Collaborating on Research with the Girls Circle Association
Girls Circle Association seeks collaborators to
discover the strength of the Girls Circle model and
its’ capacity to improve adolescent girls’ healthy and
safe behaviors and relationships. An increase in
solid evidence of the positive impact of this model
on girls’ healthy and safe behaviors will, in turn,
allow more programs throughout the United States
to offer Girls Circles to girls in their educational,
mental health, juvenile justice, and community
settings. With increased evidence, more girls will
have access to the Girls Circle approach.
To collaborate, we ask that you follow our
established research protocol that includes
particular data collection, data entry, and data
sharing procedures.
Benefits of Collaboration with
Girls Circle Association
- Inclusion in a nationwide multi-method
research project exploring the benefits of
female-responsive services for girls
- Reduced research costs
- Feedback from girls across the country
who receive this program
- Inclusion in a final report that includes
nationwide data. This report can be shared
with your funders, grant makers, and
decision makers
- A longer-term partnership with GCA, a well established
leader with an excellent proven
track record of successful working
relationships within communities
Criteria for Collaboration
Organizations interested in a research partnership
with the Girls Circle Association and Ceres Policy
Research would:
- Provide leadership-level commitment and
support for the Girls Circle research project
- Participate in pre-study planning process with
partners
- Utilize trained facilitators in the Girls Circle
model to facilitate Girls Circle support groups
in their settings for a period of at least 10
weeks and up to 6-12 months, depending on
the research design
- Ideally, provide 3 or more study groups per
organization, with 5 – 10 girls per group
meeting 1.5 – 2 hours per week. If Girls Circle
programs are not available to all girls in the
setting due to capacity or other concerns, data
from comparison groups of girls will also
provide important information for this study.
Our policy is to study the impact of Girls Circle
while not seeking to deny or withhold services
to any girl who could access a Girls Circle.
- Designate a “Project Coordinator” within the
organization to assist facilitators with step-by-step
protocol and timelines, gathering of
permission/consent forms, pre- and post-test
survey administration and collection, and data
submission. The Project Coordinator would be
the liaison for communication between site
facilitators, directors, the Girls Circle
Association and Ceres Policy Research.
- Use the Girls Circle curricula – (any
combination of the Girls Circle Activity guides)
in at least one of the study groups. Optional:
use the Girls Circle Model with other curricula
to serve site-specific program goals.
Additional Components
The following are desired by GCA, but not required.
- Provide researcher access to group
subjects for qualitative component of study,
via focus groups, written communication,
or other dialogue about girls’ experiences
in Girls Circle.
- Provide justice, protective services, or
school system data and statistics relevant to
observation of changes in subject’s
behavior, including but not limited to:
recidivism, type of offense, number of
incidents/type, school attendance,
disciplinary actions, family incident
reports, or other available data over
duration of study and up to 12 months
thereafter.
Steps for GCA Collaboration
Programs that collaborate on the Girls Circle
Evaluation research project will:
- Identify trained Girls Circle facilitator(s).
- Plan Girls Circle implementation.
- Select curricula.
- Read, Sign, and Send the Facilitator and Program
Confidentiality and Responsibility Statement to
researcher.
- Obtain and store consent forms from parents and
girls.
- Administer Girls Circle Survey Pre-test.
- Hold Girls Circles.
- Keep attendance records for all girls.
- Administer Girls Circle Survey Post-Test.
- Enter data from surveys onto electronic
spreadsheet provided by researcher and submit to
researcher according to a negotiated timetable.
- Keep confidential documents for one year after the
distribution of written research report.
- Shred documents one year following distributed
report.
In return for your cooperation, the Girls Circle
Association and Ceres Policy Research will include your
data in their annual analysis and report.
Contact Us at (707) 794-9477 or info@girlscircle.com.
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