Mentoring Program for Mental Health

(SMART Trial)

Overseen By Carla Herrera, PhD

Age: < 18

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: University of Illinois at Chicago

Disqualifiers: Non-English speaking parents, Cognitive difficulties

Stay on Your Current Meds You can continue your current medications while participating

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Approved in 1 Jurisdiction This treatment is already approved in other countries

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: Unknown

Duration: 2 years

180 Participants Needed

What You Need to Know Before You Apply

What is the purpose of this trial?

This trial explores whether the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program can improve mental health for children aged 9 to 16 from low-income families who are already receiving outpatient mental health services. It compares two groups: one continues with their usual mental health services, while the other adds the GLM program. The GLM program pairs children with mentors who provide weekly support in the community. The trial seeks youth currently receiving publicly-subsidized mental health care. As an unphased trial, it offers participants a unique opportunity to potentially enhance their mental health support through innovative mentoring.

Do I need to stop my current medications for this trial?

The trial does not specify whether you need to stop taking your current medications. It seems likely that you can continue your current mental health treatments while participating.

What prior data suggests that the Great Life Mentoring program is safe for school-age youth?

Studies have shown that the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program is a promising way to improve mental health. Research indicates that young people in GLM manage daily life better. Reports have not indicated any negative effects from participating in GLM. The program complements existing mental health services, potentially enhancing overall treatment. Youth pair with trained mentors who spend time with them in the community, offering support and guidance.

This mentoring program has been linked to positive results, suggesting participants receive it well. The focus is on building strong, supportive relationships, which can benefit mental health without the risks often associated with medical treatments. ^{1 2 3 4 5}

Why are researchers excited about this trial?

Researchers are excited about the Great Life Mentoring program because it introduces a unique approach to mental health care for school-age youth. Unlike typical treatments that rely solely on professional therapy or medication, this program pairs youths with trained volunteer mentors, integrating community-based support into their mental health journey. The mentors undergo intensive training and receive ongoing supervision, allowing them to address the specific needs and challenges of youths with mental health issues. This mentorship not only complements traditional mental health services but also aims to create a lasting, supportive relationship that extends beyond the clinical treatment period.

What evidence suggests that the Great Life Mentoring program is effective for improving mental health in school-age youth?

Studies have shown that the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program can improve mental health for young people. In this trial, some participants will receive the GLM program alongside usual services. Participants in previous GLM trials handled everyday challenges better and received more positive feedback from clinicians compared to those not in the program. Research also shows that these young people were less likely to experience serious mental health issues over time. The mentoring program not only helps during treatment but also continues to offer support afterward. This evidence suggests that GLM can effectively enhance mental health and daily functioning for school-age youth from low-income families. ^{1 2 6 7 8}

Who Is on the Research Team?

David DuBois, PhD

Principal Investigator

University of Illinois Chicago

Are You a Good Fit for This Trial?

This trial is for school-age youth, ages 9-16, from low-income families who are currently receiving outpatient mental health services. To participate, they must have consent from their parent or guardian and agree to annual surveys as well as sharing their mental health service records.

Inclusion Criteria

Youth meets eligibility criteria for the Great Life Mentoring program, which include receiving publically-subsidized outpatient mental health care

I am between 9 and 16 years old.

Exclusion Criteria

My parents' first language is not English.

I do not have cognitive difficulties that prevent me from completing study tasks.

Timeline for a Trial Participant

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Treatment

Participants receive outpatient mental health services with or without the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program for an average of 2 years

2 years

Weekly community meetings with mentors for GLM group

Follow-up

Participants are monitored for mental health outcomes and adaptive functioning annually

1 year

Annual surveys and mental health records review

What Are the Treatments Tested in This Trial?

Interventions

• Great Life Mentoring

Trial Overview

The study is testing the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program's impact on improving mental health and adaptive functioning in youths. Participants will either continue with standard outpatient services (SAU) or receive SAU plus GLM. The two groups' outcomes will be compared over time.

How Is the Trial Designed?

