Introduction
The Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grant program—a federally funded adolescent pregnancy prevention initiative administered by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB)—teaches youth how to voluntarily refrain from non-marital sexual activity. The program funds the SRAE National Evaluation (SRAENE), led by Mathematica and its subcontractor Public Strategies. A component of SRAENE includes a study of co-regulation.
Co-regulation is the process by which youth develop self-regulation through their interactions with trusted adults. This process is an interactive one by which caring adults (1) develop warm, nurturing relationships, (2) create safe, supportive environments, and (3) promote self-regulation through coaching, modeling, and feedback. A short video explaining co-regulation and its importance can be found here.
Simple strategies have been developed to support co-regulation in the context of human service programs for youth. These include strategies to help providers deepen their relationships with youth, create safe spaces, and coach youth on self-regulation strategies. For example, a recent project Self-Regulation Training Approaches and Resources to Improve Staff Capacity for Implementing Healthy Marriage Programs for Youth (SARHM) developed and piloted several strategies for practitioners to use with youth. The project produced several resources including a brief that provides practitioners with information on implementing the strategies.
Purpose
This video series is designed for practitioners working with youth who would like to help develop youth’s self-regulation skills. This video series expands on the work of SARHM by providing practitioners with tips from SRAE grant recipients implementing the co-regulation strategies as part of SRAENE. Before watching these videos, we encourage you to read the practitioner-focused brief produced from SARHM.
This series includes the following videos — each with an accompanying tip sheet:
- Video 1: Introduction to the series : This video explains the purpose of the videos and briefly describes what co-regulation is. We recommend starting with this video to give you ample background into the content of the remaining videos. OPRE Report Number 2023-318
- Video 2: Welcoming : This video provides tips for implementing the three aspects of Welcoming: sheet, greet, and meet. OPRE Report Number 2023-319.
- Video 3: Two-part verbal praise : This video provides tips for providing praise that is personal and specific. OPRE Report Number 2023-320.
- Video 4: Four-part written praise : This video provides tips for writing praise notes that are personal, specific, praises effort and accomplishment, and ties the praise to a bigger purpose. OPRE Report Number 2023-321.
- Video 5: Group agreements : This video provides tips on how to establish and implement a group agreement. OPRE Report Number 2023-323.
- Video 6: Breath to focus : This video provides tips on how to coach youth on using the self-regulation strategy of breath to focus. OPRE Report Number 2023-322.
- Video 7: Rest & Return
: This video provides tips on how to coach youth on using the self-regulation strategy of resting or taking a break and then returning to more fully engage. OPRE Report Number 2023-324.
- Rest & Return: Tip Sheet (PDF)
- Video 8: Take Note
: This video provides tips on how to coach youth on using the self-regulation strategy of taking note of their sensations and feelings. OPRE Report Number 2023-325.
- Take Note: Tip Sheet (PDF)
Methods
Content for the videos and tip sheets are based on SRAE grant recipients’ experiences implementing co-regulation strategies as part of SRAENE. We identified these tips from two in-person trainings that focused on training grant recipients’ staff on the strategies in addition to developing staff-generated tips for implementing the strategies in their classroom. We also identified tips based on the implementation study of the grant recipients implementing co-regulation strategies (Tingey et al., 2023). This included observations of staff as well as interviews and focus groups with staff and participants.
Citation
Friend, Daniel, Lauren Mattox, Sheila Cavallo, Alishia Jordan, Rebecca Piatt, and Heather Zaveri. Co-regulation in Action Video Series Tip Sheets. OPRE Report #2023-306, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2023.