Assessing the impacts of the Agenda Gap intervention for youth mental health promotion through policy engagement: a study protocol

Abstract

Background: Mental health challenges are a leading health concern for youth globally, requiring a comprehensive approach incorporating promotion, prevention and treatment within a healthy public policy framework. However, the broad enactment of this vision has yet to be realized. Further, mental health promotion evidence specific to youth is still emerging and has not yet focused at a policy level. This is a critical gap, as policy is a key mental health promotion lever that can alter the social and structural conditions that contribute to shaping youth mental health outcomes for all youth, across the full spectrum of need. Responsive to this research and intervention priority, our prototype study intervention-the Agenda Gap-is comprised of an innovative, multi-media engagement intervention, developed in collaboration with youth. This intervention aims to equip youth and build capacity for them to lead meaningful policy change reflective of the mental health needs of diverse communities of youth, including those who experience structural vulnerability and who would not typically have had their voice represented in policymaking processes. Methods: This study will use a multiple case study design and mixed methods grounded in a realist approach and will be conducted in three sites across two Canadian provinces (British Columbia and Alberta). In an earlier phase of this research, we collaboratively designed the prototype intervention with youth, community and policy partners. In this phase of the study, the intervention will be implemented and further tested with new groups of youth collaborators (n = 10-15/site). Outcome data will be collected through realist qualitative interviews, validated questionnaires [i.e., Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12), General Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale, and the Critical Consiousness Scale (CCS)] and additional survey items developed by our study team. Analysis will focus on identification of key context-mechanism-outcome configurations to provide comprehensive insights into how this intervention works, for whom, and in what context. Discussion: This study is unique in its "upstream" focus on youth-engaged policymaking as a tool for improving the social and structural conditions that influence youth mental health across socioecological levels. Through the implementation and testing of the Agenda Gap intervention with diverse youth, this study will contribute to the evidence base on youth-engaged policymaking as a novel and innovative, mental health promotion strategy.

Caregiver Perceptions of Children’s Psychological Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…New approaches are needed, such as brief and low-intensity interventions that can be implemented by individuals without specialized training . In addition, engaging youth and community members in policy and program development is critical to ensure that mental health promotion efforts are contextually and culturally relevant . Needs of communities vary widely, and funds should be directed and allocated in ways that will have the largest and most meaningful impact while not exacerbating existing inequities.…”

Identifying mechanisms of youth mental health promotion: A realist evaluation of the Agenda Gap programme

“…Agenda Gap has been delivered as a virtual, hybrid, and face-to-face programme. More details regarding the history of Agenda Gap and the core programme content have been published elsewhere [25]. Outcomes of interest include benefits at the individual level (e.g., self-efficacy, strengthened positive mental health), interpersonal and familial levels (e.g., improved ability to support or share mental health knowledge with family/peer groups), and community and societal levels (e.g., youth-centred policy and systems change in school and community contexts) (see Jenkins et al [5] for overview of programme outcomes).…”

Promotive and risk factors for children’s mental health—Finnish municipal policymakers’ and leading officeholders’ views

“…Despite the growing body of literature related to the factors affecting children’s MH and MH promotion in different settings, such as homes, schools, workplaces and communities, throughout their lives ( Sharma et al , 2017 ), findings on factors affecting children’s MH and MH promotion at the municipal policy level are scarce ( Jenkins et al , 2020 ). In general, there is a gap in the knowledge regarding the effects of political decision-makers and leading officeholders in municipal administrations on the well-being of children.…”