Group I: GLM + Services as Usual Experimental Treatment 1 Intervention

The Great Life Mentoring program (GLM) provides volunteer-based mentoring for school-age youth from low-resource families who are receiving outpatient mental health care. Each youth is paired with a mentor with whom they spend time in the community on a weekly basis for at least one year. Mentors are required to complete a 20-hour intensive training prior to being paired with a youth. Mentors also receive monthly in-person supervision from GLM staff for the first year of their meetings, which continues on an as-needed basis thereafter. Training and supervision are geared toward the unique opportunities and challenges that can occur when mentoring a youth with mental health needs. The goal is for the mentor to become an integral part of the child's mental health treatment, but the mentoring relationship is also sustained after treatment ends.

Group II: Services as Usual Active Control 1 Intervention

Outpatient mental health services as usual

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

University of Illinois at Chicago

Lead Sponsor

Trials

653

Recruited

1,574,000+

Herrera Consulting Group, LLC

Collaborator

Trials

3

Recruited

2,300+

Published Research Related to This Trial

The peer mentor program, which included 8 trained mentors and 30 participants with serious mental illnesses over a 6-month period, showed high feasibility and acceptability, with 93% of mentors delivering the intervention effectively and 28 out of 30 participants regularly meeting with their mentors.

Participants experienced significant reductions in smoking behavior, evidenced by decreased exhaled carbon monoxide levels and fewer cigarettes smoked per day, although only 10% achieved sustained abstinence, indicating the program's potential but also the challenges in long-term cessation.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The use of peer mentors to enhance a smoking cessation intervention for persons with serious mental illnesses. Dickerson, FB., Savage, CL., Schweinfurth, LA., et al.[2019]

The HOPES program, which includes one year of intensive skills training and health management, significantly improved social skills and psychosocial functioning in older adults with severe mental illness, as shown in a randomized controlled trial with 183 participants.

Retention in the program was high at 80%, and the improvements were notable across various measures, with moderate effect sizes, indicating that the program is a feasible and effective intervention for this population.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Randomized trial of social rehabilitation and integrated health care for older people with severe mental illness. Mueser, KT., Pratt, SI., Bartels, SJ., et al.[2021]

57% of mental health inpatient units in Australia have implemented evidence-based medication safety practices, with high implementation rates for standardized medication charts (80%) and medication history forms (71%).

However, there are significant gaps, such as less than 20% of units using electronic medication management systems and only 9% fully implementing individual patient-based medication distribution systems, indicating a need for improvement in medication safety and pharmacist involvement in patient care.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Reducing adverse medication events in mental health: Australian National Survey. Gadzhanova, S., Roughead, E., Lowy, H., et al.[2020]

Current clinical trials for behavioral health interventions often do not monitor adverse events as thoroughly as those for medications and medical devices, focusing mainly on serious incidents like suicide attempts and hospitalizations.

There is a need for expanded monitoring of adverse events in psychotherapy trials to better inform patients about potential risks, including temporary increases in anxiety, which are often overlooked but can impact treatment outcomes.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The need for expanded monitoring of adverse events in behavioral health clinical trials. Peterson, AL., Roache, JD., Raj, J., et al.[2012]

A study involving 95 medical students found that a longitudinal mentoring program did not significantly improve mental health, quality of life, or academic motivation compared to students without mentoring.

The lack of significant results suggests that implementing and evaluating effective mentoring programs in medical education can be challenging, indicating a need for further research and refinement of such initiatives.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Implementation of a Longitudinal Mentorship Program for Quality of Life, Mental Health, and Motivation of Brazilian Medical Students. Bechara Secchin, LS., da Silva Ezequiel, O., Vitorino, LM., et al.[2021]

The pilot Patient Safety Presentation process, implemented in a psychiatry residency program, significantly improved residents' knowledge and engagement in patient safety practices, as evidenced by pre- and post-presentation surveys involving 32 residents.

All participating residents expressed satisfaction with the presentation, highlighting its effectiveness as a model for enhancing patient safety education in residency programs.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Development and Pilot of a Process for Regularly Sharing Summary Patient Safety Data. Kim, B., Grech, SM., Rembisz, AE., et al.[2023]

Mentees in foster care experienced shorter mentoring matches and were more likely to have their matches close prematurely compared to those not in foster care, indicating a need for targeted support in these relationships.

