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Mental HealthVOCES-NUEVASNCT07041931

Empowering Newcomer Voices: A Trauma-Informed, Gender-Responsive Group Intervention in Schools (VOCES-NUEVAS)

An observational study of Mental Health, run by University of California, San Francisco at 1 site in United States.

Active, not recruiting

Under way, not looking for participants. Everyone needed has enrolled. The study is still running.

Official record
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Trial summary

The goal of this study is to see if VOCES-NUEVAS, a school-based program for newcomer girls from Latin America, is helpful and easy to use. The main questions the investigators want to answer are: Is VOCES-NUEVAS a good fit for newcomer girls in schools? Does it help improve their mental health and well-being?… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 12 years and older, women onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Mental Health
How many people
24 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
1 Mar 2025to Dec 2026
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 12 years and older
  • Women only
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Study population: Youth population: OUSD middle or high school students ages 12-18 years old that are interested in participating in the VOCES-NUEVAS group at an eligible OUSD/SBHC school site in Oakland, California. Provider population: OUSD Voices-LITE trained providers ages 18 years old or older, planning on running a VOCES-NUEVAS group at an eligible OUSD/SBHC school site in Oakland, California.

Who may be able to join

  • current students of an Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and/or School-based Health Center (SBHC) middle or high school site
  • Eligible and registered to participate in a VOCES NUEVAS group during the 2024-2025 or 2025-2026 school year
  • aged 18 years old or older
  • current social worker or school provider working at one of the eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or School-based Health Center middle or high school sites
  • Facilitating a VOCES NUEVAS group during the 2024-2025 or 2025-2026 school year
  • Eligible to deliver school services at OUSD school/school-based health center sites
  • Previously trained on Voices-LITE curriculum
  • proficient in English and Spanish

Who cannot join

  • Not proficient in Spanish
  • Unable to provide informed consent or assent
  • Does not meet eligibility criteria to participate in VOCES-NUEVAS intervention
  • Not enrolled as a middle or high school at an OUSD school/SBHC site.
  • Not proficient in Spanish and/or English language
  • Not previously trained on the Voices-LITE intervention
  • Not approved to deliver the VOCES-NUEVAS intervention to students at OUSD schools/SBHC sites
  • Not leading a VOCES-NUEVAS group at an OUSD school/SBHC site during the 2024-2025 school year.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • UCSF

    San Francisco, California, 94110

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Empowering Newcomer VOICES by Implementing and Evaluating a Trauma- Informed and Gender-responsive Group Intervention in School and School-based Health Center Sites

The goal of this study is to see if VOCES-NUEVAS, a school-based program for newcomer girls from Latin America, is helpful and easy to use. The main questions the investigators want to answer are:

  • Is VOCES-NUEVAS a good fit for newcomer girls in schools?
  • Does it help improve their mental health and well-being?

Students who are already part of the VOCES-NUEVAS program at four school-based health centers will take short surveys before and after the program and give feedback after each session. The adults leading the program will also share their thoughts in group discussions or interviews. The results will help improve the program and prepare for a larger study in the future.

Read the detailed description

The number of newcomer youth from Latin America entering the U.S. has surged recently, with border crossings reaching a 20-year high. These youth face mental and stress-related health challenges compared to their non-migrant peers, including higher trauma symptoms, substance use, and psychosocial issues. Culturally attuned, evidence-based interventions in trusted settings like schools and school-based health centers (SBHCs) could address these needs. VOICES-LITE, a gender and trauma-responsive intervention for adolescent female-identifying students, aligns well with these needs. After piloting VOICES-LITE in Spanish with newcomer youth, local partners found it feasible and acceptable. However, feedback indicated that further cultural adaptations are needed to better fit the specific context and population.

The investigators propose a hybrid effectiveness-implementation study to evaluate the culturally adapted intervention, VOCES-NUEVAS. This study will involve an open trial at four selected OUSD school/SBHC sites to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the intervention, providing insights for further refinement ahead of a future R01 trial. The four participating sites will be selected from OUSD/SBHC locations that serve newcomer students (see attached site list), based on the availability of providers who are facilitating the VOCES-NUEVAS group and have agreed to participate in the research. Providers who are already scheduled to implement the intervention with newcomer students at these sites will be recruited for the study.

