WeRISE: Youth-led Mental Health Transformation Through Cultivating Gratitude, Kindness, and Hope

Summary

The weRISE study's primary aim is to develop and test the effects of an arts-based train-the-trainer intervention developed to cultivate gratitude, kindness, and hope among youth in schools and informal settlements in both India and Kenya, on mental health and well-being outcomes. The core theory of change for weRISE is that through cultivating these key strengths, youth will undergo empowering mindset shifts that equip them to navigate past, present, and future life challenges, including mental ill-health.

Through a cross-country, phased, cluster randomized controlled design, this study will explore the question: what impacts the weRISE intervention has on gratitude, kindness, hope compared with a standard mental health literacy intervention. The investigators will also assess the impacts of weRISE on secondary outcomes such as self-efficacy, the feasibility of the youth-led delivery model, and whether impacts differ depending on setting (schools versus informal settlements, India versus Kenya). The investigators hypothesize that the weRISE intervention will result in greater improvements in mental health and well-being outcomes for youth recipients compared with a standard mental health literacy intervention, and that there will be strong positive relationships between gratitude, kindness, hope, and the mental health and well-being outcomes. The investigators hypothesize that the effects of weRISE will be similar across settings (schools and informal settlements in India and Kenya) and that the youth-led train-the-trainer model will prove effective.

Through this project, investigators will work together with leading experts and youth to develop an overall intervention model, contextualize it for India and Kenya respectively, and package a set of implementation tools for weRISE. Importantly, investigators plan to iterate on the content developed and contextualized for India and Kenya and publish a youth-targeted weRISE guide that will provide any young person anywhere with content and concrete activities. The investigators will also develop a series of academic outputs including scientific articles and conference presentations to disseminate evidence and lessons learned. Finally, the investigators will produce and disseminate a policy brief to facilitate uptake and scaling of weRISE by government officials and other decision-makers.

Conditions

• Youth Mental Health

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

weRISE; The gratitude, kindness and hope (GKH) program

weRISE is an arts based train the trainer intervention that promotes positive mental health through cultivating gratitude, kindness and hope among youth in schools and informal settlements in India and Kenya

BEHAVIORAL

The [adapted] Stan Kutcher Teen Mental Health (TMH) program

The 'Teen Mental Health' curriculum developed by Dr. Stan Kutcher, aims to increase mental health literacy among young people ;will be used in the control group (active comparator group). The control intervention consists of eight sessions (45 minutes each) delivered by older groups of young people (ages 18-24) in schools and community settings through a didactic approach.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF India)

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• African Population and Health Research Center

  collaborator OTHER

• citiesRISE

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Moiteryee Sinha, PhD · citiesRISE

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Max Age

14 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-07-01

Primary Completion

2024-04-30

Completion

2024-06-19

Countries

• India
• Kenya

Study Locations