The Effectiveness of the Youth Initiated Mentoring Approach for Juvenile Delinquents
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 招募中
- 入组人数
- 300
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- Perceived Social Support
研究概览
简要总结
Natural or informal mentorship could potentially be considered effective in preventing or reducing delinquent behaviour. In the Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) approach, youths are supported by professionals in identifying and nominating a natural mentor within their own social network. The approach focuses on strengthening these naturally existing relationships with non-parental adults. Until now, little (quasi-)experimental research is conducted on the YIM approach. In the Netherlands, juvenile offenders between 12-18 years are referred to Halt, where they are required to follow a tailored intervention with the aim of preventing reoffending and increasing youths' future opportunities. Since 2019, the YIM approach is implemented as part of the Halt-intervention. The researchers will examine whether the YIM approach is an effective addition to the Halt-intervention. More specifically, whether it contributes to (1) strengthening youths' resilience, (2) decreasing or halting the need for formal support, and (3) decreasing or halting the development of juvenile delinquency.
This quasi-experimental trial aims to include 300 youths referred to Halt. Youths will be non-randomly allocated to either a YIM trained Halt professional (N = 31), or a Halt professional not trained in the YIM approach (N = 31). These professionals will implement the Halt-plus-YIM-condition (N =150) or the care-as-usual Halt-condition (N = 150), respectively. Random allocation of youth cases to Halt professionals was not possible because Halt's distribution office considers individuals' workload. Despite non-random allocation, conditions will be comparable in terms of (1) the professionals who deliver the intervention (i.e., same educational level and from the same region), and (2) case type and severity (i.e., allocation is independent of type of offense and its severity as well as the evaluation of number of risk factors present in youth). Researchers will perform a multi-informant measurement strategy. Youths are our primary informants, but parents of youths are also approached to participate. Youth and parent questionnaires related to several youth and family outcomes will be administered at baseline, 100 days after baseline (post-test), and nine months after baseline (follow-up). Researchers will also collect information registered by Halt professionals in Halt's registration system. Read detailed description for more information on outcomes.
详细描述
Main aims and hypotheses
The main aim is to examine whether the YIM approach is an effective addition to the Halt-intervention. More specifically, researchers will examine whether the addition of a YIM to the Halt-intervention contributes to (1) strengthening adolescents' resilience (by stimulating protective factors), (2) decreasing or halting the need for formal support and (3) decreasing or halting the development of juvenile delinquency.
H1: It is expected that the YIM approach will strengthen youth resilience:
- Improvement in social network quality as indexed by increased perceived social support, perceived mattering, and relatedness to others;
- Improvement of social skills as indexed by increased social resourcefulness;
- Increased feelings of autonomy and competence;
- Decreased positive attitudes towards delinquency;
- Stronger commitment to the social environment as indexed by increased school attachment, and structured free-time activities;
- Stronger commitment to the social environment by increased school performance, school attachment and structured free-time activities.
H2: It is expected that YIM contributes to halting or decreasing the need for (formal) support.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Non Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Prevention
- 盲法
- None
盲法说明
Participants are aware of following the Halt-intervention (with a YIM) but they are not aware of the existence of the other condition. Adolescents in the CAU Halt-condition are not aware of participants following the Halt-YIM condition (and possibly not aware of the YIM approach itself) and vice versa.
The care providers, YIM trained and non-trained professionals, can only include participants for either the experimental or control condition respectively. Whether the adolescent is a participant, only becomes known if the professional explicitly asks the adolescent. After their invitation, adolescents are redirected to give their consent. Actual registration of participants is registered by the researchers. Researchers do not actively communicate which adolescents have registered for the study.
Both the investigator and outcomes assessor are aware of which participant is in which condition but are not directly involved with the participants nor the procedure in the conditions.
入排标准
- 年龄范围
- 12 Years 至 18 Years（Child, Adult）
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 否
入选标准
- •(First) offenders between 12 and 18 years
- •Referred to Halt by the police, prosecutor, special investigating officer, or a school attendance officer after committing an offense or crime
- •Three or more meetings with the Halt professional
排除标准
- •In both conditions "shortened cases" (i.e., cases with less than 3 meeting) will be excluded. In both conditions, Halt professionals are instructed to follow their regular working process. In the experimental condition, however, YIM trained professionals will be instructed to motivate and explain the YIM for cases with 3 or more meetings. Because motivation and explanation of the YIM approach are usually performed during a follow-up meeting, it will not be possible to motivate and deploy the YIM approach in shortened cases. Therefore, in both conditions, these cases will be excluded from the study.
