DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38832
title: Evaluating a Cognitive Behavioral Approach for Improving Life Outcomes of Underserved Young Women: A Randomized Experiment in Chicago, Illinois, 2017-2019
title: Archival Version

description: This study explored whether a school-based group
counseling program for adolescent girls, implemented at scale, can mitigate
trauma-related mental health harms. The study was an efficacy
trial of a program specifically designed for girls, conducted in the
third-largest city in the United States of America during the duration of the study. In a randomized trial involving 3,749 Chicago public high school girls, the researchers found that participating in the program for four months induced a 22% reduction in PTSD symptoms, and that there were significant decreases in anxiety and depression. Results included an estimated cost-utility below $150,000 per Quality Adjusted Life Year. The study found evidence suggesting that effects
persist and may increase over time.
description: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Youth Guidance's Working on Womanhood (WOW) program, such as the impact of the program on mental health outcomes.
description: This study used a cluster randomized controlled trial. 10 schools were non-randomly preselected. Each school was located in an under-served community on Chicago's south or west side that has experienced high rates of violent crime.
During the first week of the 2017 to 2018 academic year, the researchers received a list of all 9th to 11th grade girls from each participating school.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) administrative data was used identify and randomize young women who met the Youth Guidance's guidelines for WOW participation.
Due to variation in WOW programming capacity between schools and grades, a random assignment conditional was used on school-by-grade sets with variation in the probability of assignment to the treatment condition across these sets. Randomly selected girls received an offer of the WOW program or business as usual electives and services.
For the baseline and follow-up surveys, students were randomly selected from all participants. Students were selected such that the number of students assigned to the treatment group was similar to the number of students assigned to the control group.
The Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC-3) was used to measure anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was also measured using the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C). The Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS) was used to measure trauma exposure and PTSD symptomology. The Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale - Short Form (DERS-SF) was used to measure emotional regulation. The Future Outlook Inventory (FOI) was used to capture orientation to the future. Items from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) measured reproductive health outcomes and substance use.
In addition to the surveys, the researchers had access to the students' school records through the CPS and student's arrest data through the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
description: This collection contains two group level datasets; One of the baseline survey and another of the follow-up survey.
The baseline survey contains the following:

2 administrative variables.
824 variables pertaining to the BASC-3 SRP-A.
108 variables pertaining to the DERS-SF.
145 variables pertaining to the CATS.
12 variables pertaining to family composition.
64 variables pertaining to the Family Cohesion Scale.
12 variables pertaining to academic goals and expectations.
10 variables pertaining to school engagement and attendance.
31 variables pertaining to behavior and conflict with peers.
37 variables pertaining to Sexual health, risk-taking and pregnancy.
96 variables pertaining to Substance use and risk-taking.
48 variables pertaining to the Zimbardo time perspective survey.
60 variables pertaining to the Life orientation test - revised (LOT-R).
30 variables pertaining to Discounting.

The follow-up survey contains the following:

3 administrative variables.
827 variables pertaining to the BASC-3 SRP-A.
108 variables pertaining to the DERS-SF.
145 variables pertaining to the CATS.
12 variables pertaining to family composition.
64 variables pertaining to the Family Cohesion Scale.
12 variables pertaining to academic goals and expectations.
13 variables pertaining to school engagement and attendance.
44 variables pertaining to behavior and conflict with peers.
30 variables pertaining to Sexual health, risk-taking and pregnancy.
57 variables pertaining to Substance use and risk-taking.
30 variables pertaining to Discounting.
48 variables pertaining to sociopolitical control.
149 variables pertaining to behaviors, such as emotional regulation and dysregulation.
67 variables pertaining to social supports.
40 variables pertaining to time perspective.
75 variables pertaining to Working on Womanhood.
description: The follow-up survey was conducted in 2 phases. In the first phase, individuals where surveyed with equal probability (N = 1365, out of 2003 eligible).The second phase was divided into two steps:
(a) Remaining cases that had already consented where surveyed with equal probability (N=66, out of 89 consented).
(b) A subset of cases that had not yet consented, where randomly selected from the total sample of eligible non-consented cases (150 cases out of 486); out of these 150 cases, 60 were surveyed with probability = 150/486.
Sample weights were used as default in the analyses presented in this study, using the sampling probabilities described above for the different subsamples. The sample weights equal the inverse value of the sampling probability. That is, sample weights take the value of 1 for both phase 1 and phase 2.a surveyed cases; and take the value of 486/150 = 3.24 for the 60 cases surveyed during phase 2.b.
description: Response Rates: The baseline survey had a response rate of 55% of the 626 students randomly selected from the 3,749 participants.
The follow-up survey had a response rate of 84% from 2,011 students selected.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC-3), Reynolds and Kamphaus, 2015
Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS)
Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale - Short Form (DERS-SF), Kaufman et al., 2015
Future Outlook Inventory (FOI)
Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C), Muris, 2001
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)
description: Study participants were selected from ten non-randomly preselected CPS high schools. These high schools were located in under-served communities on Chicago's south or west side that have experienced high rates of violent crime
These participants met the Youth Guidance's guidelines for participating in WOW, which included:

At least 75% overall school attendance during 2016-17 academic
year
No specific diagnosis of significant intellectual disability, per CPS records by the end of academic year 2016-17
No signs of proactive aggression, self-harm, or active suicidal ideation.

Of 3,875 potential candidates, 126 individuals did not meet the WOW's requirements for participation and were excluded. 3,749 young women from the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group.
For the baseline and follow-up surveys, students were randomly selected from all participants. These students were selected such that the number of students assigned to the treatment group was similar to the number of students assigned to the control group.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Group Level Baseline Survey Data
DS2: Group Level Follow-up Survey Data
description: Young women attending public high schools in Chicago.
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI); on-site questionnaire; web-based surveySeveral datasets have been exempted from NACJD's Data Archiving Plan. These datasets are:

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Administrative data
Chicago Police Department (CPD) individual-level arrest data
Survey and math assessment data collected by the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan
Youth Guidance participant data

To access the CPS administrative data, researchers must submit a formal data request to CPS. For information on requesting data from CPS please refer to the CPS website. For information on requesting CPD data please refer to the CPD website. The ISR and Youth Guidance data are not available to secondary users.