Inductively examining a culture of interest is contingent upon learning the language specific to that culture. Early adolescent girls, however, have been evidenced to lose their confidence in knowing and to consequently answer open-ended questions with the blanket statement, “I don’t know”. In conducting this pilot ethnographic study, we aimed to understand how to ask open-ended interview questions to capture the culture-specific language of early adolescent girls participating in organized swimming. With the larger ethnography, we aim to examine sociocultural protective factors that buffer excessive weight concerns in this micro-culture of girls. Organized swimming is a micro-culture where girls’ developing bodies are visible; they participate in a potential competence-building activity; and they interact with same-sex peers, opposite-sex peers, and non-related adults. A group of early adolescent girls similar to those anticipated to participate in the larger study was purposefully sampled from a community fitness organization located in a metropolitan area of the Midwest. After gaining entrée and IRB approval, the PI began participating in co-ed swim practices for youth ages 6-15 years. Participating on the swim team gave the PI an opportunity to forge relationships with the swimmers before conducting individual semi-structured interviews. Over 8 weeks of swimming with the team, participants were sequentially recruited based on age variation, in both years and months. Four girls, ages 11.0 – 12.75 years, participated. Parental consent rate was 80%; of those, participation rate was 100%. Participants were recruited until the refined questions captured the cultural domains of interest. Initial answers to questions consisted of “I don’t know”. Probes utilizing information gleaned from cultural immersion were found to be pivotal in guiding interview responses beyond answers of “I don’t know”. Participants showed efficacy in answering open-ended questions when questions were recast in their cultural terms. Use of cultural probes led to three key revisions being made to the original interview guide. The questions were reordered to collect culturally specific information before more generalized information. Questions containing terminology foreign to the participants (e.g., masculine) were dropped. Contrast questions were reworded employing cultural terms observed during practice sessions as well as offered in their responses. Culture immersion, to the point of forging relationships with the participants, facilitated the revision of questions. The PI was able to guide girls in their ways of knowing and thus, the language of the micro-culture of organized swimming from being immersed in adolescent girls’ culture. Forging relationships with study participants prior to conducting interviews afforded the PI the ability to learn the language, and thus, the behavioral expectations of the culture. Through serial refinement, the interview guide was revised to effectively examine the cultural domains of protective factors buffering excessive weight concerns.

To inductively understand recurring themes in case mentoring (CM) relationships with high-risk sexually active girls. Mentoring is characterized by the belief that youth are more likely to successfully negotiate adolescence if caring, concerned adults are available to them. This qualitative descriptive study examines 18-month summary evaluation notes from the one-on-one CM component of a comprehensive pregnancy prevention intervention.