Adapted Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) to decrease psychological distress among urban adolescents in New York City: a feasibility study protocol for a cluster single arm trial

BACKGROUND: Given the increasing need for adolescent mental health services, a growing body of research has considered how scalable, transdiagnostic interventions might be implemented in a community-initiated care model to bridge the treatment gap. The purpose of this feasibility study is to assess the feasibility of implementing an adapted version of the World Health Organization's mental health intervention, Early Adolescent Skills for Emotions (EASE) for underserved youth of color in New York City (NYC). METHODS: We will conduct a single-arm cluster feasibility study in collaboration with the New York City Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health, the Department of Youth and Community Development, and at least 10 community-based organization sites (CBO sites) in NYC that primarily serve youth of color. We aim to enroll at least 100 youth across these CBOs to participate in an adapted version of EASE over 7 weeks. Youth will complete surveys at baseline, post-intervention, and 3 months after the intervention. We may also invite them to participate in qualitative interviews and focus group discussions following completion of EASE. Additionally, we will recruit 100 caregivers across all CBOs to evaluate the acceptability of the adapted EASE caregiver curriculum. Furthermore, we will recruit 30 staff members (helpers) across all CBOs to participate in EASE training, supervision, and delivery, and we will assess implementation outcomes such as helper fidelity and curriculum acceptability with competency benchmarks and interviews. DISCUSSION: This study will contribute to the burgeoning literature on the implementation of brief, task-sharing interventions to reduce psychological distress for underserved youth of color within urban community contexts. Favorable findings from this trial will offer valuable insight into the ways in which low-cost programs might address the growing adolescent mental health treatment gap, inform government policy, and guide the development of an adequately powered trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial registration number is NCT06934954 (Registered on April 18th, 2025).