Astraea Augsberger
Biographic Data
| ID | 238963 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Astraea Augsberger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Astraea |
| FAMILY NAME | Augsberger |
| SIGNATURE | AUGSBERGER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Boston University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8860-8584 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 173 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Choosing Post-Secondary Vocational Education Pathways
Networks in Motion
Post-secondary vocational education (PSVE) is a viable pathway to financial and professional stability for systems-involved youth, yet the social and structural supports necessary for persistence in these pathways remain understudied. This qualitative study investigates how young adults with histories of child welfare, juvenile justice, or mental health systems involvement navigated their educational trajectories. We conducted initial interviews …
Contextual Factors Predictive of Social-Emotional Functioning Among Children of Mothers With and Without Low Intellectual Functioning
This study used Future of Families Child and Wellbeing Study data to examine community, family, and maternal predictors of social-emotional outcomes for kindergarten-aged children of mothers with and without low intellectual functioning. Multivariate analysis of variance and multivariate regression explored relationships between maternal intellectual functioning, covariates, and outcomes. As poverty was an important covariate, predictive of outco…
Bridging success
The global context of youth engagement
Trauma-Informed Photovoice for Adolescents and Young Adults with Child Welfare Involvement
Youth who age out of foster care face a constellation of challenges associated with navigating the transition to adulthood and often do not have opportunities to express their perspectives. The purpose of this project was to partner with these youth to develop a trauma-informed photovoice program that can be freely utilized in child welfare programming. This youth participatory action research (yPAR) project engaged youth and young adults with ch…
Post‐secondary vocational education for youth leaving care
Post‐secondary educational outcomes for care‐experienced youth are poor. This has been a consistent finding across studies in many countries. Most studies do not distinguish between different types of post‐secondary educational pathways and outcomes, however. There has been limited attention to the potential for post‐secondary vocational education (PSVE) as a viable educational path that may lead to positive employment and social outcomes. In thi…
Do intensive specialized services prevent family separation in parents with intellectual disabilities? A treatment effects analysis
Parents with intellectual disabilities are more likely to have child welfare involvement and experience higher rates of family separation than parents without intellectual disabilities. Despite this, there are few programs designed to meet the needs of this population, and little is known about their efficacy. The current study expands the knowledge base by exploring the effectiveness of Project IMPACT, an intensive, in-home, skills-based positiv…
Facing power
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is oftentimes cited as a method guided by social justice principles to uplift youth voice and pursue youth priorities in research. However, to uphold these principles, YPAR researchers must address how youth and adults alike negotiate power differentials to be equal partners in research and scholarship. We explore YPAR power sharing through a reflexive thematic analysis of in-depth, semi-structured inter…
Family Engagement in Child Welfare System-Level Change
Family engagement is a critical component of child welfare practice. Studies report improved experiences and outcomes when families are involved in decision making. Robust engagement may also serve as a culturally responsive approach to improving outcomes for families. Although practice-level interventions have received attention in the literature, there is a dearth of research on program- and system-level family models. The present study contrib…
Youth engagement to achieve health equity
Youth engagement in institutional decision‐making is necessary to ensure policy and practice is responsive and relevant to youth and community needs. In particular, it is critical to engage the voices and experiences of youth of Color who have historically been marginalized by healthcare organizations. The present study used multiple methods to examine youth and adult perspectives on the facilitators and barriers to implementing a citywide youth …
Disconnected Youth in Urban Areas
Covid‐19 shines a light on health inequities in communities of color
This manuscript reports on a youth‐driven health assessment engaging youth of color in identifying community health priorities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Photovoice, a participatory visual ethnographic health assessment strategy, was used to explore the question: What does health or healthiness mean to you and/or your community? Youth captured images that represented their priorities. The photos were discussed using …
Opportunities to “Make Macro Matter” through the Grand Challenges for Social Work
The Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative, led by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW), aims to organize the social work profession around 12 entrenched societal challenges. Addressing the root causes of the Grand Challenges will take a coordinated effort across all of social work practice, but given their scale, macro social work will be essential. We use Santiago and colleagues’ Frameworks for Advancing Macro Pr…
