After-School Initiative's Toolkit for Evaluating

Toolkit for Evaluating Positive Youth Development 28
Sense of Self
The sense of self outcome domain relates to how youth view themselves and their abilities to cope with the basic challenges of life. There
are many ways to think about the self and many different words to describe it: self-esteem, self-concept, self-worth, self-evaluation, selfassurance,
self-regard, self-efficacy and the like. For the purposes of this toolkit, 4 concepts of self are covered: self-concept, sense of
empowerment, positive outlook and sense of purpose.
Self-concept might be defined as a conscious, cognitive perception of how someone sees him or herself. 1 It is often used interchangeably
with self-esteem, but tends to define a more global 2 and potentially more changeable notion 3 of self. NRC chose to use the word selfconcept
rather than self-esteem for a number of reasons:
1. The term “self-esteem” has been used so frequently in mainstream culture that it has become trivialized and misinterpreted.
2. There is much debate over the definition, the causes and the importance of self-esteem.
3. In NRC’s understanding of the constructs, self concept is more transient, thus more susceptible, to changes from the environment.
Increased empowerment is the feeling of competence or ability to cope with life’s challenges. Terms such as locus of control, self-efficacy,
resiliency and personal power represent alternative words that describe allied traits. Positive outlook relates to a person’s optimism about
his or her personal future and sense of purpose is the feeling that one’s life has meaning.
ASI Requirement: If the sense of self domain is selected, all questions are required.
Sense of Self
Coming to [this program] has helped me to…
YES KIND OF NOT REALLY
a. Feel better about myself................................................................................. ...................... .............................
b. Feel I have more control over things that happen to me ..................... ...................... .............................
c. Feel that I can make more of a difference................................................ ...................... .............................
d. Learn I can do things I didn’t think I could do before......................... ...................... .............................
e. Feel better about my future........................................................................... ...................... .............................
f. Feel I am better at handling whatever comes my way.......................... ...................... .............................