Supporting Refugee and Immigrant Youth's Mental Health: Examining Effectiveness and Implementation of a School-Based Intervention

Detailed Summary

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of STRONG on the mental health of refugee and immigrant students using a group randomized waitlist control design (e.g., randomization by school/group). Further, the impact of STRONG on key target mechanisms (e.g., resilience, coping, and school connectedness) are also examined. Finally, investigators examine the implementation of STRONG to guide additional dissemination. School-based mental health clinicians will co-facilitate STRONG groups in schools, meeting once a week. STRONG will be implemented in six public schools across two academic years. In each school, one group of approximately five students will be implemented, resulting in a sample of 60 students total across the two years. Schools will be randomly assigned to either provide the STRONG program immediately (immediate treatment) or after three months (delayed treatment). A team of 10 undergraduate students and four graduate students will collect data at baseline and at three- and six-months post baseline. Aim 1: Evaluate impact of STRONG on student mental health via randomized waitlist control design. 1\) Investigators hypothesize that students who participate in STRONG will show improvements in self-reported, parent-reported, and teacher-reported mental health (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and peer problems) as compared to the waitlist control group (primary outcome). Aim 2: Examine the impact of STRONG on resilience, coping, and school connectedness and how these changes are related to student mental health outcomes. 1. Investigators hypothesize that students who participate in STRONG will show improvements in self-reported resilience, coping efficacy, school connectedness, and parent-reported coping as compared to the waitlist control group (target mechanisms). 2. Investigators hypothesize that these changes will be related to student mental health improvement/maintenance over time (mechanism of action). Aim 3: Examine implementation of STRONG across schools. 1. Investigators will conduct focus groups with clinicians and interviews with school personnel (teachers, administrators) to examine the challenges and successes related to implementation of STRONG. Qualitative thematic analysis will be conducted. 2. Satisfaction (clinician, parent, and student), student engagement with each session, and fidelity ratings will be examined.

Study Details

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Interventions