Evaluation of a Youth Mentoring Program
Development and Evaluation of a Youth Mentoring Program
Study Overview
Status
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
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.
Study Type
Enrollment (Actual)
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
Study Locations
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Illinois
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Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60608
- University of Illinois at Chicago
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Participation Criteria
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Genders Eligible for Study
Description
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
Study Plan
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Prevention
- Allocation: Randomized
- Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: 1
GirlPOWER! mentoring program
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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.
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Active Comparator: 2
Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based mentoring program
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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.
Other Names:
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Mental health
Time Frame: Measured at Year 1
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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
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Measured at Year 1
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Health behaviors
Time Frame: Measured at Year 1
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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
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Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Social support
Time Frame: Measured at Year 1
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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.
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Measured at Year 1
|
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Academic achievement
Time Frame: Measured at Year 1
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Composite of averages of grades reported in core subject area classes (Language Arts, Math,Science, Social Studies) by youth and parent
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Measured at Year 1
|
Collaborators and Investigators
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: David L. DuBois, PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago
Publications and helpful links
General Publications
- DuBois DL, Holloway BE, Valentine JC, Cooper H. Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: a meta-analytic review. Am J Community Psychol. 2002 Apr;30(2):157-97. doi: 10.1023/A:1014628810714.
- DuBois, D. L., Silverthorn, N., Pryce, J., Reeves, E., Sanchez, B., Silva, A., Ansu, A. A., Haqq, S., & Takehara, J. (in press). Mentorship: The GirlPOWER! program. To appear in C. W. Leroy & J. E. Mann (Eds.), Handbook of preventive and intervention programs for adolescent girls. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
- Keller TE, Overton B, Pryce JM, Barry JE, Sutherland A, DuBois DL. "I really wanted her to have a Big Sister": Caregiver perspectives on mentoring for early adolescent girls. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2018 May;88:308-315. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.029. Epub 2018 Mar 19.
- Sanchez B, Pryce J, Silverthorn N, Deane KL, DuBois DL. Do mentor support for ethnic-racial identity and mentee cultural mistrust matter for girls of color? A preliminary investigation. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2019 Oct;25(4):505-514. doi: 10.1037/cdp0000213. Epub 2018 Oct 1.
- Pryce JM, Silverthorn N, Sanchez B, DuBois DL. GirlPOWER! Strengthening mentoring relationships through a structured, gender-specific program. New Dir Youth Dev. 2010 Summer;2010(126):89-105. doi: 10.1002/yd.351.
Study record dates
Study Major Dates
Study Start
Primary Completion (Actual)
Study Completion (Actual)
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
First Posted (Estimate)
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
Last Verified
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Other Study ID Numbers
- 2003-0689
- DSIR 84-CTP (NIH)
- R21MH069564 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
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