Journey of Hope in Appalachia: Supporting Resilience in the Region's Youth

NCT04096937 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 46776
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 42
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Rural youth have heightened exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACES) such as poverty, social isolation, chronic hunger, and drug use in the home. These threats can lead to downstream problems with emotion regulation, substance abuse, and heightened vulnerability to chronic disease. Resilience is the capacity to adapt positively in the face of such disadvantage. Youth resilience interventions can buffer the negative effects of ACES. Unfortunately, rural schools and other youth-serving agencies often have inadequate capacity to provide such interventions. Thus, there is a critical need to develop cost-effective, sustainable, and culturally-relevant youth resilience interventions that can be delivered by trained personnel with dedicated time and resources. WVU, UK, and Save The Children have a long-term goal to establish a sustained community-engaged research partnership to promote resilience in Appalachian youth. This is a community-based participatory research (CBPR)-guided study being conducted for the purpose of developing a culturally relevant, intervention to promote Appalachian youth resilience. The intervention, called Journey of Hope in Appalachia (JOHA), has as it's starting point Save The Children's evidence-based Journey of Hope (JOH) program that targets youth experiencing acute stress from natural disasters and similar events. This program will be culturally adapted to promote resilience among Appalachian youth experiencing ACES. JOHA will incorporate positive aspects of Appalachian culture (e.g., storytelling, theater, music) and will be designed for sustainability and eventual dissemination by Save through the Appalachian Translational Research Network (ATRN) and other regional Networks.

Conditions

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Keywords

Resilience; Appalachian youth; Community-based participatory research

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Number of themes

  Number of themes that emerge from the focus group data useful for guiding cultural tailoring of the Journey of Hope in Appalachia intervention.

  6 months

Study Arms (2)

Appalachian adults

Adults in Appalachia invested in well-being of youth.

Other: Focus groups

Appalachian youth

Youth from 7th through 12th grade.

Other: Focus groups

Interventions

Focus groups OTHER

Focus groups will be conducted with adult stakeholders and with youth in Appalachia. Feedback from the focus groups will guide cultural tailoring of the Journey of Hope in Appalachia intervention for use in a later phase.

Appalachian adults; Appalachian youth

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 10 Years - 99 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Youth of Appalachia Kentucky and West Virginia and adults who are parents of youth or are stakeholders in the health and well-being of Appalachian youth.

You may qualify if:

• Youth or adults who are residents of Appalachia
• Able to read and speak in English

You may not qualify if:

• Youth or adults who are not residents of Appalachia Kentucky or West Virginia
• Children under the age of 10

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Gia Mudd: lead
• West Virginia University: collaborator

Study Sites (2)

University of Kentucky, Center of Excellence in Rural Health

Hazard, Kentucky, 40536-0232, United States

Location

West Virginia University

Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Focus Groups

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Data Collection; Epidemiologic Methods; Investigative Techniques; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Quality of Health Care; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Public Health; Environment and Public Health

Study Officials

• Gia Mudd-Martin, PhD

  University of Kentucky

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: ECOLOGIC OR COMMUNITY
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 18, 2019
• First Posted: September 20, 2019
• Study Start: May 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: March 22, 2022
• Study Completion: March 22, 2022
• Last Updated: November 25, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (2)