Examining civic engagement opportunities for system-involved youth
Research has demonstrated positive individual and community benefits from youth civic engagement. But not all youth have access to opportunities for engagement. Race and class have been identified as key factors that can influence opportunities. Other factors may also contribute to disproportionality in this important realm. System-involvement, for example, is an important factor requiring focused attention. This paper contributes to the research…
How to Be an Antiracist
This study is part of a larger Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project engaging youth of color (YOC; aged 16–24 years) in a planning a multilevel health promotion campaign for a large safety net hospital. Analyses focus on youths’ conceptualizations of antiracism, and their recommendations on how to facilitate an intentionally antiracist YPAR. We answer the following questions: (a) How do YOC engaged in a YPAR project conceptualize and…
Participatory Research Approaches with Youth
In this manuscript, we explore the promise and challenges of youth participatory action research (YPAR), paying particular attention to ethical issues and power dynamics that emerge in the context of research partnerships between youth and adults. We begin by reviewing the key tenets of YPAR and then go on to discuss how these tenets are often at odds with dominant approaches to research. We describe the tension between the values of YPAR and the…
Impacts of policy changes on Care-Leaving Workers in a time of coronavirus
This policy analysis examines the impact of COVID-19 policy guidance on the role of workers who provide outreach to transition-age care leavers. The comparison focuses on four countries (US, England, Canada, Australia) and addresses the question: How do policy changes impact street-level bureaucracy (SLB) discretion, activities, resources, and constraints? A review of policy guidance identifies similar actions across the four countries focused on…
Examining a Child Welfare Parenting Intervention for Parents With Intellectual Disabilities
Purpose: There is scant child welfare research on parenting interventions for parents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). This mixed-methods research examined client participation in an in-home parenting intervention, including client characteristics, which clients benefit most from participation, and key aspects of program participation. Method: The sample included participant program records, client satisfaction surveys, st…
Youth participation in policy advocacy
We make a direct impact on people's lives”
Participatory budgeting [PB] is a democratic process whereby community members determine how to spend governmental funds. Youth‐led PB is relatively new, occurring in select U.S. cities. During youth‐led PB, youth collect ideas, develop proposals, and advertise community improvement projects for which they, citywide, cast deciding votes. The study examined opportunities for the empowerment youth at each stage of a youth‐led PB project. Data colle…
Culturally related risk factors of suicidal ideation, intent, and behavior among Asian American women
The Power of Prevention and Youth Voice
The opening plenary session at the 2017 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, which focused on ensuring healthy youth development, highlighted the need to include young people as partners in research and evaluation. In doing so, the conference participants joined the voices of a growing group of social work scholars committed to youth participation and engagement, who have also highlighted the importance of youth voice in…
Engaging Youth in Municipal Government
Youth councils are one mechanism to engage youth in community governance; yet, there is scant research to guide practice. This study examined the extent to which youth are engaged in the origin, structure, and activities of municipal youth councils. Interviews were conducted with 24 adult stakeholders involved in the operations of youth councils. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results demonstrated that youth-centric practice builds u…
What does youth-led participatory budgeting reveal about youth priorities? Ideas, votes, and decisions
Youth involvement in community decision-making is considered a core principle of both youth advocacy and progressive governance. Yet, in many communities formal roles for youth remain limited. This paper presents data from a youth-led participatory budgeting process in Boston, Massachusetts (US). The City of Boston has institutionalized a formal process through which numerous youth can contribute ideas and vote on capital projects to receive city…
Youth councils in municipal government
Participatory Research Approaches with Youth
In this manuscript, we explore the promise and challenges of youth participatory action research (YPAR), paying particular attention to ethical issues and power dynamics that emerge in the context of research partnerships between youth and adults. We begin by reviewing the key tenets of YPAR and then go on to discuss how these tenets are often at odds with dominant approaches to research. We describe the tension between the values of YPAR and the…
Youth Civic Engagement
