Bridging the Divide: A Pioneering Culturally-Specific Mentoring Intervention to Increase Support for At-Risk Youth
The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Summary
The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a culturally-specific mentoring intervention to improve socio-emotional skills, psychological well-being, and social support among at-risk youth and to evaluate the proposed mentoring intervention's impact on academic outcomes, social behavior, and caregiver perceptions of social-emotional competencies. Additionally, it seeks to gather stakeholder feedback to refine the intervention further.
Eligibility
- Age range
- 12–16 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * actively enrolled in the partnering community organization (e.g., Boys and Girls Clubs) * Participants and their caregivers must be able to provide informed assent/consent in English. Parental Consent: Participants must have parental or guardian consent to participate in the study. * Self-identifies as a racial-ethnic minority (i.e., Black/African American, Hispanic, etc.) Exclusion Criteria: * Current participation in another mentoring program: To avoid confounding the results, youth currently involved in other mentoring or structured socio-emotional support programs…
Interventions
- BehavioralMentoring Intervention Delivery
The intervention will utilize a culturally specific, socio-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, adapted based on feedback from the focus groups. The intervention will consist of 10 weekly mentoring sessions lasting 1 hour each. Licensed clinicians will lead sessions and will also serve as mentors.
Location
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at HoustonHouston, Texas