D ELIVERY OF T HINK S MART

The delivery of ThinkSmart differed to that of the typical outreach activity model in a number of ways due to the psychological nature of the activity. ThinkSmart was designed to be delivered systematically (Upton and Upton, 2009). To support consistency in intervention delivery structured manuals were used (Greenberg et al., 2003). Upton and Upton (2009) devised two ThinkSmart manuals, one for the young people and another for the Ambassadors. This was to ensure intervention adherence (King et al., 1998). The ThinkSmart manual prescribed that the sessions be fast paced to motivate and to engage the young people (Upton and Upton, 2009), similar to CBT sessions (Squires, 2001). Each session was designed to clearly state the objectives within an introductory explanation and then be summarised again during the plenary; somewhat similar to school lessons. The activities were sometimes completed in a group or individually (Upton and Upton, 2009).

From a review of the literature, several techniques were included in ThinkSmart as research considers them to be crucial for the success of an intervention informed by attribution re-training and CBT, this included role-play, behavioural experiments, worksheets and homework (Toland and Boyle, 2008). An intervention that includes attribution re-training should include; instruction, cognitive modification, cognitive and behavioural rehearsal (role-play), homework and a model depicting a programme of change to be a success (Szabo, 2006). The programme of activities in ThinkSmart centered on the magic circle, this model represented how feelings, behaviours and thoughts are associated. The magic circle aimed to modify cognitions through the ten-week intervention in such ways as role-play for behavioural rehearsal and homework exercises. Role play provided a place to rehearse new thinking styles and enabled the young people to enhance their understanding of topics discussed by acting them out (Sofronoff, Attwood, Hinton and Levin, 2007). Self-talk was also of importance to provide the young people with an opportunity to reflect and monitor their thoughts and behaviours.

Homework is an integral component of cognitive behavioural interventions (Mausbach et al., 2010). It is a key feature of successful interventions (Greig, 2007). To reflect on each ThinkSmart session, to monitor their thoughts and feelings the

78 young people were provided with homework activities. The completion of homework was voluntary to develop self-discipline and autonomy (Upton and Upton, 2009). Yet homework compliance has a significant relationship with intervention outcomes (Mausbach et al., 2010). The effectiveness of an intervention is thought to lie in the completion of homework (Mausbach et al., 2010). Thus although voluntary the completion of homework in ThinkSmart may have important consequences on the impact of the intervention. Therefore the manual stated that homework should be discussed at the start of the session and at the end by the facilitators.

To modify behaviour and thinking patterns, ThinkSmart based activities on the principle of self-discovery (Greig, 2007).Guided self-discovery was reliant upon the ability to build a dialogue with the young people to challenge their negative thoughts in ThinkSmart. So for ThinkSmart to be a success, building rapport and trust to collaborate was important (Kingery et al., 2006). The first session of ThinkSmart was solely dedicated to this. In this session ground rules were set as well as the young people being provided with further information about the intervention to set goals and expectations for the ten weeks. Activities in the first session aimed to also build trust to develop positive rapport, so the young people felt comfortable discussing their emotions and thoughts as the intervention had planned.

To convey the principles of CBT to the young people recruited for ThinkSmart, the concept of the magic circle was the focus of session two (see appendix 4). The magic circle depicted the underlying principle of CBT which is how we think, affects how we feel, which affects what we do for the young people to easily grasp the concepts. It demonstrated to the young people that thinking precedes feelings and this precedes behaviour (Toland and Boyle, 2008). The magic circle provided a framework for the ten sessions, an understanding of the magic circle was therefore important in the implementation of ThinkSmart, as without this knowledge it would not be possible to change the thoughts patterns of recipients.

Session three focused on the thinking component of the magic circle to identify any thinking errors or automatic thoughts to work through to result in a more balanced thinking. Automatic thoughts and thinking errors can include jumping to conclusions, exaggerating an event, ignoring the positives by focusing on the negative, blowing up minor errors and taking things personally (Greig, 2007). To dispute any irrational

79 thoughts cognitive restructuring was used to replace these thoughts with more positive effects and consequences (Kee Tony, 2003). To achieve this, the young people were given the skills to observe their negative automatic thoughts, collate any evidence that supported these thoughts and if there was not, then with their Ambassadors the young people challenged these thoughts to encourage more positive thoughts.This process of intervening with negative thoughts can bring about positive changes in feelings and behaviours (Beck, 1976). One of the skills taught wasself-monitoring which allowed the young people to become aware of their automatic thoughts in order to change them (Toland and Boyle, 2008). Positive self- talk was also included in session three and four to give the young people the skills to restructure their thinking errors.

