YES: Innovative Discussion for Engagement, Achievement, and Service
YES: Innovative Discussion for Engagement, Achievement, and Service
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of YES-IDEAS (YES: Innovative Discussion for Engagement, Achievement, and Service)compared to regular after school programming in increasing youth empowerment, promoting positive behaviors, and decreasing youth violence.
Through the evidence-based YES (Youth Empowerment Solutions) program, youth design and implement projects to help improve their communities. In the current study, investigators adapted the existing YES curriculum to empower youth from diverse backgrounds to reduce violent behavior. The adapted curriculum, YES-IDEAS, focus on middle school students.
The investigators test the effects of YES-IDEAS curriculum on youths' sense of empowerment, attitudes, and violent behavior. They designed the study to be a group-randomized trial in after-school programs across multiple middle schools in south-east Michigan, but issues that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other practical issues with the schools we modified the design to be a matched control group design at the school level. Matching variables included size, geographic locations, race/ethnicity, free/reduced lunch status. Dose-response and sustainability of YES-IDEAS effects are also examined.
Youth violence is a significant public health concern, as over 20% report being in a fight, 19% reported bullying someone, and 16% reported weapon carriage. Violent victimization among youth includes mental health sequelae in addition to the physical injury caused by violent behavior.
Positive development can be achieved by engaging youth in community improvement activities designed to empower them to avoid risky behaviors. Building on prior research and guided by previous studies of empowerment processes, the investigators developed an afterschool violence prevention program for middle-school students called Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) for Peaceful Communities. Prior studies have described how YES engages youth in assessing neighborhood assets and liabilities for violence prevention and designing and implementing neighborhood or school projects to reduce violence. Results from prior YES evaluations found the YES program reduced violent behavior and increased positive behaviors in a comparison group design through the process of empowering youth to think critically about their community, develop plans for change, and implement their plans (i.e., program effects were mediated through empowered outcomes).
The existing YES curriculum was adapted to empower youth from various backgrounds to address to address bullying and promote positive behaviors as a way to reduce violent behavior. YES for Engaging Youth for Innovative Discussion for Engagement, Achievement and Service (YES-IDEAS) will focus on middle school students because this is a developmental period when independence from parents begins, their own ideas about peer relationships are formative, and when bullying behavior is at its peak. Empowering children to address violence at this critical developmental period may enable them to resist negative attitudes and behaviors. Working with an advisory board of experts and youth, we will develop and integrate lessons that address these behaviors into the existing YES curriculum.
The study includes two phases: 1) adapting YES and 2) testing YES IDEAS effects. Phase 1 included piloting and evaluating curriculum revisions through testing new modules and obtaining feedback from youth and teachers. Phase 2 tests the effects of YES IDEAS using a matched control trial in after-school programs across multiple middle schools across south-east Michigan. The investigators examine the effects of the curriculum on individual youths' sense of empowerment, attitudes, and violent behavior. Finally, dose-response and sustainability of YES IDEAS effects are examined.
The Specific Aims are:
AIM 1: adapt the YES curriculum to integrate several modules that address youth violence and study the adaptation and implementation process for the new curriculum for middle school students.
AIM 2: Test the efficacy of the YES-IDEAS curriculum in a matched control design on empowered outcomes which will mediate the effects of YES-IDEAS on violent attitudes and behavior.
AIM 3: Investigate if empowered outcomes are the mechanism by which the YES-IDEAS curriculum reduces aggressive and violent behavior over time.
AIM 4: study the effects of dose-response over time on the outcomes from AIMS 2 and 3.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
marcz@umich.edu734-647-0224
katherta@umich.edu269-267-5281