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This study examines the impact of the Building My Future program's implementation variables on attendance rate and on changes in personal, problem-solving, and community competencies. The program is run by local Social Services from Castile and Leon, Spain, and offers opportunities for adolescents to propose and carry out youth-led activities in their community. Data were accumulated from 356 participants, the majority experiencing negative psychosocial conditions, attending a total of 32 groups from 2013 to 2016. Using binary logistic regression and hierarchical linear regression analyses, results showed that having a facilitator with less professional experience, attending larger groups, having a high level of family involvement, and performing fewer modules and fewer extra activities predicted higher attendance rates and more positive task orientation, self-concept, social realization, and problem-solving competencies. Being younger, from an urban area, and having a facilitator with less professional experience predicted a higher score in community integration. These findings reveal that several program implementation components can contribute to the program's development and effectiveness and can also be considered across multiple programs in this field of practice. RESUMEN Este estudio examina la influencia de las variables de la aplicación del programa "Construyendo mi futuro" en el índice de asistencia y el cambio en competencias personales, de resolución de problemas y comunitarias. El programa se ofrece desde los Servicios Sociales de Castilla y León, España, brindando oportunidades para que adolescentes propongan y lleven a cabo actividades en su comunidad. Se recogieron datos de 356 participantes, la mayoría en situación de riesgo psicosocial, que asistieron a un total de 32 grupos desde el año 2013 hasta el año 2016. Mediante análisis de regresión logística binaria y regresión jerárquica lineal, los resultados indican que tener un facilitador con menos experiencia (más joven), asistir a grupos más grandes, disfrutar de un alto nivel de participación familiar y realizar menos módulos y menos actividades adicionales predecían un mayor índice de asistencia. Estas variables predijeron además una mayor orientación hacia la tarea y cambios positivos en autoconcepto, realización social y resolución de problemas. El hecho de ser joven, de zona urbana y tener un facilitador con menor experiencia profesional predecía una mayor puntuación en integración comunitaria. Estos resultados nos revelan cómo determinados componentes de la aplicación del programa pueden contribuir al desarrollo y a la eficacia del mismo, pudiendo igualmente ser considerados en otros muchos programas en este ámbito de intervención.

The community is an important context in the lives of our adolescents and can be of great value for those that are living under psychosocial risk conditions. The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to evaluate the community group-based ‘Building My Future’ program, which aims to increase personal, social, and community competencies in at-risk and non-at-risk adolescents following the Positive Youth Development framework. The program supports the realization of leisure and free time activities aimed at improving certain community aspects, activities that are selected by the group of participants themselves and are supervised by young professionals belonging to NGO collaborating entities of Municipal Social Services. The program is composed of five modules: 1) ‘Creating our group’, 2) ‘Getting to know our surroundings’, 3) ‘Making our surroundings better’, 4) ‘Clarifying my future’, and, 5) ‘Boosting our relationships’; and is currently being implemented in the Autonomous Community of Castile and Leon, Spain. Following a compendium of four scientific publications, the first paper explores the participants’ lifestyle patterns and their association with personal, social, and community competencies before taking part in the program; the second paper systematically reviews the characteristics and evaluation quality of community groupbased programs similar in nature to the “Building My Future” program; the third paper evaluates the types of activities performed during the program and their association with adolescent competence change profiles after the program; and the fourth paper evaluates implementation conditions and how they affect attendance and competence outcomes. The results of these four studies lead to recommendations for the community intervention field and for those that are implementing the “Building My Future” program, concluding that the program is evidence-based and has great potential to promote the positive development of adolescents. The community is an important context in the lives of our adolescents and can be of great value for those that are living under psychosocial risk conditions. The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to evaluate the community group-based ‘Building My Future’ program, which aims to increase personal, social, and community competencies in at-risk and non-at-risk adolescents following the Positive Youth Development framework. The program supports the realization of leisure and free time activities aimed at improving certain community aspects, activities that are selected by the group of participants themselves and are supervised by young professionals belonging to NGO collaborating entities of Municipal Social Services. The program is composed of five modules: 1) ‘Creating our group’, 2) ‘Getting to know our surroundings’, 3) ‘Making our surroundings better’, 4) ‘Clarifying my future’, and, 5) ‘Boosting our relationships’; and is currently being implemented in the Autonomous Community of Castile and Leon, Spain. Following a compendium of four scientific publications, the first paper explores the participants’ lifestyle patterns and their association with personal, social, and community competencies before taking part in the program; the second paper systematically reviews the characteristics and evaluation quality of community group-based programs similar in nature to the “Building My Future” program; the third paper evaluates the types of activities performed during the program and their association with adolescent competence change profiles after the program; and the fourth paper evaluates implementation conditions and how they affect attendance and competence outcomes. The results of these four studies lead to recommendations for the community intervention field and for those that are implementing the “Building My Future” program, concluding that the program is evidence-based and has great potential to promote the positive development of adolescents.