Sessions five and six related to the feeling element of the magic circle. In these sessions, young people were taught the skills needed to identify their emotions and how to control them. Anxiety can for example negatively influence student’s engagement and enjoyment with school, therefore the young people require strategies to deal with anxiety levels (Martin, 2010). The recognition of emotions can help to understand how they influence behaviour (Ruini et al., 2009).

The affective element of ThinkSmart gave the young people the tools to be more emotionally aware. In the sessions, young people were able to identify and distinguish between core emotions and develop strategies to deal with unpleasant feelings (Upton and Upton, 2009). In the sessions the young people were given the chance to discuss with their Ambassadors why certain emotions arose in certain settings and learn how to be aware of and regulate their emotions (Humphrey, Curran, Morris, Farrell and Woods, 2007). This was to develop strategies to monitor these emotions and to express them appropriately (Qualter, Gardner and Whiteley, 2007). To develop these skills to identify, label and understand emotions in one of the sessions the young people spoken about and acted out different emotion expressions.

The last three sessions focused on the behavioural part of the intervention. In session seven the skills to identify behaviours was the focus. One approach used was the ABC model, A equates to the antecedent event, B is the belief about an event and C is the consequence of beliefs held (Ellis and Tafrate, 1999). The ABC

80 approach was informed by Ellis Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (Rait, Monsen and Squires, 2010). This theory describes that individuals have a number of beliefs, thoughts and ideas about activating events and that this has an impact on responses whether that be cognitive, emotional or behavioural. Irrational beliefs are unhelpful resulting in self-defeating behaviours and emotions. In the manual for this session the young people completed worksheets that depicted the ABC approach to identify any faulty beliefs or irrational self-statements and change them for more rational beliefs.

In session nine the focus was on how to choose the right behaviour and manage problems effectively. Problem-solving was the focus of session nine due to best practice interventions considering this to be an important technique (Kavanagh et al., 2009). The session aimed to provide the young people with the skills to tackle problems faced in school and show them how to break them down into smaller steps. The message of the session was that it is important not to give up early or feel you cannot achieve something. The techniques in this session aimed to overcome this, so when in school and the young people were faced with a problem or task they knew the strategies to use to tackle it successfully.

Session ten combined what had been learnt across the intervention and this related back to the first session to identify the next steps for young people and the distance the young people have travelled. Kavanagh et al., (2009) meta-analysis reported that ten or more sessions of a CBT intervention was more effective three months afterwards compared to interventions that were nine weeks or less in duration and interventions delivered by school staff were more effective than those delivered by outsiders. This is interesting as for ThinkSmart; the intervention was delivered by outsiders, these being the Ambassadors recruited by Aimhigher.

5.3.2AMBASSADORS

Ambassadors’ area crucial feature of outreach activitiesas discussed in chapter four. Undergraduates were employed to deliver outreach activities as this was considered the most effective way to promote the message of the widening participation agenda (Austin and Hatt, 2005). Similar to all outreach activities ThinkSmart was facilitated by a team of trained university students. The training session delivered by the

81 ThinkSmart Coordinator covered the principles and intended delivery of each ThinkSmart session.

The Ambassadors worked in teams to plan and deliver ThinkSmart. This was a unique experience for the Ambassadors, as typically outreach activities were organised by the Aimhigher partnership (Austin and Hatt, 2005). Instead for ThinkSmart the Ambassadors planned the sessions as well as facilitated them. For the sessions to be effective the Ambassadors needed to develop a positive rapport with learners (Squires, 2001).This is similar to the Associate Scheme, in which the programme was only a success if the young people had been able to establish a positive rapport to trust the Ambassadors (Lewis and Ritchie, 2010). The enthusiasm and attitude of the Ambassadors is thought to influence the overall success of an activity (Kerrigan and Carpenter, 2008). However, further research was required (see chapter three). ThinkSmart provided the opportunity to address the shortage of evidence of the actual impact of Ambassadors on outreach activities and the experience of Ambassadors in delivering outreach activities (Gorard et al., 2006; Ylonen, 2010).