Youth engagement in municipal government has the potential to benefit both youth and the community. Yet, some forms of youth civic engagement may be related to social class and race resulting in benefits to select youth and communities, thus perpetuating a longer term trajectory of privilege or marginalization. Informed by theories of social capital and civic engagement, the present study examined how youth councils may reduce or reinforce social…
Respect in the workplace
The Power of Prevention and Youth Voice
The opening plenary session at the 2017 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, which focused on ensuring healthy youth development, highlighted the need to include young people as partners in research and evaluation. In doing so, the conference participants joined the voices of a growing group of social work scholars committed to youth participation and engagement, who have also highlighted the importance of youth voice in…
A cumulative ecological–transactional risk model of child maltreatment and behavioral outcomes
How to Be an Antiracist
This study is part of a larger Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project engaging youth of color (YOC; aged 16–24 years) in a planning a multilevel health promotion campaign for a large safety net hospital. Analyses focus on youths’ conceptualizations of antiracism, and their recommendations on how to facilitate an intentionally antiracist YPAR. We answer the following questions: (a) How do YOC engaged in a YPAR project conceptualize and…
A mixed-methods study of the impact of organizational culture on workforce retention in child welfare
Engaging Youth in Municipal Government
Youth councils are one mechanism to engage youth in community governance; yet, there is scant research to guide practice. This study examined the extent to which youth are engaged in the origin, structure, and activities of municipal youth councils. Interviews were conducted with 24 adult stakeholders involved in the operations of youth councils. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results demonstrated that youth-centric practice builds u…
Covid‐19 shines a light on health inequities in communities of color
This manuscript reports on a youth‐driven health assessment engaging youth of color in identifying community health priorities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Photovoice, a participatory visual ethnographic health assessment strategy, was used to explore the question: What does health or healthiness mean to you and/or your community? Youth captured images that represented their priorities. The photos were discussed using …
She treated us like we bring valid ideas to the table
Impacts of policy changes on Care-Leaving Workers in a time of coronavirus
This policy analysis examines the impact of COVID-19 policy guidance on the role of workers who provide outreach to transition-age care leavers. The comparison focuses on four countries (US, England, Canada, Australia) and addresses the question: How do policy changes impact street-level bureaucracy (SLB) discretion, activities, resources, and constraints? A review of policy guidance identifies similar actions across the four countries focused on…
Societal Factors Impacting Child Welfare
Objective: This research examines the psychometric properties of the Perceptions of Child Welfare Scale (PCWS). This instrument is designed to assess child welfare workers’ understanding of how society views their role and their work. Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was utilized to analyze data on 538 child welfare workers. Results: The final model consisted of three latent variables with 14 indicators related to stigma, value, and re…
Youth participation in policy advocacy
Strategies for engaging foster care youth in permanency planning family team conferences
Choreographing Justice
A significant form of civil justice is administrative hearings, used to resolve individual disputes in the provision of government welfare benefits. Drawing from ethnographic observations, analysis of recorded transcripts of the hearings, and interviews with administrative law judges in the United States, we examine two contrasting approaches to judging, one a ‘bureaucratic’ approach which replicates the style of decision‐making on the front line…
We make a direct impact on people's lives”
Participatory budgeting [PB] is a democratic process whereby community members determine how to spend governmental funds. Youth‐led PB is relatively new, occurring in select U.S. cities. During youth‐led PB, youth collect ideas, develop proposals, and advertise community improvement projects for which they, citywide, cast deciding votes. The study examined opportunities for the empowerment youth at each stage of a youth‐led PB project. Data colle…
Disconnected Youth in Urban Areas
Bridging success
Post‐secondary vocational education for youth leaving care
Post‐secondary educational outcomes for care‐experienced youth are poor. This has been a consistent finding across studies in many countries. Most studies do not distinguish between different types of post‐secondary educational pathways and outcomes, however. There has been limited attention to the potential for post‐secondary vocational education (PSVE) as a viable educational path that may lead to positive employment and social outcomes. In thi…
Facing power
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is oftentimes cited as a method guided by social justice principles to uplift youth voice and pursue youth priorities in research. However, to uphold these principles, YPAR researchers must address how youth and adults alike negotiate power differentials to be equal partners in research and scholarship. We explore YPAR power sharing through a reflexive thematic analysis of in-depth, semi-structured inter…
