[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-590845-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-590845-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","youth-perspectives-on-staff-turnover-in-afterschool-programs-research-summary","Youth Perspectives on Staff Turnover in Afterschool Programs - Research Summary","","Relationships between staff and participants drive growth in youth development afterschool programs by supporting social and emotional learning, relationship building, and persistence. High staff turnover, reported as up to 40% per year, disrupts trust and forces young people to repeatedly rebuild relationships. Prior research links turnover to bullying, mental health issues, reduced school engagement, and lower confidence in adults, while some studies show benefits when consistent adult–youth ties endure. The study gathers youth and staff perspectives to propose supports during transitions.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/youth-perspectives-on-staff-turnover-in-afterschool-programs-research-summary/590845/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/youth-perspectives-on-staff-turnover-in-afterschool-programs-research-summary/590845.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Stanford","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why are staff relationships important in afterschool youth development programs?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"They provide a steady presence that connects youth to opportunities, supports relationship building, and strengthens social and emotional competencies. Lasting ties with staff and families are described as central to participants’ growth.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What challenges does high staff turnover create for youth?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Turnover disrupts trust and forces young people to rebuild relationships repeatedly. It can also weaken consistency and lead youth to be less likely to seek trusting relationships with adults.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What does the document propose after conducting research on youth and staff perspectives?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Programs can support youth through staff transitions, helping participants persist in the program and build relationships with new staff. The findings are intended to guide how transition support can reduce negative impacts.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},590845,1792893842,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":55,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},2336477552062,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Youth Perspectives on Staff Turnover in Afterschool Programs  \nPatricia McGuiness-Carmichael  \nRelationships with staff are crucial to participants’ growth in youth development programs. These programs help young people develop social and emotional competencies including relationship building, defined as “the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups” (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2017) . In my work in afterschool programs, I experience firsthand how lasting relationships between staff and the youth and families they serve are central to the work.  \nStaff become a touchpoint and a steady presence: connecting youth to opportunities, listening to them, and supporting them simply by being there.  \nHowever, staff are not always there. Rates of staff turnover in youth-serving organizations are extremely high—as high as 40 percent per year, according to the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition (2010) .  \nThis level of turnover leads to challenges not only for the employers, but also for participating youth. Efforts have been made to address the root problem by finding ways to retain staff. The nonprofit sector has discussed, among other strategies, offering higher pay, incentives, professional development, upward mobility, and other benefits that would encourage staff to stay (Parker, 2018). In the meantime, however, we have not spent much time finding out how young people feel about staff transitions or thinking about ways to support them when staff leave their program.  \nTo help fill this need, I conducted research in the program in which I was working during my participation in the National Afterschool Matters Fellowship, asking youth and staff about participants’perspectives on staff transitions and on what they need  \nPATRICIA MCGUINESS-CARMICHAEL, MSW, is the program officer at Strong Women, Strong Girls Boston. She is a licensed certified social worker with a master’s degree in social work from the University of South Carolina. Patricia is a fellow in the National Afterschool Matters Fellowship, in which she conducted out-of-school time research. She has spent 13 years in Boston’s nonprofit sector.  \nto make transitions easier. My findings suggest ways programs can support youth through staff transitions to bolster their ability both to persist in the program and to build relationships with new staff.  \nLaroche and Klein (2008) suggest that staff turnover affects participants by damaging their ability to build trust with adults. Borden, Schlomer, and Bracamonte Wiggs (2011) agree that regular staff turnover forces young people to try over and over again to create  \nResearch on Relationships and relationships with new staff. This negative experience  \nStaff Turnover affects new staff members as they come up against the  \nMany positive outcomes for youth are attributable to challenge of trying to build relationships with youth relationships with caring adults. According to Murphey, who have developed a sense of mistrust. Sustained Bandy, Schmitz, and Moore (2013), the benefits of employment, these researchers suggest, could lead to positive relationships with caring adults include lower stronger relationships between participants and staff rates of bullying and of mental health issues, greater (Borden et al. , 2011) .  \nlikelihood of engagement in school and afterschool A study by America’s Promise Alliance (Center  \nopportunities, and improved persistence. Young people for Promise, 2015) explored the impact of adult– who have a relationship with at least one adult outside youth relationships on school persistence. Unlike their family learn to overcome adversity, show a desire the studies cited above, this one also explored young to learn new things, and have strong communication people’s perspectives on their relationships with skills (Murphey et al. , 2013) . The study did not look at adults. The study suggests that youth who experi","cbCaieDgoQAANpza","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieDgoQAANpza","pdf",457470,"English","# Background\n## Importance of staff relationships\n## Impact of staff turnover\n# Prior research\n## Effects on youth outcomes\n## Role of adult–youth relationship consistency\n# Present study approach\n## Research context and methods\n# Findings and recommendations\n## Supporting youth during staff transitions","[{\"question\":\"Why are staff relationships important in afterschool youth development programs?\",\"answer\":\"They provide a steady presence that connects youth to opportunities, supports relationship building, and strengthens social and emotional competencies. Lasting ties with staff and families are described as central to participants’ growth.\"},{\"question\":\"What challenges does high staff turnover create for youth?\",\"answer\":\"Turnover disrupts trust and forces young people to rebuild relationships repeatedly. It can also weaken consistency and lead youth to be less likely to seek trusting relationships with adults.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the document propose after conducting research on youth and staff perspectives?\",\"answer\":\"Programs can support youth through staff transitions, helping participants persist in the program and build relationships with new staff. The findings are intended to guide how transition support can reduce negative impacts.\"}]","Youth Perspectives on Staff Turnover in Afterschool Programs - Research Summary | PDF",1792070557,13]