A Fighting Chance: Pilot Study of a Group Mentoring Intervention for Assault Injured Youth

The goal of this project is to adapt, implement and evaluate Take Charge! (a 1:1 mentoring intervention for assault-injured youth) for a group mentoring model.

This pilot study is a randomized controlled trial in which assault-injured 12-14 year old youth recruited from the emergency department are randomly assigned to standard care or "A Fighting Chance" group mentoring that includes a violence prevention curriculum and parent sessions. Immediately post-intervention and again at six-month follow up, youth violence-related, mental health and educational outcomes using validated measures will be assessed.

Inclusion criteria

• Injury: Eligible youth have been treated in the ED for an interpersonal intentional injuries excluding child abuse, sexual abuse, sibling fights, police fights, and other domestic violence-related fights involving relatives and/or household residents. These excluded types of violence have a different set of complex dynamics and services needs requiring separate study and intervention.
• Age: Eligible youth are age 12-14 years (i.e. up to the 14th birthday) and youths' parents/guardians are age 18 years and older.
• Mental/Physical Status: Youth and parents must have the cognitive ability to participate in the intervention. Those with severe psychopathology (i.e. severe history of mental illness with multiple psychiatric hospitalizations) or inability to comprehend questions, will be excluded.
• Language: English-speaking ability of the parent and child is necessary to enable participation in the intervention, training and assessments.
• Mentorship: Eligible youth are not currently participating in a formal mentoring program.

Exclusion criteria

Additionally, there are youth eligibility criteria set by Y in Central Maryland policies which the investigators will follow. These include:

• Residence: Youth are not eligible if residence is outside of Baltimore City.
• Custody/child protection status: Youth are not eligible if youth have a caregiver currently involved in an ongoing custody dispute or Child Protective Services investigation. Youth are not eligible if youth live somewhere other than a residential setting with parents/guardians.