Youth engagement to achieve health equity
Youth engagement in institutional decision‐making is necessary to ensure policy and practice is responsive and relevant to youth and community needs. In particular, it is critical to engage the voices and experiences of youth of Color who have historically been marginalized by healthcare organizations. The present study used multiple methods to examine youth and adult perspectives on the facilitators and barriers to implementing a citywide youth …
Examining civic engagement opportunities for system-involved youth
Research has demonstrated positive individual and community benefits from youth civic engagement. But not all youth have access to opportunities for engagement. Race and class have been identified as key factors that can influence opportunities. Other factors may also contribute to disproportionality in this important realm. System-involvement, for example, is an important factor requiring focused attention. This paper contributes to the research…
Examining a Child Welfare Parenting Intervention for Parents With Intellectual Disabilities
Purpose: There is scant child welfare research on parenting interventions for parents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). This mixed-methods research examined client participation in an in-home parenting intervention, including client characteristics, which clients benefit most from participation, and key aspects of program participation. Method: The sample included participant program records, client satisfaction surveys, st…
What does youth-led participatory budgeting reveal about youth priorities? Ideas, votes, and decisions
Youth involvement in community decision-making is considered a core principle of both youth advocacy and progressive governance. Yet, in many communities formal roles for youth remain limited. This paper presents data from a youth-led participatory budgeting process in Boston, Massachusetts (US). The City of Boston has institutionalized a formal process through which numerous youth can contribute ideas and vote on capital projects to receive city…
A cumulative ecological–transactional risk model of child maltreatment and behavioral outcomes
Respect in the workplace
Choreographing Justice
A significant form of civil justice is administrative hearings, used to resolve individual disputes in the provision of government welfare benefits. Drawing from ethnographic observations, analysis of recorded transcripts of the hearings, and interviews with administrative law judges in the United States, we examine two contrasting approaches to judging, one a ‘bureaucratic’ approach which replicates the style of decision‐making on the front line…
Societal Factors Impacting Child Welfare
Objective: This research examines the psychometric properties of the Perceptions of Child Welfare Scale (PCWS). This instrument is designed to assess child welfare workers’ understanding of how society views their role and their work. Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was utilized to analyze data on 538 child welfare workers. Results: The final model consisted of three latent variables with 14 indicators related to stigma, value, and re…
Strategies for engaging foster care youth in permanency planning family team conferences
A mixed-methods study of the impact of organizational culture on workforce retention in child welfare
The Associations Between Forced Sex and Severe Mental Health, Substance Use, and HIV Risk Behaviors Among Asian American Women
We examined the association between forced sex history and mental health, sexual health, and substance use among Asian American women ( n = 720); 14.3% of our sample ( n = 103) reported forced sex experiences. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that participants with forced sex histories were 2-8 times more likely to have higher rates of mental health problems, HIV risk behavior, and substance use. Qualitative analysis was used to sup…
Societal factors impacting child welfare
Youth councils in municipal government
What does youth-led participatory budgeting reveal about youth priorities? Ideas, votes, and decisions
Youth involvement in community decision-making is considered a core principle of both youth advocacy and progressive governance. Yet, in many communities formal roles for youth remain limited. This paper presents data from a youth-led participatory budgeting process in Boston, Massachusetts (US). The City of Boston has institutionalized a formal process through which numerous youth can contribute ideas and vote on capital projects to receive city…
Youth Civic Engagement
Youth engagement in municipal government has the potential to benefit both youth and the community. Yet, some forms of youth civic engagement may be related to social class and race resulting in benefits to select youth and communities, thus perpetuating a longer term trajectory of privilege or marginalization. Informed by theories of social capital and civic engagement, the present study examined how youth councils may reduce or reinforce social…
She treated us like we bring valid ideas to the table
Culturally related risk factors of suicidal ideation, intent, and behavior among Asian American women
The Power of Prevention and Youth Voice
The opening plenary session at the 2017 Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, which focused on ensuring healthy youth development, highlighted the need to include young people as partners in research and evaluation. In doing so, the conference participants joined the voices of a growing group of social work scholars committed to youth participation and engagement, who have also highlighted the importance of youth voice in…
