A randomized effectiveness trial of an adult-to-youth mentoring program in Sweden

Abstract

This report describes an independent evaluation of a psychosocial, adult-to-youth mentoring program run by the Swedish branch of the Mentor Foundation, aiming to prevent substance use in low-risk youth (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT01138982). Eligible 14-year-olds (n = 128) were randomly assigned to the mentoring program or to a control condition. Baseline and 12-month follow-up measurements included self-reports on emotional, behavioral, and substance use measures from youth and their parents, and grade point average. These were retrieved from school registers at the follow-up. With alpha-levels corrected for multiple comparisons, analyses revealed no statistically significant outcome differences between the two groups. However, a relatively low statistical power and a low program dosage preclude any definite conclusions about program effectiveness. Among the 65 youth assigned to the intervention, those who met with their mentor for a full program period (n = 33, 51%) were significantly more likely than non-completers to report liking, trusting, and getting help from their mentors. The high rates of premature program terminations highlight the difficulties inherent in implementing mentoring programs under real-world conditions, and the need to strive for adherence to empirically and theoretically derived best practices when doing so. Best practices – such as using mentors with a helping professional background, an ongoing training of mentors, and close monitoring of the mentoring relationships – may be crucial for successful program implementation, and consequently also for the chances of mentoring programs to meet their goals of substance use prevention and improved life quality for the targeted youth.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01138982.

• Youth mentoring
• low-risk youth
• Sweden