Meet Me on the Pitch (MMotP) is an innovative community-based intervention designed to improve the behavioral health, well-being and academic performance of youth (ages 14-21). The six-session intervention combines soccer-based activities with behavioral health education using the DNA-V model, a youth-focused adaptation of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). By training trusted community members, specifically soccer coaches, to deliver a tailored behavioral health intervention, MMotP addresses barriers to academic, health, and social services while fostering social-emotional development.
This study evaluates MMotP through a parallel randomized controlled trial. Youth participants will be randomized within their soccer teams to either the supplemental MMotP intervention or just standard sports programming. The study will assess changes in primary outcomes, including mental health (psychological flexibility and self-efficacy) and academic support-seeking behaviors, as well as secondary outcomes related to social connection, school engagement, and access to services. Youth will complete surveys at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months to measure these outcomes.
MMotP will be implemented by Soccer Without Borders in the San Francisco Bay Area and Colorado and evaluated by the University of California, San Francisco. This study is funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research.
