Evaluation of the Healthy Relationships Plus Program for Youth

Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mental Health Wellness 1

Treatments: Behavioral: Healthy Relationships Plus Program (HRPP); Behavioral: Control Condition (Classroom Activities)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02140099

146/2013

Details and patient eligibility

About

Adolescent risk behaviours, such as violence and substance use, are prevalent public health concerns in Canada. Further, these behaviours often co-occur, and are associated with poor mental health. However, the majority of prevention programs focus on preventing single issues and do not consider mental health, and also neglect the importance of relationships when promoting positive youth development. To address this gap, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Centre for Prevention Science designed the Fourth R Healthy Relationships Plus Program, a small group program focused on the promotion of positive mental health and the reduction of violence and substance use, via the development of improved communication, interpersonal and help-seeking skills. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Fourth R Healthy Relationships Plus program using both outcome (randomized controlled trial design with follow-up at pre-test, post-test, and 4, 8 and 12 months) and process evaluation tools.

The primary study hypothesis is that participation in the Fourth R Healthy Relationships Plus program will be associated with positive growth in treatment participants' psychological well-being from pre-test to 12-month follow-up, as compared to control participants. In secondary analyses, the study will explore if treatment participants report less substance use, peer violence, bullying and dating violence at 12-month follow-up than control participants. Since certain person-level (e.g., sex, personality, executive functioning) and program-level (e.g., implementation quality) variables may moderate treatment-outcome relationships, these associations will also be explored. The final hypothesis is that treatment participants will report better attitudes, knowledge and assertive communication at post-test compared to control participants, and that these improvements will mediate the association between program participation and 12-month outcomes.

Enrollment: 238 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 14 to 17 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Currently enrolled (as of March 2014) in grade 9 or 10 at schools serving as study sites

Exclusion criteria

• Not available during the period July 7-17, 2014 (the main study period)
• Not interested in participating in the project, as assessed on study information form
• Identified by the Guidance Office at his/her school as posing a serious safety risk to him/herself or others

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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238 participants in 2 patient groups

Healthy Relationships Education/Skills

Experimental group

Description:

The experimental intervention is the group-based, 15-session Healthy Relationships Plus Program (HRPP). In this study, the HRPP will be offered in a condensed 8-day format (July 8-11 and 14-17, 2014). On days 1 to 7, participants will attend the program for 2 hours, and on day 8, participants will attend the program for 1 hour. The program will be facilitated by high school teachers. Eight HRPP groups will run concurrently during the study period.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Healthy Relationships Plus Program (HRPP)

Classroom Activities

Other group

Description:

The control condition is a group-based, 15-session program focusing on typical Classroom Activities. The primary activity is to create a school welcome packet for incoming Grade 9 students, with other activities including reading and physical exercise. The control condition will be offered on 8 consecutive weekdays (July 8-11 and 14-17, 2014). On days 1 to 7, participants will attend the control program for 2 hours, and on day 8, participants will attend the control program for 1 hour. The control group will be facilitated by bachelor's level research assistants and pre-service teachers. Eight control groups will run concurrently during the study period.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Control Condition (Classroom Activities)