• Family Processes

    My research interest in family processes centres on households facing disadvantages and marginalisation. In particular, I study low-income, single-parent Singaporean households, examining their social capital and well-being (through an ongoing exploratory sequential mixed-methods dyadic project primarily funded by Singapore’s Ministry of Social and Family Development, in partnership with TOUCH Community Services) as well as family instability (a retrospective study supported by the University of Denver).

     

    Previously, I have written about the family social capital of grandparents in low-income Singaporean families (DOI: 10.1080/02185385.2020.1859409), in terms of how grandparents do not necessarily substitute absent parents. Against the background of COVID-19, we documented the pandemic’s adverse and disproportionate impact on low-income youth (DOI: 10.1080/29949769.2024.2314513). Guided by a live-learn-work-play theoretical framework and working with REACH Community Services, we identified existing and exacerbated problems and how youth-serving professionals responded to these problems.

     

    With my US collaborators, I also studied US adolescents’ time use and family and peer relationships (DOI: 10.3390/youth2010007), identifying and understanding three time-use profiles (i.e., Education-focused, High Media Users, or Work-Focused).

     

    Finally, as a postdoctoral fellow in the University of Denver, I was part of an evaluation team managing the implementation of the Nurturing Dads and Partners programme intervention as part of the Colorado Fatherhood Project. Using existing study data, I helped develop a programme of scholarship in conducting research or providing services related to racial-ethnic minority parents (DOI: 10.1177/10443894231207442) and parent-worker relationships in home visiting (DOI: 10.1177/10443894231156212).

  • Youth Engagement

    Broadly, my research interest in youth civic and community engagement and political participation has been channelled into two broad projects.

     

    The first project, funded by Singapore’s National Youth Council, focuses on Singapore’s system of compulsory school-based volunteerism (i.e., the Community Involvement Programme, CIP, or the Values in Action, VIA, programme). Specifically, I have examined:

    • Youth motivations, school environments, and volunteer experiences (DOI: 10.1080/02188791.2023.2251708), emphasising how schools’ volunteerism culture and practices intersected with and influenced youth volunteer motivations in important ways.
    • How “bathtub volunteerism” – increasing post-graduation youth volunteerism and shortening the period between volunteer disengagement and resumption – could be narrowed through high-quality adolescent and young adult volunteer experiences (DOI: 10.1177/11033088241258395).
    • Volunteer shifts across short-term youth voluntourism outputs and long-term outcomes and impact (DOI: 10.1080/02508281.2023.2243768), and how these shifts are contingent upon reflection depth and continued participation in local volunteerism or overseas voluntourism.

    The second project was completed against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using socialservice.sg podcast episodes as qualitative data, I wrote about youth civic and political participation during and beyond Singapore’s nine-day pandemic election (DOI: 10.1177/11033088211059595). I found that Singaporean youth were motivated to build awareness and activism and take action between elections and during GE2020.

     

    Thereafter, similarly using socialservice.sg podcast episodes, I studied youth civic engagement under Singapore’s COVID-19 lockdown. Premised upon motivations, online mobilization, action, and future civic and political orientation (DOI: 10.1080/10705422.2022.2108952), I found two distinct approaches to long-term engagement: “Those framing their initiatives as addressing preexisting needs called for more fundamental changes to ensure communities were not vulnerable to start with. Others who believed that the government’s pandemic response was adequate focused solely on their own initiatives, which they saw as filling gaps that the government could not.”

     

    Finally, I am currently analysing data from an explanatory sequential mixed-methods project – also funded by the National Youth Council – studying the psychological well-being, educational and career outlook, as well as civic and community engagement of Singaporean youth during and beyond COVID-19.

  • Evaluation and Implementation

    I study and apply evaluation research and implementation science within the classroom as well as in social service and philanthropic settings. My experience and expertise are directly informed by my:

    • Postdoctoral stint at the University of Denver managing the implementation of the Nurturing Dads and Partners Program intervention as part of the Colorado Fatherhood Project.
    • Practice-research collaborations with Singaporean social service agencies.
    • Ongoing work with Singaporean philanthropic organisation The Majurity Trust, centred on measurement, evaluation, and learning.
    • Past and present teaching experience – in quantitative and qualitative research methods and programme evaluation and development – as an instructor and professor working with undergraduates, graduate students, and practitioners.

    I am currently developing a multi-modal open educational resource focused on programme development and evaluation.

