Boosters and Barriers to Implementation: Youth-Initiated Mentoring for Justice-Involved Youth

Recently, it has been argued that youth-initiated mentoring (YIM) holds promise for justice-involved youth. In YIM, youths select an adult mentor from their social network. Successful implementation is key to the effectiveness of an innovation, but little is known about the factors contributing to the successful implementation of YIM. We explored boosters and barriers to implementation perceived by professionals implementing YIM into a juvenile diversion programme. We performed thematic analysis on one unstructured (N = 22) and three semi-structured focus groups (N = 7-8) guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Findings suggest that professionals perceived the benefits of YIM in this context. Nevertheless, the current organisational culture, grounded in Risk-Need-Responsivity principles, hindered the actual implementation in certain cases, possibly endangering the continuation of YIM in a juvenile diversion context. Boosters and barriers can be considered and adopted by organisations aiming to implement YIM in a selective prevention context. Trial registration number: (ClinicalTrial.gov ID #NCT05555472).