Future Leaders Program: Testing a Youth Civic Leadership, Engagement, and Mindfulness Program

Not Applicable

Recruiting

Brief Summary: The current study tests the feasibility and effectiveness of a youth intervention designed to provide meaningful leadership opportunities and to address barriers to equity, through the acquisition of civic leadership and development skills as well as mindfulness practice, LEAP: Leadership, Engagement, and youth Activism Program with Mindfulness.

The goal of this project is to determine whether the Leadership, Engagement, and youth Activism Program with Mindfulness (LEAP) curriculum, which was developed with youth of color, is a feasible and effective intervention for fostering civic leadership, civic development, and wellbeing. The investigators seek to understand whether LEAP can support wellbeing for youth of color as a strategy to increase youth mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) health and decrease health disparities in youth of color.

Detailed Description: The LEAP study will determine whether a 14-session program designed to provide leadership and mindfulness skills to youth of color is an effective and feasible intervention. The curriculum consists of 14 two-hour sessions delivered after school. The comparison group will take part in EnvisionIT, a college and career readiness program designed for students in grades 6 through 12. EnvisionIT aims to prepare students with essential transition skills, digital literacy, and college and career readiness. The comparison group will also have 14 two-hour group sessions. Both LEAP and EnvisionIT will be delivered by trained facilitators. All participants in LEAP and EnvisionIT will be assessed at four time points assessing program outcomes; facilitators will also complete interviews post-intervention and provide feedback on data fidelity and acceptability following each session. This record reports on the UH3 phase of the grant.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Adolescents ages 14 and older in grades 9-12 during the Fall/Winter or in grades 9-11 during the Spring
Enrolled in a partner site in MA or Chicago, Il
Adolescents are only included with parent consent and youth assent if they are under the age of 18. Adolescents at least 18 years old can provide consent.

Exclusion Criteria

They participated in the pilot phase (UG3)
They cannot commit to participation in the full study (e.g., attendance at all intervention sessions)
They are not in grades 9-12 at a partner site
Parent/guardian has a preferred consent language other than English or Spanish.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness (EPOCH; Kern et al., 2016) measure of adolescent wellbeing	Baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months, 9 months	20-item, 5-point scale measuring five positive characteristics that support higher levels of wellbeing: Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness. The scale range is 1-5, higher scores indicate better wellbeing.
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 2001)	Baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months, 9 months	25 item multiple choice questionnaire that measures internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial behavior (emotional, conduct, hyperactivity-inattention, peer, prosocial). The scale range is 0-40, higher scores indicate worse difficulties.
Self-Rated Health 12-item Short-Form Survey (SF-12; Ware et al., 1996)	Baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months, 9 months	12 item 5-point survey measuring general health, asking about overall health self-rating, ability to do daily activities, energy levels, and physical and emotional limitations. The scale range is 0-100, higher scores indicate better health.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Student Career Construction Inventory (Savickas, 2018)	Baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months, 9 months	18 item measure 5-point survey measuring crystallizing a vocational self-concept, exploring to gather information about occupations, deciding to commit to an occupational choice, and preparing to implement that choice. Scale scores range from 1-5, with higher scores indicating greater focus on each of the four tasks of career choice construction.
Vocational Skills Self-Efficacy (VSSE; McWhirter et al., 2000)	Baseline, 2-3 months, 6 months, 9 months	29 item 5-point survey measuring level of confidence to establish and work toward job goals. Scale scores range from 29-145, with higher scores indicating greater vocational self-efficacy.

Locations (2): University of Illinois, Chicago
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Chicago, Illinois, United States
METCO
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Boston, Massachusetts, United States