Evaluation of an Entrepreneurship Program for American-Indian Youth

Overview

This study will use a randomized controlled design to evaluate whether a youth entrepreneurship/life-skills intervention for reservation-based American Indian adolescents (ages 13-15) improves psychosocial, behavioral health, educational, and economic outcomes from baseline for up to 3 years follow-up as compared to a recreational sports league control condition.

Full Title of Study: “Evaluation of an Entrepreneurship Program on Psychosocial, Behavioral Health, Educational and Economic Outcomes Among American-Indian Youth”

Study Type

  • Study Type: Interventional
  • Study Design
    • Allocation: Randomized
    • Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
    • Primary Purpose: Prevention
    • Masking: None (Open Label)
  • Study Primary Completion Date: July 2018

Detailed Description

Intervention activities will be held over a 3 night/4 day residential camp and 6 weekend workshops during the academic year. The control condition will consist of a recreational sports league held on 3 Saturdays, also during the academic year.

Interventions

  • Behavioral: Arrowhead Business Group Curriculum
    • Arrowhead Business Group (ABG) is a culturally tailored entrepreneurship/life-skills intervention, which features instruction from American Indian paraprofessionals in an effort to decrease drug use, depressive symptoms, hopelessness and other high-risk behaviors among youth while improving their school performance and college/career aspirations.
  • Behavioral: Recreational League Control Condition
    • The control condition will consist of a recreational sports league that will be led by local American Indian study staff who are experienced with Johns Hopkins camps and community-based Apache sports programs. Activities will be conducted on 3 Saturdays during the academic year to mixed gender groups of approximately 50 participants.

Arms, Groups and Cohorts

  • Experimental: Arrowhead Business Group Curriculum
    • The Arrowhead Business Group (ABG) Curriculum is a 22-session youth entrepreneurship/life-skills intervention delivered by trained American Indian paraprofessionals from the community to mixed-gender groups of approximately 25 youth. The intervention is delivered over a 3 night/4 day camp along with weekend workshops once a month for 6 months during the academic year. Depending on the time of enrollment, subjects will receive follow-up assessments at 6-month intervals for up to 36-months post-intervention. (Subjects in this cohort will also receive the activities associated with the control condition.)
  • Active Comparator: Recreational League Control Condition
    • The Recreational League Control Condition will be led by local American Indian study staff who are experienced with Johns Hopkins camps and community-based Apache sports programs. Sports and recreational activities will be conducted on 3 Saturdays during the academic year to mixed gender groups of approximately 50 participants.

Clinical Trial Outcome Measures

Primary Measures

  • Decreased substance use as measured by Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in treatment vs. control group at 24 months follow-up
    • Time Frame: 24 months follow-up

Secondary Measures

  • Decreased depressive symptoms on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in treatment vs. control group at 24 months follow-up
    • Time Frame: 24 months follow-up
  • Increased academic achievement as measured by school records and Across Time Orientation measure in treatment vs. control group at 24 months follow-up
    • Time Frame: 24 months follow-up

Participating in This Clinical Trial

Inclusion Criteria

  • American Indian ethnicity and primary residence within the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. – Participants must be 13-15 years old, enrolled as a student at one of the participating high schools, and must have parent/guardian consent for participation in the study. Exclusion Criteria:

  • Youth that are currently enrolled in foster care will not be eligible to participate in the study. – Those unable to participate in any of the evaluation assessments or intervention components will also be excluded.

Gender Eligibility: All

Minimum Age: 13 Years

Maximum Age: 15 Years

Are Healthy Volunteers Accepted: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Investigator Details

  • Lead Sponsor
    • Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  • Collaborator
    • Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH)
  • Provider of Information About this Clinical Study
    • Sponsor
  • Overall Official(s)
    • Allison Barlow, PhD, MPH, MA, Principal Investigator, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health

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