“A Piece of Sanity in the Midst of Insane Times”: Girls on the Run Programming to Promote Physical Activity and Psychosocial Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Afterschool programs have the potential to promote social, emotional, and physical health outcomes among youth participants. The positive youth development (PYD) framework argues that acquiring desirable attitudes and behaviors occurs when skill-building opportunities are explicitly provided within a safe and supportive climate guided by caring, competent, and compassionate instructors. Girls on the Run (GOTR) is a PYD program that uses running, motor skills, and other physical activities as a platform for promoting positive psychosocial outcomes and life skills learning among elementary- and middle school-aged girls. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged GOTR to modify lessons, coach training, and program delivery (in-person, virtual, or hybrid) to accommodate public health guidelines. The purpose of this study was to assess caregivers' and coaches' perceptions of program effectiveness in light of these changes. Following the Fall 2020 season, caregivers (n = 1,617) and coaches (n = 991) from 1,077 teams and 39 councils completed an online survey about program experiences. Both stakeholder groups positively rated program impact regardless of delivery mode, although in-person mode was rated higher for satisfaction with the end-of-season event. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses revealed that caregivers and coaches identified increased physical activity opportunities and life skills learning as well as improved social, psychological, and emotional development as a result of participating. Both stakeholders noted GOTR provided a sense of normalcy during this time of great need. Findings using mixed methods provide evidence of program effectiveness and recommendations for youth programming during challenging times.

Boys and Girls Have Similar Gains in Fundamental Motor Skills Across a Preschool Motor Skill Intervention

Purpose: Motor skill interventions are effective for improving young children’s fundamental motor skills, but less is known regarding if boys and girls equally benefit from these interventions. The purpose of this study was to compare changes in preschool-aged boys’ and girls’ fundamental motor skills across an intervention. Methods: Sixty-eight children (Mage = 4.4 years, SD = 0.44) participated in the study and completed the Test of Gross Motor Development 2nd Edition before and after a 600-minute Children’s Health Activity Motor Program (CHAMP) intervention. All girls’ (n = 27) and a random subsample of boys’ (n = 27) total, locomotor subtest, object control skill subtests, and individual skills were compared before (pre) and after (post) CHAMP. Potential sex differences in treatment effects were examined by sex by treatment interactions from repeated measures ANOVA, and potential sex differences in individual skills before, after, and across (change) were examined using MANOVAs. Results: Boys and girls had similar motor skills before and after the intervention. Boys and girls had higher scores at posttest, and CHAMP was equally effective for boys and girls. Boys outperformed girls on the run and kick (p < .05) at posttest. Conclusion: Findings support that CHAMP improves skills for both preschool boys and girls.

SBM Mid-Career Leadership Institute

My purpose for participating in the 2017 Society for Behavior Medicine (SBM) Leadership Institute was to redefine my career goals in an effort to do more work that mattered. I felt overwhelmed by the numerous tasks as a mid-level researcher, including leadership roles outside of my university to fill a desire to pursue activities that were purposeful but not valued by the academy. For example, I served on the Board of Girls on the Run (GOTR) where I was chair, leading a team of about 12 board members to provide a running-based life skills program for girls in Grades 3–5. After stepping down from the Board, I chose to develop a partnership between GOTR and the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM) that would provide an opportunity for me to lead an outreach effort extending the GOTR program into Birmingham City Schools. The goal was not only to reach more girls from disadvantaged backgrounds but also to also reach their family members. We used survey results to assess parent/family preferences for receiving physical activity training resources to be able to support their girls at the end-of-the program 5K celebration. The resources were made available via the UCEM website and a link was sent by GOTR to all families of participants in the program. Overall, the partnership allowed us to reach more girls and their families and I know that the SBM Leadership program contributed to my delegation and organizational skills coupled with coaching to reveal my strengths and blind spots.

Evaluating Girls on the Run in Promoting Positive Youth Development: Group Comparisons on Life Skills Transfer and Social Processes

Purpose: Girls on the Run (GOTR), a physical activity-based positive youth development program, uses running as a platform to teach life skills and promote healthy behaviors. In this companion paper of our comprehensive project, the authors evaluated program impact on positive youth development by comparing GOTR participants to youth in other organized activities (Sport and physical education [PE]) on life skills transfer and social processes. Qualitative methods complemented quantitative data through interviews with GOTR stakeholders. Method: The participants included 215 girls in GOTR and 692 girls in the same grades and schools who did not participate in GOTR (Sport = 485; PE = 207). They completed self-report measures of life skills transfer, peer and coach relatedness, and coach autonomy support at the season’s end. GOTR subsamples of girls, coaches, caregivers, and school personnel participated in focus groups. Results: Girls in GOTR compared favorably to the Sport and PE girls on all life skills—managing emotions, resolving conflicts, helping others, and making intentional decisions—and to the PE girls for all 3 social processes. The GOTR and Sport girls did not differ on coach relatedness and autonomy support, but the Sport girls rated teammate relatedness higher. The GOTR girls’ scores on life skills transfer remained stable at a 3-month follow-up assessment. Stakeholders in the focus groups shared corroborating evidence that, through participating in GOTR, girls learn skills that generalize to school and home contexts. Conclusion: Using comparison groups, a retention assessment, and mixed methods, the findings provide evidence that GOTR is effective in teaching skills and strategies that generalize to broader life domains. The processes that explain group differences on life skills transfer include GOTR’s intentional curriculum of skill-building activities delivered by coaches within a caring and autonomy-supportive climate.

Girls on the Run: Impact of a Physical Activity Youth Development Program on Psychosocial and Behavioral Outcomes

Purpose: Girls on the Run is an after-school physical activity-based positive youth development program designed to enhance girls’ social, psychological, and physical development. We evaluated the effectiveness of the program by employing a longitudinal design and mixed methods. Methods: Girls (N = 203; aged 8–11 y) completed survey measures of positive youth development constructs (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring), physical activity, and sedentary behavior prior to, at the end of, and 3 months after the season. Subsamples of girls, coaches, caregivers, and school personnel participated in focus groups. Coaches completed information about their team’s community impact project and number of girls who completed the season-ending 5k. Results: The full sample improved in confidence and connection, whereas girls who started below the preseason average showed the greatest gains from preseason to postseason on all measures, and scores were maintained or continued to improve at follow-up. All stakeholders in focus groups corroborated evidence of season-long improvement in social and emotional behaviors and health outcomes. Involvement in the community impact project contributed to girls’ growth in character and empathy skills. Conclusion: Findings provide empirical evidence that Girls on the Run is effective in promoting positive youth development, including season-long and lasting change in competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, and physical activity, especially among girls who exhibited lower preseason scores than their peers.

The Season is Stalled

The final chapter, a survey of Ashbery’s prolific “late period,” argues that the archive of “bad” nature poetry examined in Chapter 4 is shadowed by a related archive of poetry about climate change. Where Ashbery’s later work has gained a reputation for being lighter and more in touch with the great English nonsense tradition than his earlier work, I argue that the work since April Galleons (1987) constitutes a sustained attempt to reckon with the sublimely unimaginable crisis of climate change. Ashbery’s later work does mediate the “real world,” while ecology, long absent from Ashbery’s work, erupts into it in the years following the discovery of the ozone layer hole in the mid-1980s. From “The Ice Storm” and “Korean Soap Opera” to Girls on the Run and “Breezeway,” Ashbery’s later poems of the ecosublime assume an urgently diagnostic aura.