimensions of the instrument including:

• Its purpose and content
• How to administer it
• Availability
• Instrument contact
• Information about the instrument’s performance in any testing the developers conducted on its reliability and validity 

Albanese, S. M., L. Malone, V. Sims, R. Jones, and D. Gonzalez (2023). Instruments that Measure Youth Engagement and Facilitator Quality: A Toolkit for Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Grant Recipients (OPRE Report No. #2023-282). Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.