Leaders@Play out-of-school time program: Community-academic collaboration to promote adolescent mental health.

The Leaders@Play program was refined through a two-phase iterative process involving community-academic partnership between University of Illinois Chicago researchers and Chicago Park District staff.

• Phase 1 involved refinement: adapting content and format from the original Leaders@Play program and developing a training system.
• Phase 2 consisted of an Open Trial exploring feasibility of the refined curriculum and impact on youth social skills and behavior.
• The program was co-facilitated by park and university staff, reflecting a community-academic partnership model.
• The out-of-school time setting was selected because OST program goals align with social-emotional skills common in evidence-based programs.

The refined Leaders@Play program demonstrated high feasibility in the open trial phase.

• Results revealed high feasibility of the refined curriculum when implemented in out-of-school time settings.
• The feasibility findings support the potential for sustainable implementation within dynamic community settings such as park districts.
• The open trial design was used to explore initial feasibility prior to more rigorous evaluation.

The Leaders@Play program showed potential support for impact on youth mental health outcomes among high-risk youth.

• The open trial explored program impact on youth social skills and behavior.
• Results provided potential support for program impact on youth mental health among high-risk youth.
• The program targeted mental health promotion through social-emotional skill development in an out-of-school time context.
• Implications for workforce development and program refinement were identified based on open trial findings.

Out-of-school time programs represent a natural setting for mental health promotion due to alignment between OST goals and social-emotional skills in evidence-based programs.

• OST program goals align with social-emotional skills commonly targeted in evidence-based mental health programs.
• The authors situate their work within a public health framework for addressing the continuing mental health crisis among U.S. children.
• Sustainable innovations that keep pace with dynamic community settings are described as requiring community-academic partnerships.