Development of Cities Mentor Project: An Intervention to Improve Academic Outcomes for Low-Income Urban Youth Through Instruction in Effective Coping Supported by Mentoring Relationships and Protective Settings

Abstract

This manuscript summarizes an iterative process used to develop a new intervention for low-income urban youth at risk for negative academic outcomes (e.g., disengagement, failure, drop-out). A series of seven steps, building incrementally one upon the other, are described: 1) identify targets of the intervention; 2) develop logic model; 3) identify effective elements of targets; 4) vet intervention with stakeholders; 5) develop models for sustaining the intervention; 6) develop measures of relevant constructs currently missing from the literature; 7) assess feasibility and usability of the intervention. Methods used to accomplish these steps include basic research studies, literature reviews, meta-analyses, focus groups, community advisory meetings, consultations with scholarly consultants, and piloting. The resulting intervention provides early adolescents in low-income urban communities with a) training in contextually relevant coping, b) connection to mentors who support youth's developing coping strategies, and c) connection to youth-serving community organizations, where youth receive additional support.

Children and young people’s participation in developing interventions in health and well-being: a scoping review

“…Four of the included studies did not, however, explicitly declare the participants’ age and instead used terms such as teenager or teens [ 44 , 53 ], adolescents [ 41 ] and students [ 36 ]. Another way of expressing the participants’ “age” was to refer to which grade or school system the participants were in when the research took place [ 33 , 45 ].…”

“…Furthermore, the included articles in this scoping review varied according to research settings. We categorised three broad settings, 13 were conducted in community settings [ 26 , 29 – 32 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 61 , 65 ], a further 11 in healthcare settings [ 25 , 28 , 42 , 46 , 49 , 52 , 53 , 55 , 57 – 59 ], and 17 in school settings [ 27 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 39 , 40 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 56 , 60 , 62 – 64 ].…”

“…However, both of these foci were supporting interventions concerning health and well-being. The main areas in 30 articles were supportive lifestyle interventions and concerned: a healthy diet and obesity [ 27 , 36 , 39 , 41 , 47 , 54 , 56 , 60 ], physical activity [ 26 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 45 , 48 , 54 ], substance abuse such as, alcohol, tobacco and drug use [ 29 , 34 , 40 , 43 , 44 , 51 , 61 , 62 , 65 ], sexual and reproductive health [ 29 , 31 , 42 , 43 , 50 , 64 ], violence [ 29 , 37 ], stress [ 33 ], social skills [ 63 ], health beliefs [ 30 ] and mental health promotion [ 35 ]. In addition to lifestyle issues, eleven of the articles considered issues that supported children and young people with their illness or disease.…”

LET's CONNECT community mentorship program for youths with peer social problems: Preliminary findings from a randomized effectiveness trial

“…Youth mentoring has been associated with a range of positive outcomes such as improved academics (Grant et al, 2014); alcohol, drug, and violence prevention (Grossman & Tierney, 1998); social skills development; and engagement in extracurricular activities (Larose, Savoie, DeWit, Lipman, & DuBois, 2015). Nevertheless, meta-analyses suggest that positive effects are relatively weak.…”

Human–Animal Interaction Research in School Settings: Current Knowledge and Future Directions

“…Increased stress exposure and lack of personal stress management skills have been implicated in academic failure (Grant et al, 2014). Several studies indicate an animal's presence can buffer or moderate physiological responses to stress (e.g., review by Friedmann & Son, 2009).…”