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Completed

NCT Number: NCT06227403

Leadership, Engagement, and Youth Action Program With Mindfulness (LEAP)

The current study tests the feasibility and effectiveness of a youth intervention designed to provide meaningful leadership opportunities through the acquisition of leadership skills as well as mindfulness practice, LEAP: Leadership, Engagement, and youth Action Program with Mindfulness.

The goal of our proposal is to determine whether the Leadership, Engagement, and youth Action Program with Mindfulness (LEAP) curriculum, which was developed with youth, is a feasible and effective intervention for fostering leadership and well-being. We seek to understand whether LEAP can support well-being for youth as a strategy to increase youth mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) health.

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Key information

Conditions

Adolescent Behavior Behavior Mental Health Wellness 1

Age range

14 year–18 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States

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About this study

The LEAP study will determine whether a 14-session program designed to provide leadership and mindfulness skills to youth is an effective and feasible intervention. The curriculum consists of 14 two-hour sessions delivered after school. The comparison group will take part in EnvisionIT, a college and career readiness program designed for students in grades 6 through 12. EnvisionIT aims to prepare students with essential skills including digital literacy, and college and career readiness. The comparison group will also have 14 two-hour group sessions. Both LEAP and EnvisionIT will be delivered by trained facilitators. All participants in LEAP and EnvisionIT will be assessed at two time points assessing program outcomes; facilitators will also complete interviews post-intervention and provide feedback on data fidelity and acceptability following each session. This record reports on the UG3 pilot phase and will be amended for a UH3 phase.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Adolescents ages 14-18 in grades 9-12 enrolled in collaborating sites, either in Massachusetts or Illinois.

Exclusion criteria

  • Adolescents who are not available to commit to the intervention schedule.
  • Adolescents who are not in grades 9-12.
  • Parents/guardians with preferred language other than English or Spanish.

Treatment and study plan

Leadership, Engagement, and youth Action Program with Mindfulness

Behavioral

The Leadership, Engagement, and youth Action Program with Mindfulness intervention (LEAP) was designed and co-created with youth to improve youth well-being by enhancing leadership opportunities and by developing mindfulness in day-to-day life. LEAP seeks to foster these improvements in youth as a strategy to increase mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Youth voice is incorporated into the intervention, with facilitators leading the first 7 sessions, and youth leading the remainder.

EnvisionIT

Behavioral

Participants in this arm will receive 14 sessions of EnvisionIT training, focused on preparing students with essential skills including digital literacy through competency in information technology, financial literacy, English language arts skills, and college and career readiness. All sessions will be delivered by facilitators trained in EnvisionIT.

Primary outcomes

  1. Mental Health Continuum - Short Form

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    14-item, 6-point scale that measures emotional, social, and psychological wellbeing through frequency of experiencing each symptom of positive mental health. The scale range is 0-70, higher scores indicate better mental health.

  2. Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness (EPOCH) measure of adolescent wellbeing

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    20-item, 5-point scale measuring five positive characteristics that support higher levels of wellbeing: Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness. The scale range is 1-5, higher scores indicate better wellbeing.

  3. Social Emotional Health Survey: Belief in Self-Domain

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    9 item, 4-point measure of core psychological assets, measuring self-efficacy, self-awareness, and persistence. The scale range is 9-36, higher scores indicate better social emotional health.

  4. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    25 item multiple choice questionnaire that measures internalizing and externalizing problems and prosocial behavior (emotional, conduct, hyperactivity-inattention, peer, prosocial). The scale range is 0-40, higher scores indicate worse difficulties.

  5. Self-Rated Health

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    12 item 5-point survey measuring general health, asking about overall health self-rating, ability to do daily activities, energy levels, and physical and emotional limitations. The scale range is 0-100, higher scores indicate better health.

  6. Student Career Construction Inventory

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    An 18 item, 4-point scale measuring ability to crystallize vocational self-concepts, explore information gathering about occupations, and preparing to implement that choice. The scale range is 1-5, higher scores indicate better career outcomes.

  7. Vocational Skills Self-Efficacy

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    A 37 item, 5-point scale that measures vocational competency. The scale range is 1-5, higher scores indicate better vocational skills self-efficacy.

  8. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy Pretest-Posttest

    Time frame: Baseline, 2-3 months

    A 35 item multiple choice questionnaire that measures understanding of tools/mechanics of the internet, research processes, and application to career research. The scale range is 0-29, higher scores indicate better ICT literacy.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Boston University Charles River Campus

Other

Collaborators

  • Massachusetts General Hospital
  • University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Utah State University

Registry information

Official study title

Can A Youth Leadership and Mindfulness Program Support Well-being in Adolescence?

Important dates

Study start
2023
Primary completion
2024
Study completion
2024
First posted
Jan 26, 2024
Registry last updated
Aug 6, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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