“I’m Now Braver than Ever.” The Perceived Impacts of the Finnish “Gutsy Go” Program for Enhancing Adolescents’ Psychosocial Well-Being: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Objectives: Positive Youth Development is an evidence-based, holistic approach that underlines adolescents’ strengths, competence, and interests instead of deficits, thus promoting psychosocial well-being in adolescents. This study aims to explore adolescents’ perceived impacts of the Finnish service-learning program “Gutsy Go”, which is based on a Positive Youth Development approach. Methods: The program educates 8th-grade comprehensive school students to perform good deeds in their communities and enhances adolescents’ psychosocial well-being. Focus group interviews were conducted two to three weeks after the program week with 61 program participants. The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Four broad themes of the perceived impacts of the program were derived from the data: emotional impacts, impacts on competence, impacts within the group, and lessons learned for future use. Conclusions: The perceived impacts of the Gutsy Go program in this study were mostly positive and related to adolescents’ psychosocial well-being. More studies are needed regarding the underlying mechanisms between participation in the program and the perceived impacts.