Youth Empowered Self-Care: a direct-to-participant intervention to promote mental well-being

BACKGROUND: A crisis of youth mental health exists, disproportionately affecting minoritized and low-income youth. Park- and community-based recreation programs may promote mental well-being by offering accessible and affordable recreation in non-stigmatizing settings, with the potential to reduce mental health disparities. However, these programs are not currently being used at scale. Youth Empowered Self-Care (YES) is a mental well-being intervention intended to increase timely access to park- and community-based recreation programs among minoritized low-income youth. We evaluated YES for feasibility, acceptability, and change in participants' psychological, mental, and social well-being and anxiety. METHODS: This study was a single-arm prospective cohort pilot design. Youth aged 8-12 years were enrolled with two parks and recreation departments in Durham, North Carolina, and Miami, Florida, United States. Youth and caregivers were directed to the YES website, where they received information on mental health and resources, and park- and community-based programs. Data collected included website usage, program enrollment, and caregiver-reported youth psychological, mental, and social well-being and anxiety at baseline and at 3 months using the KIDSCREEN-27 and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) measures to assess feasibility, acceptability, and change in psychological, mental, and social well-being and anxiety. Change from pre- to post-test scores and paired t-tests were used to determine change in mental well-being via the KIDSCREEN-27 and SCARED assessments. RESULTS: Participants (n = 247) included youth aged 8-12 years (36.4% Black;34.4% White; 11.7% Hispanic; 50.2% male; 39.7% >$50,000-$75,000 annual household income). The YES website had > 1,100 users, with ≥ 51.0% of website users enrolling in YES. Almost all (99.1%) participants indicated that YES connected them to a program, and that they subsequently completed their program (99.5%). Eighty-five percent and 31.3% of caregivers reported an increase on the youth psychological well-being and peer and social support subscales, respectively. Nearly half (46.5%) of caregivers reported a reduction in youth anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that YES may promote youth mental well-being. Pilot data also demonstrated YES feasibility and acceptability, and linkage to mental health education and treatment. The next steps for this research entail randomized prospective trials to assess YES efficacy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT06255093 (www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov); registration date: February 12, 2024.