Source: OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
BRIDGE2HEALTH: AN INTERGENERATIONAL MENTORING PROGRAM
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
EXTENDED
Funding Source
3D GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1027002
Grant No.
2021-41520-35339
Project No.
OHOW-2021-04157
Proposal No.
2021-04157
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
MC
Project Start Date
Aug 25, 2021
Project End Date
Aug 24, 2024
Grant Year
2023
Project Director
Jarrott, S.
Recipient Organization
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER
COLUMBUS,OH 43210
Performing Department
College of Social Work
Non Technical Summary
BRIDGE2Health applies a community-based participatory research method using intergenerational approaches to programming in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and Amherst County, Virginia. The focal youth population includes teenagers, approximately half of whom are in foster and kinship (e.g., grandparent) care; older adult participants include community volunteers affiliated with a community partner. Annual cohorts of paired teen and older adult mentors engage in a train-the-trainer model by which participants build skills with age peers and then with intergenerational partners before engaging in community outreach. Curricula are be Extension and 4-H approved, culturally appropriate, responsive to student interests, and in support of CYFAR principles, such as the Teen Leadership 20 and Youth Engaged in Learning about Leadership curricula. BRIDGE2Health curricula is be selected to help teens build skills described in the USDA Science Blueprint Theme 5: Ag Science Policy Leadership, Beacon for Science objective: "contribute to safer, healthier, vibrant, sustainable, and innovative communities." Teens build these skills and experience belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity by engaging in evidence-based curricula that incorporate intergenerational strategies. By engaging teens and older adults as partners in identifying needs and assets to which they can jointly respond through bi-directional mentoring, we anticipate achievement of short-term goals that include formation of trusting, supportive relationships, positive social norms, and belonging. Long-term goals include teen skill building and resilience The two communities, working with OSU Extension, and VCE, will have better coordinated, sustainable services reflecting community needs.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
72460993080100%
Knowledge Area
724 - Healthy Lifestyle;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3080 - Sociology;
Goals / Objectives
BRIDGE2Health applies a community-based participatory research method using intergenerational approaches to programming in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and Amherst County, Virginia. The focal youth population will be teenagers, approximately half of whom are in foster and kinship (e.g., grandparent) care; older adult participants will include community volunteers affiliated with a community partner. Annual cohorts of paired teen and older adult mentors will engage in a train-the-trainer model by which participants build skills with age peers and then with intergenerational partners before engaging in community outreach. Curricula will be Extension and 4-H approved, culturally appropriate, responsive to student interests, and in support of CYFAR principles, such as the Teen Leadership 20 and Youth Engaged in Learning about Leadership curricula. BRIDGE2Health curricula will be selected to help teens build skills described in the USDA Science Blueprint Theme 5: Ag Science Policy Leadership, Beacon for Science objective: "contribute to safer, healthier, vibrant, sustainable, and innovative communities." Teens will build these skills and experience belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity by engaging in evidence-based curricula that incorporate intergenerational strategies. By engaging teens and older adults as partners in identifying needs and assets to which they can jointly respond through bi-directional mentoring, we anticipate achievement of short-term goals that include formation of trusting, supportive relationships, positive social norms, and belonging. Long-term goals include teen skill building and resilience The two communities, working with OSU Extension, and VCE, will have better coordinated, sustainable services reflecting community needs.
Project Methods
BRIDGE2Health site partners will collaborate using a CBPR model. Integration of technology and intergenerational strategies will enhance the development of health-promoting life skills among teens at the Ohio and Virginia sites. The model aligns with USDA Science Blueprint Theme 5: Ag Science Policy Leadership, Beacon for Science objective. BRIDGE2Health curricula will be selected to help teens build skills that allow them to "contribute to safer, healthier, vibrant, sustainable, and innovative communities" (p. 29). Teens will build these skills and experience belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity by engaging in evidence-based curricula that incorporate intergenerational strategies. With Virginia sites located in rural Amherst County, BRIDGE2Health programming will support USDA/NIFA Strategic Plan Goal #4 of promoting rural quality of life. The CBPR approach supports CYFAR's philosophy to marshal resources of land-grant and Extension systems with other organizations through comprehensive, intensive, community-based programs developed with active citizen participation toward program sustainability.Teen participants' contact with the program will reflect curricular guidelines. For example, Cuyahoga Extension have created and implemented Youth Advocacy Leadership Council (YALC), which involves 4-H curriculum Teen Leadership 20,19 Youth Engaged in Learning about Leadership (YELL),20 and life skills workshops. The YALC program involves a core cohort of eight teens in once to twice monthly, 45-60 minutes sessions over 4-6 months. These teens then have the option to become peer teachers to a new cohort. Frequency and duration of BRIDGE2Health will resemble that of YALC. We will provide training on program expectations and support peer and intergenerational mentoring by starting with teen-only and older adult-only programming prior to the intergenerational sessions. Kinship caregivers' contact with the program will occur monthly via in-person and remote methods (e.g., an in-person workshop on online safety or a webinar on healthy dating). Site staff and administrators and other stakeholders' contact with BRIDGE2Health will vary depending on their roles. Team members