Formal and Informal Mentoring for Youth with Mental Health Needs: A Scoping Review

Background and Purpose: Mentoring holds promise for ameliorating negative psychosocial outcomes for youth with mental health challenges. Although promising, the field is in its infancy. The field also remains silent on the evidence-based program elements needed to implement and sustain these specialized programs. This review examined research on mentoring for youth up to 18 with mental health challenges.  The study asked four research questions: 1) What is the documented effectiveness of mentoring for youth with mental health challenges (YMHC)?; 2) What factors condition or shape the effectiveness of mentoring for YMHC?; 3) What are the intervening processes, that are most important in linking mentoring to outcomes for YMHC?; and, 4) To what extent have efforts to provide mentoring to YMHC reached and engaged targeted youth, been implemented with high quality, and been adopted and sustained by host organizations and settings?

Methods: A systematic search was conducted to find peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and grey literature for the review. The inclusion criteria were a) children up to age 18, b) those with an indicated mental health need, and, c) data answering one of the questions listed above. Investigators used PsyInfo, Medline, Social Work Abstracts, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, ERIC, Ebasco and Social Sciences Citation Index search engines to locate articles with a set of keywords (e.g., youth, adolescents, mentoring, mental illness). Thirty-two articles were found through the systematic search. After reviewing abstracts, seven articles were excluded for not meeting specified inclusion criteria. Two investigators reviewed and tabled results. Results were compared to enhance reliability of results.

Findings: The review found a total of 25 studies addressing these questions, with the bulk of the studies focused on youth under age 12 and, in the case of formal mentoring programs, a relatively small group of programs. Available research offered support for mentoring program effectiveness, particularly for mental health and academic outcomes, with less evidence supporting social and life functioning outcomes. There is some evidence that formal mentoring programs (versus natural mentoring) may have more of a positive impact for YMHC.  Available research suggests gender and severity of symptoms may moderate the relationship between mentoring and health and functioning outcomes, with females and those with more severe symptoms receiving greater benefits than boys and those with fewer symptoms. Decrease in stress levels of caregiver emerged as a potential mediator, or pathway to improve youth outcomes for youth with mental health challenges.

Conclusion: Two practice and service innovations that look promising is providing mentorship to help youth and their families engage more deeply or effectively with needed mental health services. Additionally, providing mentoring to help reduce the stigma of a mental health challenge, while also getting youth to embrace the challenge of recovery. In meeting needs of youth with mental health challenges mentoring programs should consider the concepts of caring, emotional closeness, consistency and availability of programs’ mentors to meet the needs for youth with mental health challenges.