Study of Mental Health and Relationships (SMART)

University of Illinois

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Mental Health

Treatments: Behavioral: Great Life Mentoring

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06534827

107309

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this clinical trial is to test effects of the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program on the mental health and adaptive functioning on school-age youth (ages 9-16) from low-income families who are receiving outpatient mental health services. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does participation in the GLM program improve mental health and related outcomes among school-age youth (9- to 16-years-old) from low-income families as an adjunct to outpatient mental health services? 180 youth will be enrolled in the study and assigned randomly to either continue mental health services as usual (SAU) or to continue mental health services while also participating in GLM (SAU+GLM). Participating youth, and their parent/guardians and therapists, will be surveyed annually. Mental health services records also will be obtained with appropriate permissions. . Researchers will compare the SAU and SAU+GLM groups to see if participation in GLM has an effect on the mental health and related outcomes of study youth.

Enrollment: 180 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 9 to 16 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Youth is between 9- and 16-years-old
• Youth meets eligibility criteria for the Great Life Mentoring program, which include receiving publically-subsidized outpatient mental health care

Exclusion criteria

• Parental primary language other than English
• Youth difficulties in cognitive functioning that would preclude ability to complete study assessments

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

180 participants in 2 patient groups

Services as Usual

No Intervention group

Description:

Outpatient mental health services as usual

GLM + Services as Usual

Experimental group

Description:

The Great Life Mentoring program (GLM) provides volunteer-based mentoring for school-age youth from low-resource families who are receiving outpatient mental health care. Each youth is paired with a mentor with whom they spend time in the community on a weekly basis for at least one year. Mentors are required to complete a 20-hour intensive training prior to being paired with a youth. Mentors also receive monthly in-person supervision from GLM staff for the first year of their meetings, which continues on an as-needed basis thereafter. Training and supervision are geared toward the unique opportunities and challenges that can occur when mentoring a youth with mental health needs. The goal is for the mentor to become an integral part of the child's mental health treatment, but the mentoring relationship is also sustained after treatment ends.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Great Life Mentoring