A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Evaluation of a Universal Healthy Relationships Promotion Program for Youth

Abstract

Bullying and mental health problems are pressing concerns for adolescents. Given their burden, we need to find efficacious ways to prevent these experiences. However, existing prevention programs tend to be single-issue and may not focus on the universal capacities required to reduce these problems among youth. To this end, we evaluated the universal, small groups Healthy Relationships Plus (HRP) program, which focuses on the promotion of positive mental health and the reduction of bullying and substance misuse. A sample of 212 youth from Southwestern Ontario were randomly assigned to the HRP or an attention-control condition over an 8-day period during summer 2014. Primary outcome measures (i.e., most important outcomes for this evaluation) were positive mental health, bullying victimization/perpetration, and substance misuse (alcohol, marijuana). We also examined a mediator (help-seeking) and two moderators (sex, adverse childhood experiences) of main effects. Participation in HRP was associated with reduced odds of physical bullying victimization at 1-year follow-up, compared with adolescents in the attention-control condition. This finding was mediated by increased intention to seek help from a mental health professional following HRP participation. We did not find main effects for positive mental health or substance misuse in this sample; however, there was an interaction effect whereby youth with significant trauma experiences reported less marijuana use at 1-year follow-up compared with control students. Findings reiterate the importance of help-seeking for bullying prevention and demonstrate the preliminary efficacy of the HRP as a universal strategy for preventing bullying victimization among mid-adolescents within school and community settings.

Evaluation of community-based health promotion interventions in children and adolescents in high-income countries: a scoping review on strategies and methods used

“…Of the 44 articles included, nearly half of them aimed at evaluating outcomes only ( n = 20; 45.5%) [ 42 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 55 , 58 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 66 – 69 , 71 , 77 – 79 , 82 , 83 ], whereas 18 described outcome and process evaluation (40.9%) [ 41 , 43 – 46 , 49 , 51 , 53 , 54 , 57 , 59 , 62 , 70 , 72 – 74 , 81 , 84 ], and 6 focused on process evaluation solely ( n = 6; 13.6%) (56, 60, 65,75, 76, 80). However, only a few studies explicitly used the terms ‘process evaluation’ ( n = 14) and/or ‘outcome evaluation’ ( n = 4) to describe their evaluation strategies.…”

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Adolescents’ Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies: Does Competence Vary by Context?

“…School guidance counselors invited students to participate in the study via verbal and written announcements. These data are part of a larger study examining the effectiveness of a healthy relationships program for youth (Exner‐Cortens, Wolfe, Crooks, & Chiodo, 2020); for this paper, we use pretest (baseline) data only. For the larger study, students needed to be in the 9th or 10th grade, available to participate in a 2‐week healthy relationships promotion curriculum, and not be identified by their guidance counselor as posing a serious safety risk to themselves or others (a requirement of the larger study).…”

Contributing to an Evidence-Based Practice in Canadian School Psychology

“…(Binfet, 2020; Boudreau et al, 2019; Exner-Cortens et al, 2020a; Santos & Langill, 2020) Mental Health. (Exner-Cortens et al, 2020b; Rodger et al, 2019) Assessment. (Harrison et al, 2019)…”