Meet Me on the Pitch: Developing and testing a community-based sports and behavioral health intervention for newcomer youth - PROJECT SUMMARY Refugee and immigrant “newcomer” youth who have arrived in the United States in the last five years frequently have unmet mental health challenges and face significant cultural and structural barriers to accessing quality health services. Newcomer youth represent racial and ethnic minority populations with substantial health disparities, overwhelmingly have lower socioeconomic status, and live in lower income communities. Social determinants of health (SDoH) within these communities drive disparities in behavioral and mental health for newcomers, which are further exacerbated by other unique barriers such as discrimination, fear of deportation, and acculturative stress. The proposed project, “Meet Me on the Pitch (MMotP): Developing and testing a community-based sports and behavioral health intervention for newcomer youth,” will develop and evaluate an innovative model that integrates sports, school, and behavioral health to improve the health of newcomer youth. MMotP is a novel approach that builds on evidence-based practices to promote health equity by using sports as a means of fostering community and social emotional development. MMotP is co-designed with newcomer youth and their coaches to address SDoH. By training trusted community members (specifically, soccer coaches) to deliver a culturally responsive behavioral health intervention, MMotP transforms the traditional service delivery model and addresses the specific needs of newcomer youth. It focuses on changing key SDoH at the community level rather than on individual-level treatment and creates an entry point to health care for youth by training coaches to provide basic support and referrals. The study proposes a mixed-methods approach that aims to 1) develop and refine the MMotP intervention, including an enhanced referral network; 2) assess its feasibility and acceptability among newcomer youth; and 3) measure the short-term impact of the intervention among newcomer youth. The study will employ a transcreational framework for intervention design, engaging the community, program participants, and coaches to plan, deliver, and evaluate the intervention. Focus groups and key informant interviews will inform intervention development and refinement, followed by longitudinal surveys to assess program quality and impact. Through a randomized controlled trial with 480 newcomer youth, the study will assess the short-term effects of MMotP on mental health outcomes and the related SDoH of access to healthcare services, school engagement, and social connection. Embedding a behavioral health intervention within community-based sports programs provides an upstream leverage point for mental health screening and prevention, a pathway to social and health services, and enhanced school engagement. If successful, this intervention and study findings have the potential to transform behavioral health service delivery and ultimately improve health equity for underserved youth nationwide.
