Using a Mentoring Afterschool Program to Improve Adolescent Mental Health and Physical Activity: A Pilot Study
Purpose
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic many youth are experiencing declines in physical activity and worsening mental health (e.g., depression symptoms). These declines are exacerbated among underserved youth who experience greater barriers to health services and exposure to life stressors that put them at increased risk for impaired mental, emotional, and behavioral health. School-based afterschool programming is an important strategy to reach this population of youth and provides intervention at a time when youth are likely to otherwise be in environments not supportive of health. Further participation in extracurricular activities has been shown to be a protective factor for youth mental health. However, consistent with the Behavioral Theory of Depression, youth who are currently inactive and who have depression symptoms are unlikely to participate in afterschool programming on their own and likely require heightened positive reinforcement when they do attend to encourage retention. Given the high prevalence of youth who experience symptoms of depression and resource and staffing challenges faced by many schools, the level of support needed to engage students to consistently participate and benefit from afterschool programming is often beyond the capacity of school-based afterschool programs. In partnership with a local afterschool program for middle school students in a low resource community, we developed an augmented version of the current afterschool program in which college students are trained to mentor and assist in the afterschool program, expanding the capacity of the afterschool program to engage students. The mentoring intervention uses behavioral activation principles to help youth connect their behaviors with their mood and support youth to engage in behaviors that improve their mood, including physical activity. The main purpose of this study is to pilot the feasibility of the newly developed intervention.
Condition
- Depression
Eligibility
- Eligible Ages
- Between 9 Years and 99 Years
- Eligible Genders
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria
- Any 6th , 7th , or 8th grade student who is enrolled in their after school plus program at a participating middle school Parent/Guardian Inclusion Criteria: - Any parent of a student who is enrolled in the study is eligible to participate. Mentor Inclusion Criteria: - Any mentor in the after school plus program is eligible to participate. Staff Member Inclusion Criteria: - Any staff member affiliated with the after school program at a participating middle school
Exclusion Criteria
- Have a substantial cognitive impairment that would prevent the completion of data collection activities.
Study Design
- Phase
- N/A
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Non-Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Crossover Assignment
- Intervention Model Description
- The crossover occurs after the first semester (end of Month 4). The study will occur with two middle schools. Months 1-4 Participants at "School A" (Arm 1) receive the Afterschool as Usual condition in the first semester. Participants at "School B" (Arm 2) receive the Afterschool Plus condition in the first semester. Months 5-8 Participants at "School A" (Arm 1) receive the Afterschool Plus condition in the second semester. and the participants at "School B" (Arm 2) receive afterschool as Usual condition in the second semester.
- Primary Purpose
- Prevention
- Masking
- None (Open Label)
Arm Groups
| Arm | Description | Assigned Intervention |
|---|---|---|
|
Experimental School A |
Middle school students at School A who participate in the after school program. They will receive after school as usual in months 1-4, followed by after school plus in months 5-8. |
|
|
Experimental School B |
Middle school students at School B who participate in the after school program. They will receive after school plus in months 1-4, followed by after school as usual in months 5-8. |
|
Recruiting Locations
More Details
- Status
- Recruiting
- Sponsor
- University of Minnesota
