RESUMEN
Background: Globally many young people, especially from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, face significant barriers to achieving optimal life chances. Creative arts interventions are a way of reaching out to adolescents in low-income communities, to encourage positive functioning and enhanced well-being. We need information on the efficacy - or otherwise - of such interventions to optimise future efforts.Method: An integrative, descriptive literature review was conducted to explore and describe creative arts interventions for adolescents in low-income communities. Data were synthesised by comparing evidence from 12 studies that met the inclusion criteria, and combining ideas using logical reasoning to present what is known or yet to be known about the study topic.Results: Themes emerged regarding the structure and content of interventions; the characteristics of adolescent participants; the countries and contexts in which interventions were carried out; and overall outcomes for adolescent well-being as well as pedagogy.Conclusion: There are worthy outcomes for adolescents living in low-income communities who participate in structured creative arts interventions. However, research evidence is limited, and more research should be undertaken to investigate the development and evaluation of creative arts interventions for the well-being of adolescents in adverse contexts.
RESUMEN
The South African government's COVID-19 pandemic risk mitigation strategies significantly limited social contact, which necessitated a novel approach to existing face-to-face career guidance practices. The Grade 9 Career Guidance Project, originally developed as a group-based career development intervention, required radical adaptation into a self-directed, manualized format to offer career guidance to Grade 9 learners from low-income communities amid a global pandemic. The adaptation and continuation of the project was deemed essential as secondary school learners in low-income communities have limited career guidance support. Furthermore, a close collaboration with the teachers at eight resource-constrained South African secondary schools was vital for successful implementation. To assess the success of the adaptation to a self-directed format, a mixed-methods design was employed, and Life Orientation teachers' evaluative feedback was solicited (n = 11). Favorable quantitative results were obtained; majority of teachers agreed that learners enjoyed the booklet (manualized format) and that it was deemed an adequate substitute to the previous contact-based format of the Career Guidance Project. This was also confirmed by the qualitative findings revealing teachers' satisfaction with the booklet's content, specifically that the booklet is complementary to the Life Orientation curriculum. Qualitative findings identified specific contextual barriers that contributed to some learners struggling to use the booklet optimally. The results suggest that it is feasible and acceptable to implement a self-directed career guidance intervention among secondary school learners amid a global pandemic. Teachers recommended ways to integrate the booklet, resources, and contact sessions as a preferred way forward. These findings have important implications for similar resource-constrained settings that may not have readily access to in-person career guidance and counseling human development.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: This paper is an attempt to bridge the gap between Africentric and Eurocentric worldviews through the lens of positive psychology's second wave of attaining pathways to well-being. METHODS: The overcoming of existential suffering with indigenous understandings has been addressed through photo-elicitation in retrospective timelines with students Lihile+, Tanaka+, and Diana+, +Pseudonyms to protect identity Thematic analysis with semi-structured virtual interviews has also been utilized to gain insights into Africentric and Eurocentric worldviews. All students come from different contexts of cultural complexity. Lihile was raised by her maternal Xhosa family, with a traditional Sotho father. Tanaka is Shona, born and schooled in Zimbabwe, studying in South Africa. Diana was born in England and is now living in rural KwaZulu-Natal. FINDINGS: Students' worldviews were shaped by their primary caregivers' multicultural influences, as well as their exposure to educational and religious contact zones. Despite having to survive the traumatic legacy of social injustices, the students managed to pursue positive goals and transcend challenges and achieve well-being. CONCLUSIONS: This study attempted to transcend the divide of Afri-Eurocentric worldviews towards a shared responsibility to develop an improved social science in Africa. Positive psychology offered a space to accommodate well-being as a healing process, not only for the oppressed but also the oppressors of past social injustices.
