Study protocol for a school-based single group pragmatic trial to promote resilience in youth: Building Resilience for Healthy Kids

BACKGROUND: There is a growing prevalence of mental health disorders among youth. Helping youth develop skills that promote and support mental well-being is an important strategy for addressing this public health concern. Building Resilience for Healthy Kids (Healthy Kids) is a school-based program designed to improve resiliency in youth aged 9–13 years old using an innovative health coaching framework. METHODS: Healthy Kids is a multi-phased intervention that aims to improve youth resilience using a 6-week, 1:1 health coaching program. The program develops youth resilience and was derived from models for developing youth resilience: Positive Relationships, Coping, Skill Development, Healthy Lifestyle, Sense of Culture, and Connectedness. Effectiveness of the intervention will be evaluated using a single-group, pragmatic trial design with pretest-posttest and follow-up assessments up to 12 months. Process measures will evaluate youth's acceptance and satisfaction of the program and attendance rates. Effectiveness will be evaluated by examining changes in resilience and mental health indicators from pre-to-post program and tracking sustainment of changes in mental health indicators over time. DISCUSSION: Given the pragmatic nature of the study design to work with generally healthy populations of students, we expect small, but sustainable, improvements in youth resilience to be achieved through the intervention. Further, this study will provide insight into the potential effectiveness of using health coaching as a strategy to support and promote youth mental well-being in school settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04202913. Registered December 18, 2019.