"To Be a Guy Is to Be Human": Outcomes of the WiseGuyz Program Through Photo-Based Evaluation.

Gender-transformative approaches (i.e., approaches that support male-identified individuals to critique and resist stereotypical male gender role norms that negatively affect health and well-being) are increasingly recognized as a key health promotion strategy. However, there is limited evidence to date on gender-transformative interventions for male-identified adolescents. In addition, given the dynamic and socially constructed nature of gender, methods beyond quantitative data collection are needed to gain a holistic understanding of promising gender-transformative health promotion approaches. One newer method to capture lived experiences with adolescents is photo-based evaluation, where youth program participants take pictures to represent their knowledge, attitudes, and/or behaviors before and after a program. The present study presents findings from the photo-based evaluation of a gender-transformative health promotion program called WiseGuyz. WiseGuyz is offered to mid-adolescent, male-identified youth in school and community settings, and is designed to promote mental and sexual health and prevent violence. Six youth photographers from a rural Canadian setting took part in this evaluation, taking photos to represent what being a guy in their world meant before and after WiseGuyz. Youth then participated in an individual visual storytelling interview and a group-based photovoice process. Key themes in relation to masculinities that emerged from these data were around changes to (1) social norms and (2) emotionality following program participation, and the need for a safe program space to support these changes. This study adds to literature demonstrating the promise of gender-transformative approaches with adolescents, with implications for future health promotion research and practice with male-identified youth.

Preventing adolescent dating violence: An outcomes protocol for evaluating a gender-transformative healthy relationships promotion program.

Adolescent dating violence (ADV) is a pressing public health problem in North America. Strategies to prevent perpetration are needed, and a substantial body of research demonstrates the importance of applying a gender lens to target root causes of adolescent dating violence as part of effective prevention. To date, however, there has been limited research on how to specifically engage boys in adolescent dating violence prevention. In this short communication, we describe the protocol for a longitudinal, quasi-experimental outcome evaluation of a program called WiseGuyz. WiseGuyz is a community-facilitated, gender-transformative healthy relationships program for mid-adolescent male-identified youth that aims to reduce male-perpetrated dating violence and improve mental and sexual health, by allowing participants to critically examine and deconstruct male gender role expectations. The primary goal of this evaluation is to explore the impact of WiseGuyz on adolescent dating violence outcomes at one-year follow-up among participants, as compared to a risk- and demographically-matched comparison group. Knowledge generated and shared from this project will provide evidence on if and for whom WiseGuyz works, with important implications for adolescent health and well-being.

Conflict in the preceptorship or field experience: a rippling tide of silence.

A major component of the educative process in the professional disciplines is the field education/preceptorship experience in which students are afforded opportunities to develop professional competence under the tutelage of a practising professional and/or a university instructor. During this time students are exposed to competing discourses about what it means to think and act as nurses, teachers, doctors and social workers. Frequently, field teaching is characterized by conflictual situations involving students, field instructors and university faculty. Such conflict is poorly understood as indicated by the lack of literature available in the professional disciplines. The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of conflict within the context of field teaching in professional education. Pivotal to this study was the issue of making sense of the conflict that prospective nurses, teachers, social workers and doctors experience in professional education within the practice realm and how such discourses shape their professional identities, practices and ultimate social values. At issue is the social construction of meaning that takes place within professional education. This study was conducted from the perspective of four professional programs including education, medicine, nursing and social work. The researchers focused on the final year of each program at a time when students were engaged in a major field/preceptorship experience in hospitals, schools, communities and social agencies. The experiences derived from the nursing data are presented in this paper.