A growing body of evidence suggests that preventative programmes which focus on building resilience and effective coping mechanisms can help to improve emotional wellbeing in young people (Carsley, Khoury & Heath, 2011; Durlak et al., 2011; Frydenberg et al., 2004; Weare & Nind, 2011).
This study will look at the response of one hundred young people living in Kildare (aged 12 -18 years) to an 8 hour resilience programme (delivered online and face to face). A baseline questionnaire will comprise a mixture of open and closed ended questions administered prior to the training and will gather information on demographics (age, gender), sources of stress in their lives, current coping strategies, goals and priorities. A brief standardised resilience measure will be administered to programme participants on a pre-post to assess changes in youth wellbeing as a consequence of programme participation. Further more a satisfaction questionnaire will measure participant responses to the programme, particularly satisfaction with the content and method of delivery. Open-ended questions will also be included to gather more in-depth responses to the programme and the impact of the programme on the participants. Findings and recommendations for programme development will also be discussed.