Project Activities
The researchers will develop and refine EPIC-Health in a 2-year iterative process, first with participatory planning groups and then with usability testing groups. This will be followed by a 1-year pilot study of EPIC-Health using a cluster-randomized controlled trial to determine its acceptability, usability, feasibility, scalability, and potential effectiveness, as well as its cost and cost effectiveness.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The project will be conducted in gender-sexuality alliances (GSAs)—school clubs that affirm students' sexual orientations and gender identities—located in Massachusetts, New York, and California.
Sample
The project will include approximately 100 student members and 16 adult advisors of 8 GSAs who will take part in the participatory planning and usability testing groups to develop and refine EPIC-Health. Approximately 320 student members and 32 adult advisors of 16 GSAs will participate in the pilot study of EPIC-Health.
Intervention
EPIC-Health aims to promote empowerment and academic resilience among LGBTQ+ students through a series of modules completed over sequential GSA meetings. The modules will include activities that (a) foster student collaboration and build a stronger sense of community within the GSA; (b) raise students' knowledge of LGBTQ+ supportive individuals and resources in the school; (c) guide students to reflect on and build self-awareness around their identities, including intersectional identities; (d) provide opportunities to co-create and share their own resources with one another; and (e) facilitate action to raise LGBTQ+ awareness and affirmation within the school or community. Each module will be designed to be completed within the timespan of a typical GSA meeting or easily divided across meetings. The activities of EPIC-Health will target specific dimensions of empowerment as a means by which to promote thriving and academic success among LGBTQ+ students.
Research design and methods
The researchers will iteratively develop and refine EPIC-Health with participating GSAs and their student members and adult advisors through participatory planning groups and usability testing groups. They will gather qualitative and quantitative data to refine the materials as well as to ascertain the potential acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness of EPIC-Health. The pilot test of EPIC-Health will be conducted through a cluster-randomized controlled trial. In the final project year, researchers will analyze the data from the pilot study, complete a cost analysis of EPIC-Health, and provide the program to GSAs that were in the waitlist control group of the pilot study.
Control condition
GSAs that are randomly assigned to the waitlist control condition during the pilot study will continue to meet under "business as usual" conditions and participate in data collection during the pilot. They will be offered the opportunity to implement EPIC-Health after the pilot study is completed and all data have been collected.
Key measures
The researchers will use semi-structured interview and review protocols to gather qualitative data and feedback from participatory planning groups and usability testing groups during the iterative design and refinement phase of the project. They will also collect qualitative process and observational data from usability testing groups to further inform the refinement of EPIC-Health. Participants in the pilot study will complete measures of emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relational empowerment and academic outcomes (school belonging; school safety; truancy; cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement at school; career volition; and report card grades).
Data analytic strategy
The researchers will thematically code and analyze qualitative data from the participatory planning and usability testing groups to inform the iterative development and refinement of the program. They will analyze quantitative data from the pilot study to test for potential intervention effects on each indicator of empowerment and each academic outcome using multilevel modeling to adjust for the nesting of students within GSAs. They will use multilevel structural equation modeling to test for potential intervention effects on academic outcomes mediated through effects on indicators of empowerment.
Cost analysis strategy
The researchers will estimate the total social cost of the EPIC-Health program using the ingredients method. First, they will determine the total cost of EPIC-Health to support program replication. Second, they will determine cost per site, which will allow them to evaluate the potential applicability of the program in various settings. Third, they will determine costs by fixed and variable categories, offering insights into scalability. Lastly, they will determine cost per student, which will be combined with the student-level effect sizes from the pilot data to calculate cost-effectiveness ratios.
Products and publications
Products: This project will result in a fully developed intervention that promotes positive social-emotional and academic outcomes for LGBTQ+ students. The project will also result in peer-reviewed publications and presentations as well as additional dissemination products that reach students in GSAs, GSA advisors, teachers, school counselors, school administrators, the general public, and other researchers.
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
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Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Calzo, Jerel; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Marx, Robert
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.