Social Prescribing for Advancing Resilience in Kids: A Pilot Study of Social Prescribing (SPARK)

University of Ottawa

Status: Not yet enrolling

Conditions: Feasibility and Acceptability of the Social Prescribing Program; Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing

Treatments: Behavioral: Social Prescribing

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07022561

NCT-25-03-0163

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if the Social Prescription (SP) intervention helps improve mental health and wellbeing in youth. It will also assess the feasibility and acceptability of implementing SP in a community setting. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Is the SP intervention feasible and acceptable for youth, caregivers, and staff?
• Does the SP intervention improve mental health outcomes, reduce stress, and increase wellbeing and social connectedness in youth?

Researchers will compare the Social Prescription (SP) intervention to an education control group to evaluate its effectiveness in improving youth mental health and wellbeing.

Participants will:

• Be randomized to receive either the SP intervention or be placed in an education control group
• Complete wellbeing and mental health questionnaires at the beginning of the study and again after 12 weeks
• Participate in qualitative interviews to share their experiences after participating in SP

Enrollment: 170 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 11 to 17 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• between 11-17 years of age
• on the waitlist for mental health services
• are not an immediate safety threat to themselves or others as assessed by the HEADS ED questionnaire

Exclusion criteria

• Children < 11 years old
• Adolescents > 17 years old

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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170 participants in 2 patient groups

Social prescribing intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Youth randomly assigned to the social prescribing intervention group will have access to a social prescribing activity during their 12 weeks of participation.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Social Prescribing

Educational control

No Intervention group

Description:

Youth randomly assigned to the educational control will not be provided a social prescribing intervention program, but they will be provided an educational booklet about the importance of connections.