Written by: Meisi Li
The YAB Initiative is an advocacy program under the Technology and Adolescent Mental Wellbeing (TAM) program led by Dr. Megan Moreno to promote youth engagement and support researchers and clinicians. Dr. Moreno also leads the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team (SMAHRT) which is where TAM and the YAB Initiative originated. Currently, youth advisory boards from across the country with diverse research focuses have been funded by this initiative.
In addition to financial support, boards receive advice, collaboration, and contact with other community members through resources and updates. This article will describe the resources that have been provided to the YAB Initiative community and how they can better fulfill the purpose of the YAB Initiative.
The most important activity for every board is the recruitment and retention of youth board members. SMAHRT has drawn helpful tips from its past experience with the SMAHRT YAB and the TAM YAB, and has included these tips in the shared documentation for community members to reference.
In terms of recruitment, expressing a desire to connect with both youth and adult contacts is recommended. For example, boards can share relevant information on social media platforms commonly used by adolescents, or reach out to educational institutions, health care providers, and nonprofit organizations in the community. It is important in this process to build trust and reciprocity by clearly letting teens or their contacts know about the YAB’s learning goals and expectations for youth members, as well as the resources that YAB can provide to teens in return.
Regarding retention, board leaders are encouraged to brainstorm discussion topics that can pique the youth’s interest, as well as actively listen to the youth member’s needs and feedback. At the same time, researchers and clinicians can recognize that youth members bring new perspectives as they grow, so that they can clarify member of terms and prepare for possible retention challenges in conjunction with their board research priorities.
Once recruitment is complete, it is only the beginning of YAB activities. Building strong relationships, especially in the context of online interactions, is a challenge but is a necessary step to guarantee that each YAB activity will be optimally productive. Icebreaker questions and activities can be used at the beginning of a session to kick off a new YAB, or at the start of each meeting to allow youth members to relax and be more naturally engaged in subsequent discussions. Recently, the SMAHRT shared a document with icebreaker questions, games and their specific rules.
It is worth mentioning that the resources mentioned above for recruitment and retention or icebreaker suggestions are living documents for all community members. SMAHRT hopes to share this information collaboratively and is happy to learn more valuable lessons from different YABs.
In addition, SMAHRT will keep in touch with the YABs, updating and sharing the members’ recent activities through the quarterly YAB Initiative newsletter. Follow @SMAHRTeam for more information about the YAB Initiative community.