The power of a caring climate: assessing the fidelity of Team Support to Hellison's responsibility model and student-athletes perceived outcomes of participating in Team Support

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore Team Support, an in-school youth development program designed to facilitate high school student-athletes' acquisition of personal and social responsibility by using physical activity. The first research question sought to determine the fidelity of Team Support to Hellison's Personal and Social Responsibility model, the model it purported to implement. The second research question assessed if Team Support was perceived to be an appropriate intervention for teaching personal and social responsibility to the student-athlete participants. For the first research question, a protocol adherence rating scale was created to gather quantitative and qualitative data on approximately 110 student-athletes and 19 advisors. For the second research question, qualitative data were gathered through 2 focus groups of 8 student-athletes each, 12 individual interviews with student-athletes, 9 individual interviews with advisors, and participant observer notes to explore student-athletes and advisors' perceived social, emotional, and academic outcomes of student-athletes' participation in Team Support. The study employed descriptive statistics and thematic analyses to answer its research questions. The results of the investigation yielded short term and long term implications to urban youth, sport practitioners, school counselors, users of Hellison's model, school administrators, and other educators.