delivering programming will have contact of 60-90 minutes per session once or twice per month. Administrators and stakeholders will connect 2-6 times annually via advisory, research, and programming meetings.Group size and staffing plan One to two annual cohorts will be formed at each of four sites, consisting of 8 teens (minimum 32 annually), approximately half of whom will be in foster or kinship care. Each teen will work with an older adult mentor (minimum 32 annually). After age-specific training and intergenerational programming, teen and older adult mentors will deliver programming to other teens(groups ranging from 5-20; minimum 20 annually). Additionally, some programming will be aimed at kinship caregivers (groups ranging from 5-20; minimum of 20 annually) on topics of interest (e.g., cyberbullying). This results in a minimum of 104 participants per year. Activities will be staffed by approximately 5 team members per state (minimum 10 annually) from Extension (OH/VA) and Fairhill Partners (OH). Though new cohorts of teen and older adult mentors will be formed 1-2 times annually, participants may join programming for multiple years (teens become ineligible as participants when they turn 20Uniform program and curriculum content BRIDGE2Health curricula will include accessible, culturally relevant opportunities. Activities will be hands-on, interactive, empowering, and incorporate participants' interests and histories Program content will be informed by a common curriculum, such as Teen Leadership 20 and Youth Engaged in Learning about Leadership (YELL). During intergenerational programming, teen and older adult mentors will work in pairs or small groups discussing topics and practicing skills critical to life success, such as personal finance management and self-efficacy making healthy choices. Team members will guide activities to support interaction between intergenerational partners. Technology will be incorporated, including mobile applications that facilitate learning and skill development (e.g., tracking electronic purchases or identifying depressive symptoms).Standardized training and technical assistance plans Training for team members will reflect the selected curriculum and intergenerational best practices. Team leaders possess expertise to train support staff and teen and older adult participants. An eXtension course on intergenerational best practices developed by the team guides learners through content and exercises to: (1) assess needs and talents of teens and older adults, (2) plan for healthy partnerships among leaders, and (3) use proven strategies to support positive intergenerational relationships.21 Using a train-the trainer model, team members completing the eXtension course will be able to teach participants practices relevant to their work. The Technology Consultant will provide training and technical expertise to recommend and support technology acquisition and document programming with mixed technology. Finally, team members will have opportunities for professional development besides BRIDGE2Health activities, such as the CYFAR workshop, Generations United's conference, and the National 4-H conference.

Progress 08/25/22 to 08/24/23

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for this project includes teens aged between 14 and 19 years attending high school and older adult community members 50 years or older at one site each in both Columbus, Ohio and Amherst, Virginia. During the September 2022-August 2023 reporting period, BRIDGE2Health programming launched. Using data gathered in Year 1 listening sessions with intended participants, the BRIDGE2Health (B2H) team Cooperative recruited participants, educated them about the B2H program, enrolled interested participants, and led twice monthly programming sessions to support life skills and resilience among youth and adult mentors. The programming sites were chosen to serve racially and socioeconomically diverse participants. Approximately half of the potential teen participants are foster children or are being raised and living with grandparents. The Cuyahoga site is in an urban area, while the Amherst site is in a semi-urban area. Cuyahoga County enrolled 27 participants (12 teens and 15 adults), while Amherst County enrolled 13 participants (8 teens and 5 adults). In both states, the mean age of the teens was 15.5 years. The Ohio adult mentors were 70 years of age, on average, compared to a mean age of 64 years among Virginia adult mentors. Ohio participants all identified as Black or African American (30% Hispanic/Latino), while Virginia participants all identified as non-Hispanic, White. All sites are in areas that lack needed resources related to life skill development and resilience. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? 1. Five BRIDGE2Health team members completed the intergenerational program training in Year 2 provided by The Ohio State University "Intergenerational Programs: Evidence in Practice." 2. Six team members attended the CYFAR Professional Development Event in Phoenix, Arizona in May 2023. 3. Two team members attended the Gerontological Society's Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2022. 4. One team member (Tanner) completed Mental Health First Aid training in 2023. 5. CITI training was completed by Fallcreek, McGee, Shahi, Button, and Owen for Responsible Conduct of Research and Human Subjects Research. 6. One BRIDGE2HEALTH team member attended the R2 Resilience expert training (February-March 2023). 7. Two members will have attended the Generations United Biennial Global Conference on intergenerational relationships in July 2023. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? An infographic was created to represent baseline survey data (see provided file). An infographic representing pre-post results for the first year of programming is being developed during summer 2023. An annual report designed for project stakeholders will be created in July 2023 and disseminated in August 2023 via the project website and social media accounts. BRIDGE2Health prepared/posted 4-8 monthly messages at its Facebook and Instagram pages in Year 2. Posts celebrated intergenerational connections by: sharing B2H events, holidays, accomplishments of B2H team members, and work by other organizations dedicated to intergenerational programs. Communities of interest include research and practice audiences. Team members have presented on B2H within invited presentations and publications, including the Alzheimer's Association summit on modifiable risk factors of Alzheimer's and Related Dementias in Atlanta, Georgia (May 2023) and book chapters to be published on anti-ageist, anti-racist