Evaluating the Breakthrough Mentoring scheme: a feasibility pilot randomised control trial (RCT) with vulnerable adolescents deemed at risk of exclusion in a secondary school setting.

Plain English summary of protocol

Background and study aims
Many young people experience mental, social and behavioural problems that can lead to negative consequences in later life, and the costs to society are high. It is proposed that providing a young person with an adult mentor (someone who is a positive force in their life) can help develop life skills, confidence and positive health which could avoid negative outcomes (e.g., poor attendance at school, engaging in risky behaviour). However, little research has been done to investigate whether mentoring programmes for young people can achieve some of these goals as there is a lack of well-designed studies within the United Kingdom. The Breakthrough mentoring scheme has been running in South Gloucestershire and other authorities for over 10 years. It is an activity-focused scheme in which a young person receives an adult mentor. There have been reports of positive outcomes for this scheme but it has not as yet been scientifically evaluated. This study aims to evaluate the Breakthrough mentoring programme and investigate whether providing students with a mentor can increase health, well-being and educational outcomes in these individuals.

Who can participate?
Students aged 11-16 years identified by school staff members as pupils that would benefit from Breakthrough mentoring scheme.

What does the study involve?
Participants are randomly allocated into one of two groups. Those in group 1 receive a Breakthrough mentor (the intervention group) for the coming school year. Those in group 2 (the control group) do not receive a mentor .’ Irrespective of which group participants are allocated to, both continue to receive all the usual care and support provided by their school. All study participants are asked to complete a questionnaire at the start of the study (baseline), 6, 12 and 18 months later. This questionnaire asks about participants’ feelings, health, behaviour and well-being. We also run interviews with participants to explore, for example, what they thought about participating in the study, having or not having a mentor and completing the questionnaires. In addition, we interview or have small group discussions with other people involved in the process such as teachers and parents to explore their views of the study. Later, we look closely at both groups to see if there are any differences. However, as this is a feasibility study, sometimes called a ‘pilot,’ we would need to conduct a further larger study (a definitive randomised control trial) to check if these differences were related to mentoring.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Participants taking part in this research have the opportunity to participate in this research project and to tell us about their experiences of this. Each time participants complete a questionnaire (and an interview) they are provided with a gift voucher of £15. Regardless of whether participants are selected to receive a mentor or not, they will receive the same amount of overall money. Additionally, participants have a 1 in 2 (50%) chance of getting a mentor. This mentor will then be with the participant for a school year and will engage in activities that the participant would like to do. Participants can decide on the activities they want to do, when they want to meet with their mentor and on the goals they would like to set for themselves. There are no known risks in taking part in this study other than participants are required to spend approximately an hour of their time completing the questionnaire and taking part in an interview. Some participants as a result of completing this questionnaire and talking to the researchers may reveal very personal information that may have to be acted upon. Thus, whilst all information that participants provide is treated as confidential and no information about what they say is shared with others, the researcher may have to break confidentiality and inform another person if they believe a participant's health or safety is in danger. All study participants allocated to either the intervention or control group are made aware of the possible need to break confidentiality during the consent process at the start of the study.

Where is the study run from?
School of Community and Social Medicine, University of Bristol (UK)

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
June 2013 to September 2015

Who is funding the study?
National Institute for Health Research (UK)

Who is the main contact?
1. Dr Angela Beattie (public)
angela.beattie@bristol.ac.uk
2. Professor Rona Campbell (scientific)

Study website

Contact information

Study information

Eligibility

Locations

Countries of recruitment

• England
• United Kingdom

Study participating centre

Sponsor information

University of Bristol
University/education

c/o Dr Birgit Whitman, Head of Research Governance
Research and Enterprise Development
Senate House
Tyndall Avenue
Clifton
Bristol
BS8 1TH
England
United Kingdom

Website	http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/
"ROR"	https://ror.org/0524sp257

Funders

Funder type

Government

Results and Publications

Study outputs

Editorial Notes

15/10/2020: Publication reference and total final enrolment number added.
28/03/2018: Online report of results added to publication and dissemination plan.
24/02/2016: Internal review