Youth FORWARD Phase 1 YRI and EPP Study

Summary

Objectives: The objectives of this research proposal are to study the delivery of an evidence-based mental health intervention in the alternate setting of youth employment programs tied to regional economic development and to examine the use of an Interagency Collaborative Team Approach (ICTA) as an implementation scale-up strategy that addresses the human resource shortage and related access to care and capacity challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Specifically, this study aims to examine the incorporation of the evidence-based Youth Readiness Intervention (YRI) into a program that promotes employment among youth through a pilot study and scale-up intervention study in Sierra Leone.

Study population: The study population includes youth participants, ages 18-26, with elevated t-scores on assessments of functional impairment and emotional dysregulation, who live in the Kailhun District of Sierra Leone.

Pilot study design: A cluster randomized three-arm trial will be employed in the pilot phase in the same districts as the scale-up study. Youth participants (N=180, 18-26 years old, 50% female), stratified by gender, will be randomized into the three study arms. Once youth participants are enrolled into the study, they will be assigned to community level sites based on geographical location. Each of these community level sites will make up one cluster. The clusters will then be randomly assigned into the three study arms so that sixty youth participants will be randomized into the youth entrepreneurship training (EPP) arm, sixty youth participants will be randomized into the YRI+EPP arm, and sixty youth participants will be randomized into the control arm . The pilot study will last approximately 12 weeks and data will be collected at baseline and post-intervention. Further, investigators will survey 120 third-party reporters for a total pilot study sample size of 300 participants.

Pilot study primary outcomes: The primary outcomes of the pilot study are to assess implementation science aspects related to a new partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit's (GIZ), who will fund and deliver the entrepreneurship training. This will include pretesting the measures battery, assessing the logistics of integrating the YRI into the entrepreneurship training, and testing use of the Interagency Collaborative Team Approach to training, supervision, and fidelity monitoring.

Conditions

• Mental Health Disorder
• Mental Health Impairment
• Psychosocial Impairment
• Emotional Dysfunction

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

YRI

The YRI is designed to assist youth facing complex problems using evidence-based treatments that have been tested and shown to work well in other settings and cultures. The YRI has three specific goals: 1) develop emotion regulation skills for healthy coping; 2) develop problem-solving skills to assist with achieving goals, and; 3) improve interpersonal skills to enable healthy relationships and effective communication. It integrates six CBT-based, empirically-supported practice elements shown to have transdiagnostic efficacy across disorders ranging from major depressive disorder to PTSD and conduct disorders. The YRI's six evidence-based components are delivered in three phases common in trauma-informed interventions: stabilization, integration, and connection.

BEHAVIORAL

EPP

The youth capacity development component of GIZ's EPP includes the following core components: financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and vocational training delivered through six modules (agro-processing, solar photovoltaic installation and maintenance, governance and conflict resolution, psychosocial competencies, entrepreneurship, employability). Youth will be trained at training sites and have access to a youth center in the area. These centers will have agricultural equipment and machinery available for youth to use. Our YRI curriculum will be used for the psychosocial competency training module.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• German Society for International Cooperation

  collaborator OTHER

• Caritas Freetown

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Georgia

  collaborator OTHER

• Boston College

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Theresa Betancourt, Sc.D., M.A. · Boston College

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

26 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-07-31

Primary Completion

2019-03-01

Completion

2019-03-01

Countries

• Sierra Leone

Study Locations