Assessment of the Youth Empowerment Program on Mental Health Outcomes for Newcomer Youth in Aurora, CO – Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountain

Background Mental health challenges among U.S. youth have become a leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes. Refugee and migrant youth face additional risks due to trauma experienced before, during, and after migration, compounded by discrimination and acculturation challenges. This project aims to assess the impact of the Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) as a mental health promotion plan for newcomer (US arrival within the past five years) youth in Aurora.

This study utilized a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. 66 newcomer students participated in 20 weekly sessions focused on social-emotional skills and positive goal setting. Mental health outcomes were assessed using five validated self-report questionnaires measuring anxiety, depression, quality of life, resilience, and self-esteem at baseline and post-intervention. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression by SAS 9.4.

After the 20-week YEP intervention, 66 newcomer youth (Mean = 15) significantly improved mental health outcomes. Anxiety and depression decreased significantly (p <.0001), with females, Black students, and middle schoolers showing greater change. Quality of life improved (p =.0002), especially among Afghan students. Self-esteem increased, with Black students reporting the largest improvements. Resilience also improved significantly (p 0.5) indicate a strong program impact.

The YEP effectively enhanced mental health outcomes for newcomer youth in Aurora, CO. Despite promising results, limitations such as no control group, convenience sampling, uneven subgroup sizes, and short-term follow-up suggest the need for future randomized studies with longer-term and qualitative evaluation. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethics Committee/IRB of the Colorado School of Public Health waived the ethical approval for this work. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript