Effectiveness of a resilience, gender equity and mental health group intervention for young people living in informal urban communities in North India: a cluster randomized controlled trial.
Varadharajan Srinivasan, Miguel San Sebastián, Samson Rana, Pooja Bhatt, Greg Armstrong, Smita Deshpande, Kaaren Mathias
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Abstract
Background: Mental health problems are the leading cause of disease burden among young people in India. While evidence shows that youth mental health and resilience can be improved with group interventions in school settings, such an intervention has not been robustly evaluated in informal urban settings.
Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether the Nae Disha 3 group intervention could improve youth resilience, mental health and gender equal attitudes among disadvantaged young people from low-income urban communities in India.
Methods: This cluster randomised controlled trial used an analytic sample of 476 adolescents and young adults aged 11-25 years from randomised clusters in urban Dehradun, India. The 251 intervention group participants were 112 boys and 139 girls, and the 225 young people in the wait-control group were 101 boys and 124 girls. Five validated tools measuring resilience gender equity and mental health were filled by participants at three different points in time.
Results: Difference in difference (DiD) analysis at T2 showed that scores improved among girls in intervention group, for adjusted model, resilience (DiD = 4.12; 95% CI: 2.14, 6.09) and among boys, for resilience (DiD = 5.82; 95% CI: 1.57, 9.74).
Conclusions: The Nae Disha 3 intervention among disadvantaged urban youth moderately improved resilience for both young men and women, though it did not significantly impact mental health, self-efficacy, or gender-equal attitudes. We establish potential merit for this approach to youth mental health but recommend further research to examine active ingredients and the ideal duration of such group interventions.
期刊介绍：
Global Health Action is an international peer-reviewed Open Access journal affiliated with the Unit of Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine at Umeå University, Sweden. The Unit hosts the Umeå International School of Public Health and the Umeå Centre for Global Health Research.
Vision: Our vision is to be a leading journal in the global health field, narrowing health information gaps and contributing to the implementation of policies and actions that lead to improved global health.
Aim: The widening gap between the winners and losers of globalisation presents major public health challenges. To meet these challenges, it is crucial to generate new knowledge and evidence in the field and in settings where the evidence is lacking, as well as to bridge the gaps between existing knowledge and implementation of relevant findings. Thus, the aim of Global Health Action is to contribute to fuelling a more concrete, hands-on approach to addressing global health challenges. Manuscripts suggesting strategies for practical interventions and research implementations where none already exist are specifically welcomed. Further, the journal encourages articles from low- and middle-income countries, while also welcoming articles originated from South-South and South-North collaborations. All articles are expected to address a global agenda and include a strong implementation or policy component.
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