Research and Development

Using our suite of measures and a global evidence base, we continually test the assumptions around the short and long term impact of our programs and services.

The Marshman Foundation

The Marshman Foundation is a research and development not-for-profit supporting other not-for-profit providers across Australia develop and evaluate youth programs. 

For over 25 years the Marshman Foundation worked in close partnership with Youth Opportunities to develop the Personal Leadership program, provide thought leadership and ongoing support to protect the integrity and fidelity of our programs and services. In 2026, the Marshman Foundation integrated into Youth Opportunities to bring these skills and insight in-house.

We use a range of robust measures to ensure we are achieving the best program outcomes, these include:

  • This scale measures general levels of distress, with indicators for anxiety and depression. The scale is used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. We use two versions: K10 and K5 which reflect the number of questions. K5 has been adjusted for the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and was used to evaluate Accelerate and Activate outcomes.

  • EPOCH is a measure commonly included in Wellbeing Surveys conducted by Departments of Education including the Department of Education SA.

    Using five constructs: Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness, EPOCH is a validated adaptation of the PERMA framework of positive psychology and is specifically designed for adolescents. The five constructs are characteristics that foster wellbeing and psychological health into adulthood.

  • Levenson’s Locus of Control (LoC)* assessment measures a psychological concept that refers to the degree to which people believe that they have control over the events and outcomes of their lives, as opposed to external forces, such as chance or other people. Having an internal LoC is strongly associated with taking responsibility for your life and is a direct measure of Personal Leadership.

Using our suite of measures and the global evidence base, the Marshman Foundation continually test the assumptions around the short and long term impact of our programs and services. This is represented in our Theory of Change, which articulates how and why we create social impact.

Our programs and services are developed based on extensive research in the fields of:

  • Positive psychology

  • Cognitive psychology

  • Behaviour therapy

  • Habit formation and neuroscience

  • Developmental psychology

  • Transformational learning theory

  • Personal development theory

  • Motivational theory

  • Philosophy

The Personal Leadership Program is recognised as an effective, evidence-based mental health and wellbeing program and is listed in both the: