Sanctuary Youth Series Randomized Control Trial

Overview

Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries designed an eight-week program for youth ages 11-15 that uses games, short films, discussion questions, and exercises to engage with mental health and faith topics. The intervention package includes a facilitation guide and a guide for parents and caregivers. The program is intended to be conducted by an experienced facilitator, although there is no specific training provided for facilitators outside of the facilitation guide. The facilitator would lead groups of 11-15 year olds by leading games, showing the films, and facilitating discussion. The series is freely available on Sanctuary's website; individuals can access the material by creating an account, logging in, and downloading the course content. This RCT is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Youth Series course on improving youth's mental health literacy, knowledge, and attitudes towards help-seeking.

Churches will be recruited to the study based on social media sites and through Sanctuary's newsletter distribution lists. Churches who agree to participate in the study will be randomized to one of two groups, the Pilot Group that receives the 8-week series, and the Comparison Group, that does not receive the series. Both groups will be asked to complete a baseline survey and then a follow-up (end line) survey 8-weeks later. The results will be scored and compared between the two groups.

Conditions