About this trial
This behavioral intervention study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Youth Empowered Advocating for Health (YEAH) on youth prosocial behavior and aggressive behavior and assess racial identity and future orientation as mediators of prevention effects.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
Identify their race or ethnicity as Black or African American
Speak English
Able to understand the project and give full consent to participate if eligible
Have a parent or guardian provide consent for them to participate
Disqualifiers
Non-English speakers
Trial design
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
YEAH: Youth Empowered Advocating for Health
BehavioralThe Youth Empowered Advocating for Health (YEAH) program is a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) intervention aimed at addressing community violence by fostering youth and community healing. It combines photovoice and theater arts performances. In photovoice sessions, Black youth explore structural determinants of community violence through a participatory research process. Guided by trained facilitators, youth learn the method after obtaining parental consent and youth assent. Using the structured SHOWED framework, they analyze and discuss images, generating ideas for social action. During the photovoice sessions, photo assignments will be completed, with discussions recorded, analyzed for themes, and shared for validation. The final four sessions will integrate these themes into theater arts performances, allowing youth to creatively express insights and experiences, fostering empowerment and social change.
Treatment groups
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
Change in prosocial behavior: Multidimensional Well-being Assessment Scale
Youth prosocial behavior will be measured using a scale developed by Grills et al. (2016) which assesses youth endorsement of behaviors that build connections with others in the past 2 weeks (α=.92). This 12-item scale was developed from items from the Multidimensional Well-being Assessment Scale, and uses a Likert-type scale (1=never; 5=always), with higher mean scores indicating greater likelihood of engaging in behaviors that reflect care and concern for others
Change in aggressive behavior: California Healthy Kids Survey adaptation
Youth aggressive behavior will be measured using 10 items adapted from the California Healthy Kids Survey. This measure asks participants how often they engaged in behaviors such as yelling at teachers, hitting or punching someone, or teasing another student in the past month (α=.88). These items assess the frequency of behaviors with 5 response categories (0,1,2,3,4+).
Change in community violence exposure: Community Experiences Questionnaire
This will be measured with 14 items (items 12-25) from the Community Experiences Questionnaire assessing exposure to violence by witnessing (CEQ-WIT). This scale asks the respondent to rank the frequency with which they have experienced each item on a 4-point rating scale (1=never, 2=once, 3=a few times, 4=lots of times). Scores are calculated by averaging respondents' ratings for the scale
Secondary outcomes
Racial identity: multidimensional inventory of Black identity-teen (MIBI-T)score
Racial identity will be measured using the multidimensional inventory of Black identity-teen (MIBI-T), including centrality, private regard, public regard, nationalism, humanism, assimilation, and oppressed minority. The scale includes 21 items on a Likert-type scale (1=really disagree; 5=agree), with higher mean scores indicating more positive racial identity
Future orientation: Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness
This will be measured using 4 items selected from the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness as used by Grills et al. (2016). These items assess participants' orientation toward the future by rating their expectations and aspirations on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree), with higher scores indicating more positive expectations for the future (α=.84).
Sponsors and contacts
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Emory University
Lead sponsor
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Collaborator