Youth Empowerment Solutions for Positive Youth Development
Condition: Violence; Child or Adolescent Antisocial Behavior
MeSH terms: Antisocial Personality Disorder
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The Youth Empowerment Solutions for Positive Youth Development (YES) Study , is a randomized
      controlled trial that compares youth in standard after school programs offering activity
      choice (e.g. sports, academic enrichment, arts) to youth assigned to an after school program
      that includes training in community development, formation of intergenerational partnerships
      and experience conducting community improvement projects. The study aims are to: 1) implement
      and evaluate an empirically developed intervention for empowering youth (YES) using a
      randomized controlled trial design in a high risk urban and suburban sample; 2) test a
      conceptual model that posits a causal relationship from youth empowerment processes to
      positive developmental outcomes; and 3) follow youth over time to assess sustainability of
      gains in healthy development. Developmental outcomes will be assessed at baseline, curriculum
      completion and at three and nine months post-intervention.

      This study will be referred to as the Genesee County Afterschool Study (GCAS) in recruitment,
      consents, assents and promotional materials. The study compares different types of after
      school programs, and we will be randomly assigning students into two groups, 1) the "regular"
      21st Century Afterschool programs and 2) the "regular" 21st Century Afterschool programs with
      the YES supplement. We do not want to bias desirability of the random groups by naming one of
      the groups to be tested in the study name. Therefore, in documents we will refer to the study
      as the "Genesee County Afterschool Study (GCAS)."

      Study hypotheses:

        1. Youth in the YES intervention arm will demonstrate increased intrapersonal,
           interactional, and behavioral empowerment than youth in the comparison group arm.

        2. Youth in the YES intervention arm will demonstrate higher scores on the positive
           developmental outcome variables, and lower scores on the negative developmental outcome
           variables, than youth in the comparison group arm.

        3. Behavioral empowerment will partially mediate the relations between intrapersonal and
           interactional empowerment and youth developmental outcomes, such that youth with greater
           intrapersonal and interactional empowerment skills will demonstrate increased behavioral
           empowerment, which in turn will result in higher scores on positive developmental
           outcome variables, and lower scores on negative developmental outcome variables.
    

Detailed description: 
      YES is a partnership between the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the Flint
      Community Schools and the Genesee County Intermediate School District. The study will include
      participants at eight high-need middle schools with 21st Century after school programs.

      Researchers have consistently found that participation in out of school programs enhances
      adolescents' well being and sense of worth, involves them in positive behaviors and helps
      them avoid involvement in problem behaviors. Although key elements of successful after school
      programs have been proposed (e.g., adult mentorship), the processes through which youth
      positive outcomes are achieved have rarely been empirically examined. Empowerment theory
      provides a unique conceptual framework for developing programs to enhance positive youth
      development because it incorporates the notion that health promotion requires not only that
      youth develop specific skills and positive assets, but also that youth become motivated to
      actively apply these skills and knowledge to become agents of positive change for themselves
      and in their communities. Thus, programs based on empowerment theory focus on building
      positive assets, connecting youth with local resources and adult role models, and engaging
      youth in community service activities. Ecological theory complements empowerment theory
      because it focuses attention on the social contexts in which youth develop, interactions
      between these contexts, and the roles youth can play in these contexts (e.g., schools,
      communities). An intervention approach informed by these two theories should enhance positive
      youth development by engaging youth in relevant ecological settings where they can learn
      skills, practice those skills, and establish the social resources to effectively navigate the
      social contexts in which they find themselves and develop into healthy adults.
    

Intervention name(s): Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES)
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Participants receiving the The 16-week, 30-session YES curriculum YES as a part of the 21st Century after-school program at middle schools that have high economic and academic needs. 21st Century is a U.S. Department of Education program which provides academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours and during the summer for children who attend low-performing schools in areas with high poverty (U.S. Department of Education, 2009).
Other intervention name(s): Genesee County Afterschool Study
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Empowerment; Youth; Violence; Community; Prevention