Engaging Youth in Municipal Government
Youth councils are one mechanism to engage youth in community governance; yet, there is scant research to guide practice. This study examined the extent to which youth are engaged in the origin, structure, and activities of municipal youth councils. Interviews were conducted with 24 adult stakeholders involved in the operations of youth councils. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results demonstrated that youth-centric practice builds u…
Youth participation in policy advocacy
We make a direct impact on people's lives”
Participatory budgeting [PB] is a democratic process whereby community members determine how to spend governmental funds. Youth‐led PB is relatively new, occurring in select U.S. cities. During youth‐led PB, youth collect ideas, develop proposals, and advertise community improvement projects for which they, citywide, cast deciding votes. The study examined opportunities for the empowerment youth at each stage of a youth‐led PB project. Data colle…
Impacts of policy changes on Care-Leaving Workers in a time of coronavirus
This policy analysis examines the impact of COVID-19 policy guidance on the role of workers who provide outreach to transition-age care leavers. The comparison focuses on four countries (US, England, Canada, Australia) and addresses the question: How do policy changes impact street-level bureaucracy (SLB) discretion, activities, resources, and constraints? A review of policy guidance identifies similar actions across the four countries focused on…
Examining a Child Welfare Parenting Intervention for Parents With Intellectual Disabilities
Purpose: There is scant child welfare research on parenting interventions for parents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). This mixed-methods research examined client participation in an in-home parenting intervention, including client characteristics, which clients benefit most from participation, and key aspects of program participation. Method: The sample included participant program records, client satisfaction surveys, st…
Opportunities to “Make Macro Matter” through the Grand Challenges for Social Work
The Grand Challenges for Social Work initiative, led by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW), aims to organize the social work profession around 12 entrenched societal challenges. Addressing the root causes of the Grand Challenges will take a coordinated effort across all of social work practice, but given their scale, macro social work will be essential. We use Santiago and colleagues’ Frameworks for Advancing Macro Pr…
Examining civic engagement opportunities for system-involved youth
Research has demonstrated positive individual and community benefits from youth civic engagement. But not all youth have access to opportunities for engagement. Race and class have been identified as key factors that can influence opportunities. Other factors may also contribute to disproportionality in this important realm. System-involvement, for example, is an important factor requiring focused attention. This paper contributes to the research…
How to Be an Antiracist
This study is part of a larger Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project engaging youth of color (YOC; aged 16–24 years) in a planning a multilevel health promotion campaign for a large safety net hospital. Analyses focus on youths’ conceptualizations of antiracism, and their recommendations on how to facilitate an intentionally antiracist YPAR. We answer the following questions: (a) How do YOC engaged in a YPAR project conceptualize and…
Participatory Research Approaches with Youth
In this manuscript, we explore the promise and challenges of youth participatory action research (YPAR), paying particular attention to ethical issues and power dynamics that emerge in the context of research partnerships between youth and adults. We begin by reviewing the key tenets of YPAR and then go on to discuss how these tenets are often at odds with dominant approaches to research. We describe the tension between the values of YPAR and the…
Covid‐19 shines a light on health inequities in communities of color
This manuscript reports on a youth‐driven health assessment engaging youth of color in identifying community health priorities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Photovoice, a participatory visual ethnographic health assessment strategy, was used to explore the question: What does health or healthiness mean to you and/or your community? Youth captured images that represented their priorities. The photos were discussed using …
Family Engagement in Child Welfare System-Level Change
Family engagement is a critical component of child welfare practice. Studies report improved experiences and outcomes when families are involved in decision making. Robust engagement may also serve as a culturally responsive approach to improving outcomes for families. Although practice-level interventions have received attention in the literature, there is a dearth of research on program- and system-level family models. The present study contrib…
Psychology (27 works) · Political science (24 works) · Sociology (20 works) · Public relations (17 works) · Medicine (13 works) · Youth Development and Social Support (12 works) · Developmental psychology (11 works) · Qualitative research (11 works) · Child Welfare and Adoption (9 works) · Children's Rights and Participation (9 works)