Brooke Daniels-Brown and Dr. Jared Warren, Department of Psychology
The purpose of the project was to examine youth self-efficacy as it relates to youth symptoms and treatment outcomes in a community mental health setting. From analyzing the collected data, results suggest that youth self-efficacy may act as a moderator and potential mediator in youth mental health services. Tailoring interventions to improve youth self-efficacy may yield more effective outcomes and additional research examining youth self-efficacy in the context of evidence-based treatments may be warranted. Also, these results generalize well to routine services, which are received by the majority of youth in mental health care. Self-efficacy is an important factor in the treatment process and we encourage therapists to focus on improving client’s self- efficacy so as to lower reported distress. Future research may investigate randomized controlled self-efficacy studies to determine the actual effect of this potential mediating variable.
With these findings, my fellow research members and I attended the National Conference in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology in October to present our research. I participated in a poster session and was able to get some great feedback and insight into other potential factors of youth self-efficacy. At this conference, I was also able to network with the top psychologists in this field and learn about the new areas of research that are being examined and studied. Attending this conference in Kansas was a great experience and helped me fuel my passion for research and the field of psychology. I hope to use this experience to strengthen my graduate school applications and to improve my research skills, so as to be the best candidate I can be for a career in psychology.
The next step in my research is to submit a manuscript to a clinical psychology journal. I will either submit my findings to one of the following publication venues: the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Psychotherapy Research, and the Journal of Clinical Psychology. I will also continue to do research with Dr. Warren and work on various projects examining treatment outcomes of mental health.
As I have worked on this project I have grown a lot as a researcher. I have learned the importance of collecting and entering accurate data and what it means to analyze and interpret that data. I have become better at working with fellow researchers and also delegating tasks so as to involve everyone in the research process. My presenting skills have improved after the experience at the conference too. Initially, I was nervous to present and felt inadequate in comparison to the trained psychologists. However, after the poster session I felt more confident in myself in regards to explaining the research I had done. Additionally, I recognized that I am capable of taking on big research projects and that the training I have acquired from BYU has given me the skills required for these experiences. Overall, I have really enjoyed the time I have spent on this project and am excited to continue with this research as well as be involved in other projects.