Testing the Causal Effects of a Civic Engagement Intervention on Health and Wellbeing Among Youth (I-ACTED)

Wake Forest University (WFU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Social Interaction; Mental Health Wellness 1; Health Attitude

Treatments: Behavioral: Participating in Action Civics program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04514133

IRB00066103

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this research is to understand how participating or not participating in an action civics curriculum may affect the health and wellbeing of young people. Participants will be chosen from students who attend certain schools that choose to participate in the action civics curriculum. Participation in this research involves completing surveys during class time in the Spring and Fall 2021-2022 semesters and then completing online surveys outside of class in the future.

Full description

Equal access to civic resources, such as opportunities for civic engagement and connections to one's community, are an important part of a culture of health. Meaningful experiences in civic engagement and community connectedness are transformative for young people - especially for youth from marginalized backgrounds, who often feel voiceless and excluded from decision-making in civic and social institutions. Theories and correlational evidence point to positive associations between civic engagement (e.g., volunteering, voting, and feelings of civic empowerment) and better mental, physical, and behavioral health and wellbeing. Meaningful civic engagement experiences may have an especially powerful effect on health and wellbeing for those from traditionally marginalized backgrounds. However, causal pathways between civic interventions, civic outcomes, and health and wellbeing outcomes among are not firmly established. Further, how civic engagement and sense of community affect health and wellbeing outcomes are unknown, and questions remain about for whom these effects may be especially beneficial. In this study, we ask whether an established civic intervention called Action Civics affects civic engagement and sense of community, and subsequently affects health and wellbeing among youth. To build on these observational findings, the study team will: (a) examine the causal links between youth civic engagement and sense of community and health, and (b) test whether an established school-based, civic engagement intervention can affect individual health and wellbeing and equity outcomes.

Enrollment: 1,659 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 10 to 20 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Currently enrolled Middle or High School student
• Enrolled in a course with a teacher from a school participating in the study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

1,659 participants in 2 patient groups

Action Civics program

Experimental group

Description:

Students in this arm will take part in an Action Civics (AC) program. AC delivers action civics programming to young people from diverse backgrounds nationwide. AC offers a school-based action civics curriculum in which classes collectively choose a local issue, learn strategies and skills for taking civic action, develop an action plan, and take action on their selected local issue. Students, as a class, tackle topics ranging from health-related (e.g., health of school lunches) to safety-related (e.g. lack of crosswalks) to community social issues (e.g., community-police relations).

Treatment:

Behavioral: Participating in Action Civics program

No Action Civics program

No Intervention group

Description:

Students in this arm will receive no intervention.