models for intergenerational programming (Gonzales & Jarrott, forthcoming).? What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During Year 3: BRIDGE2Health programming will recruit participants from some additional settings to increase and diversity participants. For example, in Virginia staff will recruit at area churches and attend high school back to school events to recruit a larger cohort of teen and adult mentors. In Ohio, a need to recruit male mentors was identified, which will impact some recruitment efforts. Based on staff focus group data, programming will begin with 1-2 sessions of single generation orientations and training (e.g., teens only) to increase comfort among participants and enhance preparedness for interacting with mentors from another age group in a manner that reflects evidence-based practices. Intergenerational programming will initiate after these training and community-building sessions (i.e., October) during Year 3. Shared BRIDGE2Health programming will commence following orientations and baseline survey. Programming is anticipated to occur twice monthly for 90-120 minutes per session. Scheduling programming to meet teen and adult schedules and needs (e.g., adult mentors' preference not to drive at night) may result in changes to scheduling, e.g., fewer sessions for longer periods that take place during the day on a weekend. Programming will be scheduled throughout the school year. The B2H team will explore the creation of a 4-H club as a second site in each state, pending potential participant interest and administrative support within the Cuyahoga County and Amherst County Extension offices. Program impact and stakeholder experience will be assessed using quantitative and qualitative measures to inform the effectiveness of intergenerational mentoring and to evaluate the benefits of intergenerational strategies to an adapted 4-H curriculum. Annual focus groups will provide insight as to how BRIDGE2Health programming in Year 4 should continues to adapt. B2H team members are exploring the creation of Extension curriculum that supports intergenerational relationship building and can be used to support professionals who want to adapt single generation curriculum for intergenerational delivery.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Short-term goals 1. Through a CBPR approach, community stakeholders, site staff and possible participants will regularly communicate towards sustainable programs and program evaluation. Starting in August 2022, Building Relationships Intergenerationally through Guided Mentoring (BRIDGE2Health) acted on plans developed in the planning year utilizing the community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Feedback from adults and teens guided us to incorporate into a programming framework the GEM (Get Experience in Mindfulness) curriculum and other Extension curricula, such as money management and preparing nutritious meals. Focus groups were conducted in May-June 2023 with participants and staff for continued communication towards improved and sustainable programming. A webmaster and communications intern have supported the launch of the project's website and social media accounts with scheduled posts shared weekly to keep community stakeholders and possible participants aware of programming. 2. Participating teens and older adults will build life skills by engaging in peer and intergenerational mentoring coordinated by Extension and community partners in the two communities. In this first B2H cohort (2022-2023), teen mentors demonstrated significant improvements in thought process, communication, and problem-solving skills. For adult mentors, there were significant improvements in decision-making and thought process skills. Overall, the pilot year of programming indicates improvements in various life skills among both adults and teenagers, with some variations in specific skill areas and no significant differences observed between the program sites (Ohio and Virginia). Teens' self-efficacy mean scores increased post-programming at both sites, indicating that the program might be boosting the self-efficacy of teens. 3. Participating teens will build resilience by engaging in peer and intergenerational mentoring coordinated by Extension and community partners in the two communities. Resilience is indicated in the short-term and long-term goals. Teens and adults in Cohort 1 (2022-2023) were highly resilient prior to programming. There was no significant change in participants' resiliency between pre and post evaluation. 4. The overall impact of the experience will result in positive youth development Youth development was measured with the 4H Developmental Relationships scale.In the survey, teens had a median score of 6.13 on the Caring Adults measure and a score of 7 on the Youth-Adult Partnership Scale (YAPS). These scores reflect very high youth development levels. 5. Reports on social support will increase for participants from both age groups. During the pilot year of programming, Cohort 1 teens showed increased prosocial orientation, social competence, and connection with others.Adults had a slight increase in social support after program participation. 6. Staff will adapt curriculum to align with intergenerational practices Staff completed intergenerational training and worked to adapt the Gaining Experience with Mindfulness (GEM) curriculum for an intergenerational audience during the pilot year of programming (2022-2023). Based on findings from focus groups with participants and staff during the first year of programming, staff are adapting curriculum for Cohort 2 to be more aligned with intergenerational practices. 7. Participation in programming will meet older adults' desires for generativity The analysis of the Generativity scores for older adults in our program indicated a high level of generative desire and achievement prior to programming. Post-programming scores did not significantly differ. 8. Short term results in support of the desired long-term outcomes includes consistent and frequent engagement of teens and older adults The first year of programming included 10 sessions at each B2H site. On average, teens attended 8 of the 10 sessions while adults attended 9 of the 10 sessions. Using the CYFAR engagement measure (with possible scores ranging from 8-32 with higher scores indicating higher engagement), B2H participants in Cohort 1 indicated engagement with the program (teens mean score=25; adults mean score=29). As this was the first year of programming, the findings are focused on short-term objectives. We anticipate reporting findings related to long-term objectives in future reports.

