Perceptions of Lived Experiences as a Participant in a Voluntary Court-Based Truancy Diversion Program

Abstract

Chronic absenteeism and truancy have plagued the United States for more than a century. Various interventions have been utilized, yet eight million students are absent from school every day, and seven million meet the threshold for chronic absenteeism in a school year. Some communities implemented voluntary court-based truancy diversion programs to address the epidemic of chronic absenteeism. The problem was the exclusion of the actual participants’ voices in evaluating such programs. Therefore, a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was used to explore the perceptions of former participants’ lived experiences in a voluntary court-based truancy diversion program and to increase understanding of what it was like to be a participant. No other study on this subject was present in the literature prior to this study. The method was congruent with the goals of this study. The study aimed to give voice to the former participants in a voluntary court-based truancy diversion program and examine their lived experiences. After performing a qualitative analysis of the transcripts from 15 participant interviews, findings for this hermeneutic phenomenological study resulted in five important patterns: accountability is a motivator, committed relationships are fundamental, addressing underlying issues is critical, there are few, if any, negative outcomes, and long-term personal responsibility and accountability increased as a result of being a participant in the program. This study provides insight into what it means to be a participant in a voluntary court-based truancy diversion program and provides rich data through the voices of the actual participants.