Recruiting

Observational Study

Sponsor:

University of Illinois at Chicago

Code:

NCT06534827

Conditions

Mental Health

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 9 - 16

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Great Life Mentoring

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to test effects of the Great Life Mentoring (GLM) program on the mental health and adaptive functioning on school-age youth (ages 9-16) from low-income families who are receiving outpatient mental health services. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does participation in the GLM program improve mental health and related outcomes among school-age youth (9- to 16-years-old) from low-income families as an adjunct to outpatient mental health services? 180 youth will be enrolled in the study and assigned randomly to either continue mental health services as usual (SAU) or to continue mental health services while also participating in GLM (SAU+GLM). Participating youth, and their parent/guardians and therapists, will be surveyed annually. Mental health services records also will be obtained with appropriate permissions. . Researchers will compare the SAU and SAU+GLM groups to see if participation in GLM has an effect on the mental health and related outcomes of study youth.

Conditions

Mental Health

Study ID

NCT06534827

Start date

Nov 6, 2023

Status verified date

Aug, 2025

Completion date

Jun 30, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jun 30, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 9 - 16

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Youth is between 9- and 16-years-old
  • Youth meets eligibility criteria for the Great Life Mentoring program, which include receiving publically-subsidized outpatient mental health care

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Parental primary language other than English
  • Youth difficulties in cognitive functioning that would preclude ability to complete study assessments

Study Design

Enrollment

180 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Supportive Care

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

no intervention: Services as Usual

Outpatient mental health services as usual

experimental: GLM + Services as Usual

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.

Interventions

Great Life Mentoring

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.

Primary outcome measure

  • Overall Mental Health [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Depressive Symptoms [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Anxiety Symptoms [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Loneliness [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Internalizing Symptoms [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Externalizing Symptoms [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Life Satisfaction [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation,average of 2 years ]
  • Happiness [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Suicidal Ideation [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Self-esteem [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]
  • Hope [ Time Frame: Annually throughout duration of study participation, average of 2 years ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

David DuBois, PhD

312-413-9806dldubois@uic.edu

Carla Herrera, PhD

202-765-4143carlaherrera66@gmail.com

Locations

University of Illinois at Chicago

Recruiting

Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60608

Contacts

David L. DuBois, PhD

312-413-9806dldubois@uic.edu

Julius Rivera, B.A.

312-996-4214jriver40@uic.edu

Principal Investigator:

David L. DuBois, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

University of Illinois at Chicago

Last update posted

Aug 27, 2025

Last verified

Aug, 2025

Keywords

  • mentoring
  • mental health
  • youth
  • low-income
  • mental health interventions

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Illinois at Chicago on 2025-08-27.