Publications


    Progress 08/25/21 to 08/24/22

    Outputs
    Target Audience: The target audience for this project includes teens aged between 14 and 19 years attending high school and older adult community members 50 years or older who are partnered with 4-H program sites in both Columbus, Ohio and Amherst, Virginia. During the September 2021-August 2022 reporting period, an introduction to BRIDGE2Health involved partnered Cooperative Extension professionals describing the goals of the BRIDGE2Health project and distributing a project overview flyer to interested community partners and asking community partners and potential participants (teens and older adults involved in programming at partnered sites and 4-H programming) to participate in listening sessions during Year 1 of the project. In total, 7 listening sessions were completed (3 in Ohio and 4 in Virginia). The number of listening session participants ranged between 26 and 34 individuals in Ohio and between 2 and 11 individuals in Virginia. A final listening session will be completed in Virginia in August 2022. Listening session data were used to inform the curriculum that will first be adapted for intergenerational mentoring and implemented at program sites using a community-based participatory research approach. Within the second year of the BRIDGE2Health project, the Get Experience in Mindfulness (GEM) curriculum will be used to promote and support mindfulness among youth and older adult participants who identified needs related to mental health in both states. The programming sites were chosen to serve racially and socioeconomically diverse participants. Approximately half of the potential teen participants are foster children or are being raised and living with grandparents. The Columbus sites are in an urban area, while the Amherst sites are in a semi-urban area. All sites are in areas that lack needed resources related to life skill development and resilience. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Ten BRIDGE2Health team members will have completed GEM training provided by the GEM developers and continuing education on intergenerational practice provided by The Ohio State University "Intergenerational Programs: Evidence in Practice" by the end of August 2022. Training provided by BRIDGE2Health will commend in Year 2 of the grant. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Themes that emerged from the listening sessions conducted in Ohio and Virginia were shared with partner representatives in May 2022 during a Zoom listening session debrief call. Team members were encouraged to communicate these outcomes with participants who attended listening sessions to promote member checking and following a CBPR approach. These communications work to continue building trust with community members interested in the project and who may participate in programming during Year 2. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During Year 2: BRIDGE2Health programming will first consist of a small number of single generation programming sessions (e.g., teens only) to increase comfort and cohesion among participants. Intergenerational programming will initiate after these training and community-building sessions (i.e., September) during Year 2. BRIDGE2Health programming will be assessed using quantitative and qualitative measures to inform the effectiveness of intergenerational mentoring and to evaluate the benefits of intergenerational strategies to an adapted 4-H curriculum. Annual focus groups will provide insight as to whether BRIDGE2Health programming in Year 3 continues to adapt and implement the GEM curriculum or if another need is discussed that informs the selection of another 4-H approved curriculum.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? During this planning year, the research team stayed in continuous contact with team members including Cooperative Extension professionals and site partners via formal (e.g., email and Zoom meetings) and informal (e.g., text, phone calls, and in-person meetings) communications. A total of 7 listening sessions with staff, administrators, and potential participants (teens and older adults at participating program sites) in both Ohio and Virginia between the months of March and July of 2022 were conducted. The listening sessions focused on needs and assets using listening session guides that were guided by the CBPR model (Wallerstein et al., 2020). Listening session themes were presented to the BRIDGE2Health team during a Zoom meeting held on May 25th of 2022 in order to conduct a member check, gather additional information, and use the data to choose an appropriate curriculum to adapt for implementation in both Ohio and Virginia. Representatives including Cooperative Extension professionals and site partners attended the meeting. BRIDGE2Health team members are working towards accomplishing the short-term goals of building life skills and resilience and support youth development among program participants after deciding to first adapt and implement the GEM curriculum to promote mindfulness by integrating intergenerational strategies and evidence-informed ice breakers within the programming schedule. During the coach visit to the Virginia site, site team members discussed adoption of 4-H curriculum and data collection strategies to launch in Year 2.

    Publications