Skip to content

Strengthening Community Mental Health

Reducing Disparities in Disaster-Related Mental Health Burden: Adaptation of a Multi-level Intervention to Build Community-based Response Capacity

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06093737
Acronym
COPE
Enrollment
300
Registered
2023-10-23
Start date
2023-03-25
Completion date
2025-06-30
Last updated
2023-10-23

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Anxiety, Coping, Depression, Emotional Wellbeing, Mental Health, Perceived Social Support, Perceived Stress, Stress

Keywords

mental health, community-based participatory research, emotional wellbeing, perceived stress

Brief summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the impact of the Communities Organizing for Power through Empathy (COPE) intervention in adults in communities having recently experienced or at risk of experiencing disaster. The main questions it aims to answer are: * How does the COPE intervention affect individual mental health? * How does the COPE intervention affect protective factors like coping and social support? * How does the COPE intervention affect community resilience? * How does delivery of the COPE intervention in partnership with a broad-based organization affect participant recruitment and retention, as well as outcomes? Participants will participate in the three session COPE intervention. Researchers will compare individuals who participate in the COPE intervention to individuals who participate in house meetings to see if the COPE intervention improves mental health, coping, social support and community resilience. Researchers will also examine factors that affect implementation and intervention delivery.

Detailed description

This Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) study will follow a multiphase mixed-methods design to adapt, deliver, and assess the efficacy of the Communities Organizing for Power through Empathy (COPE) intervention model. We will partner with a broad-based community organization, Together Baton Rouge, to adapt the intervention model to fit the context of East Baton Rouge Parish (EBRP) and deliver it to members of religious and non-profit institutions. The objectives of the multi-level COPE intervention model are twofold: (1) reduce psychological distress and amplify protective factors among individuals and communities at risk of experiencing disasters; and (2) build individual and community psychological support response capacity. The intervention will be delivered by trained Community Facilitators (CFs) at community institutions (i.e., churches) to their institutional members. We will conduct a stepped wedge cluster randomized controlled trial (SWCRCT) to examine the impact of the COPE intervention. Measures of mental health, coping, social support and community resilience will be assessed at four timepoints (see timeline for data collection timepoints). We will conduct interviews and group reflections with CFs and participants to gain insight into their experiences with the intervention.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALCOPE: Communities Organizing for Power through Empathy

A three session brief group psychoeducational intervention. Session 1 is 4 hours, Session 2 and 3 are 1.5 hours. It is delivered in groups of 8-15 people with sessions spaced 1 month apart.

Sponsors

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
CollaboratorUNKNOWN
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
CollaboratorOTHER
Louisiana State University and A&M College
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Individuals 18 years of age or older who are staff or members of an organization that is part of Together Baton Rouge and who participate in the intervention or are/were involved in the adaptation or implementation of the brief intervention in any capacity

Exclusion criteria

* Persons who are not 18 years of age or older and persons who are not staff or members of an organization that is part of Together Baton Rouge and/or not involved with the intervention

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in community resilience from baselineT1 (pre-intervention), T2 (1 month post-intervention), T3 (2 months post-intervention), T4 (3 months post-intervention)Measured using the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART), a 21-item measure of community resilience items across 4 interrelated domains that both reflect and contribute to community resilience: (1) Connection and Caring; (2) Resources; (3) Transformative Potential; and (4) Disaster Management.
Change in perceived stress from baselineT1 (pre-intervention), T2 (1 month post-intervention), T3 (2 months post-intervention), T4 (3 months post-intervention)Measured using Perceived Stress Scale, a 10-item scale that measures the degree to which a person appraises situations in their life as stressful.
Change in depression symptoms from baselineT1 (pre-intervention), T2 (1 month post-intervention), T3 (2 months post-intervention), T4 (3 months post-intervention)Measured using The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), a set of three self-report scales designed to measure depression, anxiety and stress.
Change in anxiety symptoms from baselineT1 (pre-intervention), T2 (1 month post-intervention), T3 (2 months post-intervention), T4 (3 months post-intervention)Measured using The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), a set of three self-report scales designed to measure depression, anxiety and stress.
Change in stress symptoms from baselineT1 (pre-intervention), T2 (1 month post-intervention), T3 (2 months post-intervention), T4 (3 months post-intervention)Measured using The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS), a set of three self-report scales designed to measure depression, anxiety and stress.
Change in perceived social support from baselineT1 (pre-intervention), T2 (1 month post-intervention), T3 (2 months post-intervention), T4 (3 months post-intervention)Measured using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) is a 12 item scale, assessing perceived social support and connection.
Change in coping from baselineT1 (pre-intervention), T2 (1 month post-intervention), T3 (2 months post-intervention), T4 (3 months post-intervention)Measured using the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSES) short form, a 12-item measure of confidence in managing stressors.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Intervention acceptibilityAfter delivery of 3rd sessionMeasured using the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), a 4 item measure of agreement with intervention.
Intervention appropriatenessAfter delivery of 3rd sessionMeasured using the Appropriateness Measure (IAM), a 4 item measure of agreement with the appropriateness of the intervention.
Intervention feasibilityAfter delivery of 3rd sessionMeasured using the Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM), a 4 item measure of agreement with the feasibility of implementing the intervention.

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Focus groupsFrom date of first intervention delivery until 3 months post-date of delivery of final intervention sessionPeriodic reflections conducted with community facilitators.
Intervention fidelityAt each intervention session.Assessed via facilitator observation using a structured fidelity questionnaire/form.
InterviewsFrom date of first intervention delivery until 3 months post-date of delivery of final intervention sessionSemi-structured interviews about experience with participating in or facilitating the intervention

Countries

United States

Contacts

Primary ContactJennifer L Scott, PhD, LCSW
jenscott@lsu.edu225-578-0433
Backup ContactTara L Powell, PhD
tlpowell@illinois.edu217-300-0917

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026