The goal of this clinical trial is to test effects of the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program on the mental health and adaptive functioning on school-age youth (ages 9-16) from low-income families who are receiving outpatient mental health services. The main questions it aims to answer are: • Does participation in the GLM program improve mental health and related outcomes among school-age youth (9- to 16-years-old) from low-income families as an adjunct to outpatient mental health services? 180 youth will be enrolled in the study and assigned randomly to either continue mental health services as usual (SAU) or to continue mental health services while also participating in GLM (SAU+GLM). Participating youth, and their parent/guardians and therapists, will be surveyed annually. Mental health services records also will be obtained with appropriate permissions. . Researchers will compare the SAU and SAU+GLM groups to see if participation in GLM has an effect on the mental health and related outcomes of study youth.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
180
The Great Life Mentoring program (GLM) provides volunteer-based mentoring for school-age youth from low-resource families who are receiving outpatient mental health care. Each youth is paired with a mentor with whom they spend time in the community on a weekly basis for at least one year. Mentors are required to complete a 20-hour intensive training prior to being paired with a youth. Mentors also receive monthly in-person supervision from GLM staff for the first year of their meetings, which continues on an as-needed basis thereafter. Training and supervision are geared toward the unique opportunities and challenges that can occur when mentoring a youth with mental health needs. The goal is for the mentor to become an integral part of the child's mental health treatment, but the mentoring relationship is also sustained after treatment ends.
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States
RECRUITINGOverall Mental Health
Average of standardized (z-scored) scores on following study outcome measures: Depressive Symptoms (inverted), Anxiety Symptoms (inverted), Loneliness (inverted), Internalizing Symptoms (inverted), Externalizing Symptoms (inverted), Suicidal Ideation, Happiness, Life Satisfaction, Self-Esteem, and Hope
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Depressive Symptoms
Total raw score on the PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) Pediatric Short-Form v2.0 Depressive Symptoms (8 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Anxiety Symptoms
Total raw score on the PROMIS Pediatric Short-Form v2.0 Anxiety (8 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Loneliness
Total raw score on NIH (National Institutes of Health) Toolbox Loneliness Fixed Form Ages 8-17 v2.0 (7 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Internalizing Symptoms
Average of standardized (z-scored) Total scores on the Internalizing scale of the youth self-report and parent-report versions of the Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS) - Peabody Treatment Progress Inventory
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Externalizing Symptoms
Average of standardized (z-scored) Total scores on the Externalizing scale of the youth self-report and parent report versions of the Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS) - Peabody Treatment Progress Inventory
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Life Satisfaction
Total score on Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (6 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation,average of 2 years
Happiness
Total raw score on PROMIS Pediatric Short Form v1.0 - Positive Affect 4a (4 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Suicidal Ideation
Affirmative response on Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance item asking about suicidal ideation, tailored to refer to the past year (youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Self-esteem
Total score on Global Self-Esteem scale of the short-form of the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (4 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Hope
Total score on abbreviated "Toolbox" version of the Hopeful Future Expectations Scale (7 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Engagement in Mental Health Services
Percentage of scheduled mental health services sessions attended as indicated by mental health service records
Time frame: End of study participation, average of 2 years
Therapist-Youth Alliance
Average of standardized (z-scored) scores on therapist and youth report versions of the Therapist Alliance Scale for Children-Revised
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation while youth is receiving mental health services, average of 1 year
Resilience
Total score on The Resilience Scale (RS-14) (14 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Adaptive Coping with Stress
Rating on single-item youth-report measure adapted from Coping Efficacy Scale (Sandler et al., 2000)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Emotion Regulation
Total score on measure adapted from Prior et al. (2000) (4 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Empathy
Total score on measure used in evaluation by Boys and Girls Clubs of America (4 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Spark (hobby/interest)
Response on single item youth-report measure adapted from Search Institute Thriving Orientation Survey
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Self-advocacy
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Total score on Self-advocacy Scale from Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Project (4 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation,average of 2 years
Goal-setting
Average of standardized (z-scored) Total scores on Goal-setting scale from Kuperminc et al. (2011) (4 items; youth self-report) and the Goal Orientation Scale (Child Trends, 2022) (7 items, parent report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Problem-solving
Total score on Scale from Raising Healthy Children Survey (4 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Communication Skills
Total score on measure used in evaluation by Boys and Girls Clubs of America (4 items; youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Grit - Perseverance
Total score on Perseverance subscale of the Short Grit Scale for Children (4 items, youth self-report0
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Peer Social Skills
Total score on Social Competence Sale of the Youth Outcome Measures Toolbox (7 items, youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Social Support from Family
Total score on Family subscale of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (4 items, youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Social Support from Non-Parental Adults
Total score on Special Persons subscale of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support with items modified to refer to "special adult outside of my family" rather than "special person" (4 items, youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Social Support from Peers
Response on a single item developed for this study asking about whether the youth has a good friend around the same age (youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Very Important Nonfamilial Adult
Response on single item from DuBois et al. (2022) asking whether the youth has a very important adult in their life and, if so, in what category(ies), with endorsement of a category other than parent/primary caregiver or relative scored as 1 and other responses scored as 0. Other responses will be coded for applicability to the predetermined categories by persons blind to study arm.
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Academic Success
Response on single item from DuBois et al. (2022) asking about grades in school (youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
School Connectedness
Total score on School subscale of Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness (6 items, youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Career Exploration
Total score on Future Planning: Talk to an Adult scale from the SAYO (Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes)-Y (4 items, youth self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Perceptions of Treatment Progress
Average of standardized (z-scores) Total scores on youth- and parent-report versions Treatment Outcome Expectations Scale from the Peabody Treatment Progress Battery, with items modified to also refer to progress currently observed, not only expected (8 items)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Perceptions of Counseling Impact
Total score on adapted version of the Youth Counseling Impact Scale from the Peabody Treatment Progress Battery, with items modified to refer to last 2 weeks rather than a single session, 2 items added, and 3 items dropped (5 items)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation while youth is receiving mental health services, average of 1 year
Parent Stress
Total score on measure from Pearlin \& Schooler (1978) (11 items, parent-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Family Functioning
Total score on General Functioning subscale of the Family Assessment Device (Epstein et al., 1983) (12 items, parent-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Positive Parenting
Total score on Positive Parenting subscale of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (6 items, parent-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Parental Involvement
Total score on Involvement subscale of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (10 items, parent-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Parental Poor Supervision
Total score on Poor Monitoring/Supervision subscale of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (10 items, parent-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Self-Control
Total score on Child Self-Control scale (Grasmick et al., 1993) (8 items, parent-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Social-emotional Learning Skills
Total score on measure of student social and emotional competencies (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning \& the American Institutes for Research, 2013) (20 items, parent report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Parent Depressive Symptoms
Total raw score on PROMIS Short Form v1.0 - Depression 4a (4 items, parent self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Parent Positive Affect
Total raw score on PROMIS Pediatric Short Form v1.0 - Positive Affect 4a (4 items; parent self-report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Parent-Child Alliance
Total score on measure from the National Survey of Children's Health (5 items; parent report)
Time frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years
Successful Completion of Treatment
Planned ending of treatment as determined by mental health records coded as 1 and unplanned, client-initiated ending, and endings for other reasons coded as 0.
Time frame: Point in time when youth's mental health treatment ends, average of 1 year