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Developing Implementation and Fidelity Monitoring Tools for the Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT) Program

Dates: 9/1/2020-8/31/2023
Funder: National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR)
Project Number: 90IFDV0014
Funding: $598,632
PI: Kathryn Sabella, PhD

Description: This project develops, tests, and refines standardized implementation products for the Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition (BRYT), an innovative program that supports high school students returning from an extended absence due to mental health crises. Most schools are ill-prepared to adequately support students’ unique clinical, social, and academic needs during this transition. The BRYT program provides integrated and individualized supports for these students and their families. A preliminary evaluation of BRYT showed positive outcomes as a result of BRYT participation and BRYT’s implementation in over 100 high schools to date establishes it as a feasible intervention. However, BRYT currently lacks the specific and standardized tools required to implement and evaluate BRYT in a future fully powered randomized control trial. This project produces a BRYT intervention logic model and a BRYT implementation package including includes a BRYT manual, a BRYT training and technical assistance plan, and fidelity measures and protocols. Development activities include:

  1. Focus groups and interviews with BRYT stakeholders to finalize the BRYT logic model
  2. Partnering with BRYT stakeholders to develop the BRYT implementation package
  3. Piloting and iteratively refining the implementation package with active feedback from BRYT stakeholders.

Project outcomes foster the establishment of the proof of concept of the BRYT intervention (i.e., BRYT logic model) and the proof of concept and proof of product of the BRYT implementation package. This project is a collaboration of the Brookline Center and the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research, Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center (iSPARC) at the UMass Chan Medical School.


Expanding the Reach of bryt, an Innovative Model to Support Students who have Experienced a Mental Health Disruption

Sabella, K., and Hyry-Dermith, P. Expanding the Reach of bryt, an Innovative Model to Support Students who have Experienced a Mental Health Disruption. Presented at the 2023 Annual Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Research Centers of Excellence Virtual Conference, Stories of Hope: Real World Change through Mental Health Research. May 1, 2023.

Using principles of implementation science and user-centered design in the development of a promising school-based mental health intervention

Sabella, K., and Hyry-Dermith, P. (2023). Using principles of implementation science and user-centered design in the development of a promising school-based mental health intervention. Presented at NARRTC conference, Washington, DC. April 2023. Presentation Slides