YES: Innovative Discussion for Engagement, Achievement, and Service

Overview

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of YES-IDEAS (YES: Innovative Discussion for Engagement, Achievement, and Service)compared to regular after school programming in increasing youth empowerment, promoting positive behaviors, and decreasing youth violence. Through the evidence-based YES (Youth Empowerment Solutions) program, youth design and implement projects to help improve their communities. In the current study, investigators adapted the existing YES curriculum to empower youth from diverse backgrounds to reduce violent behavior. The adapted curriculum, YES-IDEAS, focus on middle school students. The investigators test the effects of YES-IDEAS curriculum on youths' sense of empowerment, attitudes, and violent behavior. They designed the study to be a group-randomized trial in after-school programs across multiple middle schools in south-east Michigan, but issues that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other practical issues with the schools we modified the design to be a matched control group design at the school level. Matching variables included size, geographic locations, race/ethnicity, free/reduced lunch status. Dose-response and sustainability of YES-IDEAS effects are also examined.

Detailed description

Youth violence is a significant public health concern, as over 20% report being in a fight, 19% reported bullying someone, and 16% reported weapon carriage. Violent victimization among youth includes mental health sequelae in addition to the physical injury caused by violent behavior.

Positive development can be achieved by engaging youth in community improvement activities designed to empower them to avoid risky behaviors. Building on prior research and guided by previous studies of empowerment processes, the investigators developed an afterschool violence prevention program for middle-school students called Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) for Peaceful Communities. Prior studies have described how YES engages youth in assessing neighborhood assets and liabilities for violence prevention and designing and implementing neighborhood or school projects to reduce violence. Results from prior YES evaluations found the YES program reduced violent behavior and increased positive behaviors in a comparison group design through the process of empowering youth to think critically about their community, develop plans for change, and implement their plans (i.e., program effects were mediated through empowered outcomes).

The existing YES curriculum was adapted to empower youth from various backgrounds to address to address bullying and promote positive behaviors as a way to reduce violent behavior. YES for Engaging Youth for Innovative Discussion for Engagement, Achievement and Service (YES-IDEAS) will focus on middle school students because this is a developmental period when independence from parents begins, their own ideas about peer relationships are formative, and when bullying behavior is at its peak. Empowering children to address violence at this critical developmental period may enable them to resist negative attitudes and behaviors. Working with an advisory board of experts and youth, we will develop and integrate lessons that address these behaviors into the existing YES curriculum.

The study includes two phases: 1) adapting YES and 2) testing YES IDEAS effects. Phase 1 included piloting and evaluating curriculum revisions through testing new modules and obtaining feedback from youth and teachers. Phase 2 tests the effects of YES IDEAS using a matched control trial in after-school programs across multiple middle schools across south-east Michigan. The investigators examine the effects of the curriculum on individual youths' sense of empowerment, attitudes, and violent behavior. Finally, dose-response and sustainability of YES IDEAS effects are examined.

The Specific Aims are:

AIM 1: adapt the YES curriculum to integrate several modules that address youth violence and study the adaptation and implementation process for the new curriculum for middle school students.

AIM 2: Test the efficacy of the YES-IDEAS curriculum in a matched control design on empowered outcomes which will mediate the effects of YES-IDEAS on violent attitudes and behavior.

AIM 3: Investigate if empowered outcomes are the mechanism by which the YES-IDEAS curriculum reduces aggressive and violent behavior over time.

AIM 4: study the effects of dose-response over time on the outcomes from AIMS 2 and 3.

Interventions

• Behavioral YES IDEAS
  YES IDEAS is an adapted version of the evidence based YES (Youth Empowerment Solutions) program. Through the YES program, youth design and implement their own projects to help improve their own communities. The adapted YES IDEAS curriculum empowers youth from various backgrounds to address bullying and promote positive behaviors as a way to reduce violent behavior. Over the course of the program, youth carry out a community change project aimed at promoting non-violence in their community.

Primary outcome measures

• Change in Violence Perpetration [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Targeted Aggression [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Prosocial behaviors [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Bystander behaviors [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Social action for promoting equity [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Self Efficacy for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Acceptance, Solidarity [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Privilege awareness [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Recognizing strengths in people [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]
• Change in Social connections across diverse groups [Time frame: Baseline (0 months), End of Program (3 months), 6 months, 9 months, 12 months]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Students enrolled in afterschool programs at multiple middle schools in Counties across south-east Michigan
• Students in 6th through 8th grade
• Students who assent

Exclusion criteria

• Non-students
• Students who do not assent or whose parents notify us of their refusal

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Non-randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Prevention

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• University of Michigan — Ann Arbor

Publications

• Miao TA, Umemoto K, Gonda D, Hishinuma ES. Essential elements for community engagement in evidence-based youth violence prevention. Am J Community Psychol. 2011 Sep;48(1-2):120-32. doi: 10.1007/s10464-010-9418-6. PMID 21203825
• Zimmerman MA. Psychological empowerment: issues and illustrations. Am J Community Psychol. 1995 Oct;23(5):581-99. doi: 10.1007/BF02506983. PMID 8851341
• Zimmerman MA, Stewart SE, Morrel-Samuels S, Franzen S, Reischl TM. Youth Empowerment Solutions for Peaceful Communities: combining theory and practice in a community-level violence prevention curriculum. Health Promot Pract. 2011 May;12(3):425-39. doi: 10.1177/1524839909357316. Epub 2010 Nov 8. PMID 21059871
• Kellett M. Small shoes, big steps! Empowering children as active researchers. Am J Community Psychol. 2010 Sep;46(1-2):195-203. doi: 10.1007/s10464-010-9324-y. PMID 20524150

Identifiers

NCT: NCT05337410 · HUM00190523 · R01MD015024

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