Testing the Causal Effects of a Civic Engagement Intervention on Health and Wellbeing Among Youth (I-ACTED) (I-ACTED)

The I-ACTED Study: Testing the Causal Effects of a Civic Engagement Intervention on Health and Wellbeing Among Youth

The purpose of this research is to understand how participating or not participating in an action civics curriculum may affect the health and wellbeing of young people. Participants will be chosen from students who attend certain schools that choose to participate in the action civics curriculum. Participation in this research involves completing surveys during class time in the Spring and Fall 2021-2022 semesters and then completing online surveys outside of class in the future.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Health Attitude; Mental Health Wellness 1; Social Interaction
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Participating in Action Civics program

Detailed Description

Equal access to civic resources, such as opportunities for civic engagement and connections to one's community, are an important part of a culture of health. Meaningful experiences in civic engagement and community connectedness are transformative for young people - especially for youth from marginalized backgrounds, who often feel voiceless and excluded from decision-making in civic and social institutions. Theories and correlational evidence point to positive associations between civic engagement (e.g., volunteering, voting, and feelings of civic empowerment) and better mental, physical, and behavioral health and wellbeing. Meaningful civic engagement experiences may have an especially powerful effect on health and wellbeing for those from traditionally marginalized backgrounds. However, causal pathways between civic interventions, civic outcomes, and health and wellbeing outcomes among are not firmly established. Further, how civic engagement and sense of community affect health and wellbeing outcomes are unknown, and questions remain about for whom these effects may be especially beneficial. In this study, we ask whether an established civic intervention called Action Civics affects civic engagement and sense of community, and subsequently affects health and wellbeing among youth. To build on these observational findings, the study team will: (a) examine the causal links between youth civic engagement and sense of community and health, and (b) test whether an established school-based, civic engagement intervention can affect individual health and wellbeing and equity outcomes.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1500
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Parissa J Ballard, PhD; Phone Number: 336-716-0793; Email: pballard@wakehealth.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Grisel Trejo, MPH; Phone Number: 336-716-2830; Email: gtrejo@wakehealth.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, 27157
      • Recruiting
      • Wake Forest School of Medicine
      • Contact: Parissa J Ballard, PhD; Phone Number: 336-716-0793; Email: pballard@wakehealth.edu
      • Contact: Taylor J Arnold, MA; Phone Number: 336-713-5019; Email: tjarnold@wakehealth.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Parissa J. Ballard, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 10 years to 20 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Currently enrolled Middle or High School student
• Enrolled in a course with a teacher from a school participating in the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Action Civics program; Students in this arm will take part in an Action Civics (AC) program. AC delivers action civics programming to young people from diverse backgrounds nationwide. AC offers a school-based action civics curriculum in which classes collectively choose a local issue, learn strategies and skills for taking civic action, develop an action plan, and take action on their selected local issue. Students, as a class, tackle topics ranging from health-related (e.g., health of school lunches) to safety-related (e.g. lack of crosswalks) to community social issues (e.g., community-police relations).	Behavioral: Participating in Action Civics program; Students in school classrooms participating in Action Civics program
No Intervention: No Action Civics program; Students in this arm will receive no intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Youth Inventory of Involvement (activism, political engagement, and leadership items)	Questionnaire measures civic engagement using a Likert scale (1-5) with higher composite scores indicating more involvement in each domain	Baseline
Youth Inventory of Involvement (activism, political engagement, and leadership items)	Questionnaire measures civic engagement using a Likert scale (1-5) with higher composite scores indicating more involvement in each domain	4-6 month following baseline
Youth Inventory of Involvement (activism, political engagement, and leadership items)	Questionnaire measures civic engagement using a Likert scale (1-5) with higher composite scores indicating more involvement in each domain	1 year following baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Community Connection Scale	Questionnaire measures sense of community using a Likert scale (1-5) with higher scores indicating higher sense of community. Based on from the California Healthy Kids Survey.	baseline, 4-6 month following baseline, 1 year following baseline
Questionnaire from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health	Questionnaire measures physical and mental health and wellbeing. Response options vary from 4-6 levels for the scales; higher numbers indicate better health.	baseline, 4-6 month following baseline, 1 year following baseline

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D)	CES-D measures depressive symptoms using a 1-4 range (1=Rarely or none of the time, 2=Some or a little of the time, 3=Occasionally or a moderate amount of time, 4=All of the time). Higher scores CES-D suggest a greater presence of depressive symptoms.	baseline, 4-6 month following baseline, 1 year following baseline
Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription medication, and other Substance use Tool part 2 (TAPS- 2)	Behavioral health symptoms will be measured using adapted items from part 2 of the TAPS questionnaire using a 1-4 range (1=never, 2=once or twice, 3=monthly, 4=weekly or more). Scores on these questions generate a risk level per substance endorsed, based on a range of possible scores per substance.	baseline, 4-6 month following baseline, 1 year following baseline
The World Health Organization- Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5)	WHO5 measures general wellbeing. Responses ranges from 0-25, with 25 representing best possible quality of life.	baseline, 4-6 month following baseline, 1 year following baseline
Social wellbeing-School Absences	Responses are counted as a continuous variable (number of class days missed) to generate a value.	baseline, 4-6 month following baseline, 1 year following baseline
Social wellbeing-Purpose tool	Items measure future aspirations/goals using a Likert scale (1-5) with higher composite scores indicating better social wellbeing.	baseline, 4-6 month following baseline, 1 year following baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
• Collaborators: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Parissa J Ballard, PhD, Assistant Professor

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ballard PJ, Cohen AK, Littenberg-Tobias J. Action Civics for Promoting Civic Development: Main Effects of Program Participation and Differences by Project Characteristics. Am J Community Psychol. 2016 Dec;58(3-4):377-390. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12103.
• Ballard PJ, Hoyt LT, Pachucki MC. Impacts of Adolescent and Young Adult Civic Engagement on Health and Socioeconomic Status in Adulthood. Child Dev. 2019 Jul;90(4):1138-1154. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12998. Epub 2018 Jan 23.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 24, 2021
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 11, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 11, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): August 14, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 3, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 2, 2023
• Last Verified: August 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: health; behavioral health; civic engagement; social wellbeing
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB00066103

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No