The study found that the implementation of benchmark program practices was associated with longer match lengths for mentees in foster care, suggesting that structured mentoring practices can enhance the stability of these relationships.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Supporting Mentoring Relationships of Youth in Foster Care: Do Program Practices Predict Match Length? Stelter, RL., Kupersmidt, JB., Stump, KN.[2019]

Formal mentoring programs for training psychiatrists have shown positive outcomes, such as promoting research, increasing perceived support, and enhancing teaching skills, based on a review of 17 articles.

However, the evidence is limited and unclear regarding how these positive outcomes are directly linked to mentorship, suggesting that other factors may also play a role.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Outcomes of mentoring programs in psychiatry training: a literature review. You, D., Kealy-Bateman, W.[2022]

Young people who have experienced adverse childhood events are motivated to mentor their at-risk peers primarily due to their own lived experiences of trauma, which helps them find purpose and meaning in their struggles.

Mentoring not only allows these young mentors to support their peers but also helps them develop a more positive self-identity and fosters prosocial behaviors, potentially improving engagement with mental health services for their age group.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Rewriting stories of trauma through peer-to-peer mentoring for and by at-risk young people. Douglas, LJ., Jackson, D., Woods, C., et al.[2019]

The Senior Reach program significantly improved outcomes for older adults, including reduced social isolation, enhanced functioning, and decreased emotional disturbance, as evidenced by improvements on the Geriatric Depression Scale.

Approximately 41% of seniors in both the Senior Reach and Spokane Gatekeeper models were referred by community gatekeepers, highlighting the effectiveness of this approach in identifying and assisting at-risk seniors.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Senior reach outcomes in comparison with the Spokane Gatekeeper program. Bartsch, DA., Rodgers, VK.[2019]

The Serenity Integrated Mentoring (SIM) program aimed to improve collaboration between police and mental health services for individuals in crisis, but it faced significant criticism leading to its withdrawal.

The controversy surrounding SIM highlights ethical concerns regarding mental health professionals' roles in using coercive measures and the sharing of confidential patient information with law enforcement.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Serenity Integrated Mentoring and the High Intensity Network: a scheme that raises serious questions for practice and governance in UK psychiatry. House, A.[2023]

The study found that older adults referred through the Senior Reach Gatekeeper model experienced significant improvements in social isolation and depression symptoms, indicating the effectiveness of this approach in addressing mental health needs.

Training nontraditional community gatekeepers to identify and refer at-risk seniors was successful, leading to positive outcomes in the lives of those served by the program.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Outcomes of senior reach gatekeeper referrals: comparison of the Spokane gatekeeper program, Colorado Senior Reach, and Mid-Kansas Senior Outreach. Bartsch, DA., Rodgers, VK., Strong, D.[2019]

The development of a Mental Health Quality and Safety Framework involved extensive consultations and thematic analysis, resulting in 32 categories grouped into seven key themes aimed at improving mental health services.

The proposed Framework emphasizes a shift from a centralized approach to a more localized model that includes input from frontline staff, consumers, and carers, which is expected to enhance patient safety, clinical outcomes, and staff morale.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

A new paradigm for mental-health quality and safety: are we ready? Short, B., Marr, C., Wright, M.[2019]

A qualitative study involving experienced suicide researchers revealed significant challenges in defining and reporting adverse events (AEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs) in suicide prevention trials, which complicates safety evaluations.

Participants emphasized the urgent need for clear and consistent definitions and reporting standards for AEs and SAEs to improve the comparability of studies and enhance safety monitoring in at-risk populations.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Variability in the definition and reporting of adverse events in suicide prevention trials: an examination of the issues and a proposed solution. Oquendo, MA., Feldman, S., Silverman, E., et al.[2022]

The PsychStart mentoring scheme for medical students interested in psychiatry has shown to enhance personal and professional development, increase career knowledge, and broaden exposure to the field.

This mentoring program may help sustain interest in psychiatry as a specialty, suggesting it could be a valuable tool for improving recruitment and retention in the field.

NCBI (Pubmed)

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

PsychStart: a novel mentoring scheme for supporting and valuing medical students interested in psychiatry. Hewson, T., Thomas, N., Lovett, K., et al.[2022]

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Great Life Mentoring Program

Great Life Mentoring offers a strong example of what a mentoring program working collaboratively with mental health providers can achieve.

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