Evaluation of a Youth Mentoring Program

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study will be used to determine the effectiveness of GirlPOWER!, an innovative mentoring program for adolescent minority girls living in urban areas.

Detailed Description
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The potential benefits of adolescent mentoring programs cannot be overemphasized. Mentoring may be especially beneficial to urban-living, minority adolescents who may lack role models. The Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) organization administers a widely-praised and empirically-supported program that is committed to building successful mentoring relationships between adolescents and adults in their community. In collaboration with the BBBS affiliate agency in Chicago, the PI has developed an intervention called GirlPOWER! GirlPOWER! combines mentoring with self-esteem enhancement and health education and promotion strategies. This study will determine the effectiveness of the GirlPOWER! intervention and determine its feasibility in being applied to other populations. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the GirlPOWER! intervention or traditional mentoring through BBBS and followed for 1 year. Participants in the GirlPOWER! group and their mentors will engage in structured activities that focus on strengthening the mentoring relationship, promoting self-esteem, reducing levels of health-compromising behaviors such as substance use and violence, and increasing levels of health-enhancing behaviors. Traditional mentoring comprises less structured activities and typically includes general discussion of an adolescent's day-to-day life and any accomplishments and challenges he or she may have experienced. Participants will be assessed at study entry, 3 months following entry, and at the end of one year. Assessments will include surveys completed by youth as well as their parents, mentors, and teachers; academic data also will be obtained from school records.

Official Title
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Development and Evaluation of a Youth Mentoring Program

Conditions
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Self Concept

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: GirlPOWER! mentoring program
* Behavioral: Traditional mentoring


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Live in Chicago, Illinois Metropolitan area Parent or guardian willing to provide informed consent Exclusion Criteria: -Significant cognitive limitations or behavioral concerns that would preclude ability to participate appropriately in the intervention

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 10 Years
Maximum Age: 13 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Prevention
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: 1<br>GirlPOWER! mentoring program | Behavioral: GirlPOWER! mentoring program<br>* GirlPOWER! mentoring program includes monthly 3-hour workshops for youth and mentors combined with monthly supplemental activities to be completed independently by youth-mentor pairs.<br>|
| Active Comparator: 2<br>Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based mentoring program | Behavioral: Traditional mentoring<br>* Traditional mentoring includes a community-based mentoring program, in which the youth-mentor spends time together in activities of their choosing 2 to 4 times a month.<br>* Other names: Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring Program;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mental health | Composite measure that is the average of T-scores for Internalizing and Externalizing scales of the Youth Self-Report and Child Behavior Checklist of the Achenbach System of Empirically-Based Assessment | Measured at Year 1 | 
| Health behaviors | Composite (average) of standardized (M=0, SD=1) scores on measures of exercise (3 items), healthy eating (10 items), unhealthy weight loss behaviors (reverse-weighted) (3 items) and substance use (reverse-weighted) (5 items) from the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System | Measured at Year 1 | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Social support | Composite (average) of Friend, Family, and Very Important Adults subscales of the Perceived Support Scale-Revised, with Very Important Adults scored 0 for those reporting no very important adults. | Measured at Year 1 | 
| Academic achievement | Composite of averages of grades reported in core subject area classes (Language Arts, Math,Science, Social Studies) by youth and parent | Measured at Year 1 | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Mentors, Self-esteem, Adolescent, Mental health, Social support, Substance use, Violence, Exercise, Nutrition, Sexual behavior, Female