     

    In Singapore, I’ve worked with social service practitioners to reflect and document our practice-research collaborations, across project conceptualisation, implementation, and dissemination. With TOUCH Community Services, we explored the organisational role of internal social work intermediaries beyond initiating practice-research partnerships (DOI: 10.1080/02185385.2023.2238686). With REACH Community Services (“REACH”), we examined practice research’s challenges and opportunities in an Asian, Singaporean context (DOI: 10.1080/17525098.2023.2296412). Similarly, a related project with REACH involved understanding the individual and organisational youth worker experiences of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy training and implementation (DOI: 10.1177/00208728231156738).

  • Journal Publications

    If an article is not open access*, please get in touch and I’ll be happy to share a PDF copy.

     

    14. Accepted: Goh, T., J.Y. Kwan, V. Ng, Y. L. Tan, & J. Khor. Evaluating the organisational implementation and impact of a Solution-Focused Brief Therapy-informed youth programme: Longitudinal qualitative insights from a Singaporean agency. International Social Work.

     

    *13. Kwan J. Y. & L. Wray-Lake. Narrowing ‘bathtub volunteerism’ in Singapore and beyond through high-quality adolescent and young adult volunteer experiences. YOUNG. DOI: 10.1177/11033088241258395

     

    12. Kwan J. Y., J. Tan, Y. J. Chua, & J. Khor (2024). Living, learning, working, and playing during COVID-19: Tackling existing and exacerbated problems of low-income youth. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development. DOI: 10.1080/29949769.2024.2314513

     

    11. Kwan J. Y., J. Khor, & J. Chan (2024). Practice research’s challenges and opportunities across project conceptualisation, implementation, and dissemination: A Singaporean case study. China Journal of Social Work. DOI: 10.1080/17525098.2023.2296412

     

    10. Park, I.Y., J. L. Bellamy, S. R. Speer, Kim, J., J. Y. Kwan, P. Powe, A. Banman, J. S. Harty, & N. B. Guterman (2023). Actor and partner effects of interparental relationship and co-parenting on parenting stress among racial-ethnic minority parents. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. DOI: 10.1177/10443894231207442

     

    9. Kwan J. Y. & L. Wray-Lake (2023). "Why are we doing this in the first place?": Youth motivations, school environments, and volunteer experiences in a system of compulsory school-based volunteerism. Asia Pacific Journal of Education. DOI: 10.1080/02188791.2023.2251708

     

    8. Kwan J. Y. (2023). "We didn’t want it to be a touch-and-go thing": Exploring shifts across short-term youth voluntourism outputs and long-term outcomes and impact. Tourism Recreation Research. DOI: 10.1080/02508281.2023.2243768

     

    7. Teo, S., J. Koh, & J. Y. Kwan (2023). "Beyond a practice-research bridge": Project conceptualisation, implementation, and dissemination by an internal social work intermediary in Singapore. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 33(4), 345-360. DOI: 10.1080/02185385.2023.2238686

     

    6. Kim, J., J. Y. Kwan, S. R. Speer, I. Y. Park, J. L. Bellamy, A. Banman, J. S. Harty, & N. B. Guterman (2023). Parent-worker relationships in home visiting: Intersections of parental gender, ethnicity, and immigration status. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 104(4), 451-464. DOI: 10.1177/10443894231156212 (2023 Best Quantitative Article published with Families in Society)

     

    5. Ho, L., T. Goh, J. Y. Kwan, J. Lim, & J. Khor (2023). "Everybody needs to be on board": Individual and organisational youth worker experiences of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy training and implementation in a multi-cultural Singaporean context. International Social Work, 67(2). DOI: 10.1177/00208728231156738

     

    4. Kwan J. Y. (2022). Youth civic engagement under Singapore’s COVID-19 lockdown: Motivations, online mobilization, action, and future civic and political orientation. Journal of Community Practice, 30(3), 234-254. DOI: 10.1080/10705422.2022.2108952

     

    *3. Kwan J. Y. (2022). "Democracy and active citizenship are not just about the elections": Youth civic and political participation during and beyond Singapore’s nine-day pandemic election. YOUNG, 30(3), 247-264 DOI: 10.1177/11033088211059595

     

    *2. Wray-Lake, L., S. Wilf, J. Y. Kwan, & B. Oosterhoff. (2022). Adolescence during a pandemic: Examining US adolescents’ time use and family and peer relationships during COVID-19. Youth, 2(1), 80-97, DOI: 10.3390/youth2010007

     

    1. Kwan J. Y. (2021). Family structure, the quality of family ties, and the positive development of adolescents: The family social capital of grandparents in low-income Singaporean families. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development, 31(3), 220-235, DOI: 10.1080/02185385.2020.1859409

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