研究组 & 干预措施
Care-as-usual Halt-condition
Participants in this arm will follow the regular Halt-intervention. Halt professionals, not trained in YIM-approach, will be instructed to follow their regular working procedure. On average, the intervention consists of 3 meetings: an initial meeting, an intervention meeting, and a closing meeting. The aim is to complete the intervention within 100 days (min.-max.: 1-6 meetings, 1-20 hours). During the initial meeting, compulsory activities are screening and risk assessment, reflection on the committed offense/crime, and parental involvement. Based on these activities, the duration and the content of the intervention are determined. Professionals can select activities from 5 different modules: (1) reflection on behaviour, (2) parental involvement, (3) social skills training, (4) victim-offender reconciliation, and (5) future. A form of victim-offender reconciliation, however, is compulsory. Professionals are required to register relevant information regarding the Halt-process.
干预措施: Halt-intervention (Behavioral)
Halt-plus-YIM-condition
Participants in this arm will follow the Halt-plus-YIM-intervention. YIM trained Halt professionals implement the YIM approach in their regular working procedure in 7 steps: (1) during risk assessment, they support youth in identifying a YIM; (2) during the course of the study, professionals will be instructed to motivate and explain the YIM approach in cases with 3 or more meetings; (3) if a YIM is nominated, a meeting between the professional and the YIM takes place; (4) to 'position' the YIM, a joint meeting is arranged to discuss expectations/goals of all involved parties; (5) interim contact between professional and YIM takes place; (6) a joint evaluative meeting takes place; (7) if agreed upon, closure of Halt's engagement takes place. Note, the YIM often remains involved after this completion. Professionals register on the Halt- and YIM-process and whether the approach was deployed: 'NO' (i.e., only step 1), 'PARTLY' (i.e., steps 1 and 2) or 'YES' (i.e., at least step 3 or 4).
干预措施: Youth Initiated Mentoring (YIM) approach (Behavioral)
Halt-plus-YIM-condition
Participants in this arm will follow the Halt-plus-YIM-intervention. YIM trained Halt professionals implement the YIM approach in their regular working procedure in 7 steps: (1) during risk assessment, they support youth in identifying a YIM; (2) during the course of the study, professionals will be instructed to motivate and explain the YIM approach in cases with 3 or more meetings; (3) if a YIM is nominated, a meeting between the professional and the YIM takes place; (4) to 'position' the YIM, a joint meeting is arranged to discuss expectations/goals of all involved parties; (5) interim contact between professional and YIM takes place; (6) a joint evaluative meeting takes place; (7) if agreed upon, closure of Halt's engagement takes place. Note, the YIM often remains involved after this completion. Professionals register on the Halt- and YIM-process and whether the approach was deployed: 'NO' (i.e., only step 1), 'PARTLY' (i.e., steps 1 and 2) or 'YES' (i.e., at least step 3 or 4).
干预措施: Halt-intervention (Behavioral)
结局指标
主要结局
Perceived Social Support
时间窗: Change from baseline at 100 days (post-test)
Informant: Youth. As measured by the Berlin Social Support Scales (BSSS; Schwarzer \& Schulz, 2000): subscale perceived social support. Factor contributing to youth resilience.
Social Resourcefulness
时间窗: Change from baseline at 100 days (post-test)
Informant: Youth. As measured by the BSSS (Schwarzer \& Schulz, 2000): subscale support seeking. Factor contributing to youth resilience.
次要结局
- Need for (formal) support(Change from baseline at 9 months (follow-up))
- Self-reported delinquency(Change from baseline at 9 months (follow-up))
- Need for (formal) support(Change from baseline at 100 days (post-test))
- Self-reported delinquency(Change from baseline at 100 days (post-test))
研究者
Levi van Dam
Study Principal Investigator
University of Amsterdam