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Washington State Institute for Public Policy
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Great Life Mentoring (formerly 4Results Mentoring)

Children's Mental Health: Other
  Literature review updated November 2018.
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Great Life Mentoring (formerly 4Results Mentoring) is a mentoring program for youth receiving outpatient mental health care for a range of diagnoses. Youth are referred to the program by their therapist as part of their treatment program. Volunteer mentors meet with youth for 2-3 hours per week for at least one year. Mentoring goals are to promote stability and reduce social isolation for youth and to reinforce behaviors and strategies learned in therapy. In the study included in this analysis, youth were 7 to 18 years old and had a range of diagnoses including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, conduct disorders, trauma, and others. On average, participants remained in their mentoring relationship for three years.
 
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META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic in order to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the types of program impacts that were measured in the research literature (for example, crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information.

Adjusted effect sizes are used to calculate the benefits from our benefit cost model. WSIPP may adjust effect sizes based on methodological characteristics of the study. For example, we may adjust effect sizes when a study has a weak research design or when the program developer is involved in the research. The magnitude of these adjustments varies depending on the topic area.

WSIPP may also adjust the second ES measurement. Research shows the magnitude of some effect sizes decrease over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. We also report the unadjusted effect size to show the effect sizes before any adjustments have been made. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Adjusted effect size(ES) and standard error(SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Global functioning
How well individuals (typically those who are developmentally disabled or seriously mentally ill) have adapted to activities of daily living.
 9 1 66 0.606 0.178 10 0.606 0.001

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

DuBois, D.L., Herrera, C., & Higley, E. (2018). Investigation of the reach and effectiveness of a mentoring program for youth receiving outpatient mental health services. Children and Youth Services Review, 91, 85-93.