Research Questions

YFC’s current research questions were developed by a group of youth, family members, and system partners in the summer of 2021. The first question reflects an ongoing interest in what youth and families want and need, while the second relates to a specific concern members have regarding access to services:

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1. What does recovery mean to children, youth, and families, and what barriers exist to keep them from accessing needed services?

2. What do schools need to make efficient connections with behavioral health services?

To find answers to the first question, the workgroup developed a survey (see Survey below for details). The second question was addressed through the secondary analysis of reports produced and distributed by the following organizations:

• Community Action of Skagit County

• Mental Health America

• Office of the Washington State Auditor

• U.S. Surgeon General

Continuous Data Review

Per YFC’s research plan, data is collected on an ongoing basis from many sources, including:

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• Short surveys grouped by theme:

  • Recovery Questions

  • Navigation, Access, Benefits, and Types of Care

  • Trust and the System of Care

• Reports that contain information relevant to YFC’s current goals and/or research questions,

• Information from presentations at monthly regional meetings, including WISe data,

• Information provided in trainings promoted by YFC,

• Evaluations of monthly regional meetings,

• Narrative Team Effectiveness exercises conducted quarterly in regional meetings,

• Demographic data about the region gathered in 2021 and every even year thereafter.

All data is discussed at the tri-lead meeting on a quarterly basis before it is posted to the website or shared with the larger membership at a monthly regional meeting. This includes any reports, survey responses, meeting evaluations, or other information that is relevant to YFC’s operations. The tri-leads and the convener, or their delegate(s), determine the best way to package and share the information with YFC members and other interested parties.

Survey

The initial survey was distributed as a whole, then later broken up into three separate surveys for the purpose of continuous data gathering. YFC endeavored to reach out to historically excluded communities by identifying school districts in the region with higher rates of diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and disability using data from Niche. Once districts were identified, the YFC team contacted school counselors and identified community partners located in the areas that those districts cover and asked them to help distribute the survey, which was also translated into Spanish. The following districts and community partners were identified and contacted in this process:

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Island – Oak Harbor School District

• Boys and Girls Club

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Island County

San Juan – San Juan School District

• Orcas Community Resource Center

• Orcas Parks and Rec

Skagit – Mount Vernon School District

• YMCA Childcare

• YMCA Oasis Teen Shelter

• NW Youth Services

• Boys and Girls Club Mount Vernon

Snohomish – Marysville School District

• YMCA

• Boys and Girls Club

Whatcom – Nooksack Valley School District

• Couldn’t find resources / contacted NW Youth Services

After the initial survey was distributed and the data gathered, the team opted to break the survey into three parts so that it would be easier to collect feedback from the community on an ongoing basis. The questions were not changed. The surveys were distributed monthly in the first and third quarters of 2022 in both English and Spanish to YFC’s membership email list, meeting participants, and followers on YFC’s social media accounts.