[WITHDRAWN] Democratizing the Process of Developing a Multi-Level Intervention to Detect Chronic Loneliness and Prevent Cannabis and Alcohol Misuse Among Recent Migrant Youth

Background and Purpose: Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, recent migrant youth experienced high levels of social isolation, discrimination, and economic exclusion. The available evidence suggests that these social exclusionary factors lead to chronic loneliness, defined as a long-lasting experience of loneliness and discontent with one’s social connections for approximately two years or more, which in turn might result in alcohol use and substance misuse as behavioral coping strategies. It is unclear how to best detect loneliness among migrant youth in organizational settings in close contact with migrant communities. Even after detection of chronic loneliness, it is unclear what organizational strategies work to mitigate the effects of loneliness for migrant youth. The democratization of implementation science is critical to community-based programming. The goal of this study was to develop an organizational capacity building intervention to detect chronic loneliness among 14 to 18-year old recent migrant youth. This presentation will describe the methodology used to develop an intervention in collaboration with health and human service providers in the New York metropolitan area.

Methods: Using Pinto and colleague’s (2009) collaborative board participatory methodology together with intervention mapping steps, the Preventing Social Isolation and Loneliness (PSIL) Working Group was established involving the research team and 10 providers from community-based organizations, including legal and school social work, with more than two years of working directly with migrant youth. The PSIL met from September 2021-March 2022, hosting a total of eight virtual meetings lasting 60-90 minutes each. After each meeting, reflective notes, meeting transcripts, and intervention development materials were prepared and discussed in subsequent meetings.

Results: The first three meetings of the PSIL were focused on brainstorming and developing an organizational framework for understanding chronic loneliness among migrant youth and effects on substance misuse. The PSIL model of chronic loneliness detection and social connectedness enhancement posits that for migrant youth there are several factors in their social environments that increase the risk of experiencing chronic loneliness. Other meetings focused on developing a multi-level intervention prototype to assist the adults (i.e., families, educators) involved in the social environments of migrant youth to prevent, address, and mitigate effects of loneliness. The intervention focuses on three environmental levels (i.e., school, family, health and human services organizations) and is based on strategies for the detection of chronic loneliness. Alcohol and cannabis misuse were two of the major intervention targets of the PSIL. The intervention views migrant youth’s families and organizations serving migrant communities as systems malleable to change to protect against chronic loneliness, identify youth at risk, and link them to timely mental health and social services.

Conclusions and Implications: Combining participatory methods with rigorous intervention design methods is a challenging, yet necessary task to further the health equity agenda in substance misuse and chronic loneliness prevention. Democratizing intervention development efforts requires major organizational restructuring from academic centers to human services agencies to build interorganizational collaborative time. Future intervention strategies should focus on implementing and building upon community assets to support migrant youth through the transition to adulthood.