The investigators will assess whether the culturally adapted VOCES-NUEVAS manual and implementation guide used in schools sufficiently address the needs of newcomer students and their supporting providers. Students participating in the intervention at these sites will be recruited to participate in the current study. They will be asked to complete pre- and post-intervention questionnaires and provide session-by-session feedback to further improve the intervention. Both participating providers and students will also be asked to participate in a focus group or exit interview to provide additional feedback.

Results from the study will be shared with community stakeholders and used in future research, including a future R01 randomized-controlled trial to assess VOCES-NUEVAS's impact on newcomer students' mental health, substance use, and long-term outcomes. This future trial will be a separate IRB application from the current study.

Conditions
Mental Health
Keywords
school-based care, mental wellness, identity development, group interventions
Medical subject headings
Psychological Well-Being

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

Study groups in NCT07041931
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
school 1The first of 8 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.
school 2The second of 4 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.
school 3The third of 4 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.
school 4The fourth of 4 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.
school 5The fifth of 8 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.
school 6The sixth of 8 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.
school 7The seventh of 8 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.
school 8The eighth of 8 eligible Oakland Unified School District and/or school-based health center school sites recruited for this project.

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Youth Session Feedback Forms

    Participants will complete this 8-question form immediately following completion of group session. Questions are related to overall impressions of the group, how useful the group was, and how connected they felt with other participants and facilitators, whether they would recommend the group to others, and then rating each session activity on a 5-point scale ("I loved it!" to "I didn't like it at all").

    Measured: Weekly for 8 weeks during the 8-week group intervention period

  2. Provider Session Feedback Forms

    Group providers will complete this 15-question form immediately following completion of group session. Questions are related to number of attendees, what activities were completed, impressions of group participant engagement and comprehension for each activity ("Excellent" to "Terrible"), and provider feedback on their most favorite part of group, least favorite, and parts of group that need modification.

    Measured: Weekly for 8 weeks during the 8-week group intervention period

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. Demographics

    Participants will complete this 13-question form once at baseline and again following the 8-week intervention period. The Demographic measure will ask the participants questions related to their background (e.g. age, country of origin, languages spoken), history of migration and settlement, educational background, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

    Measured: Twice, once at baseline and once after the 8-week intervention period

  2. CAGE Adapted to Include Drugs (CAGE-IAD)

    Participants will complete this 8-question form once at baseline and again following the 8-week intervention period. The CAGE-IAD measure will ask the participants questions related to concerning alcohol and drug usage. The questions utilize a "yes" or "no" format with one or more "yes's" indicating a possible substance use issue and 2 or more "yes's" indicating a likely substance use issue.

    Measured: Twice, once at baseline and once after the 8-week intervention period

  3. Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7)

    Participants will complete this 7-question form once at baseline and again following the 8-week intervention period. The GAD-7 measure will assess the severity of participants' anxiety. Questions are asked on a 5-point Likert scale ("Not at all" to "Nearly every day") with the answers summed to determine the severity of the participant's anxiety. Scores between 0-4 are considered minimal, 5-9 are considered mild, 10-14 are considered moderate, and 15-21 are considered severe.

    Measured: Twice, once at baseline and once after the 8-week intervention period

  4. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)

    Participants will complete this 9-question form once at baseline and again following the 8-week intervention period. The PHQ-9 measure will assess the severity of participants' depression. Questions are asked on a 5-point Likert scale ("Not at all" to "Nearly every day") with the answers summed to determine the severity of the participant's anxiety. Scores between 0-4 are considered minimal, 5-9 are considered mild, 10-14 are considered moderate, 15-21 are considered moderately severe, and 20-27 are considered severe.

    Measured: Twice, once at baseline and once after the 8-week intervention period

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted27 Jun 2025
  2. Study start1 Mar 2025
  3. Primary completionDec 2026 (estimated)
  4. Study completionDec 2026 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Case only
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
24 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT07041931
Sponsor's protocol ID
24-42289
Other IDs
7500252
Acronym
VOCES-NUEVAS
Status last verified
Apr 2026
First submitted
11 Jun 2025
Last updated
21 Apr 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
No: Our study involves a vulnerable population and sensitive topics, making privacy and confidentiality our top priority. To prevent potential re-identification and uphold participant trust, we are not sharing individual participant data (IPD). Our consent process assured strict confidentiality, and sharing even de-identified data could pose risks. However, we welcome inquiries about aggregated results and methodology.

Publications

  • Sidamon-Eristoff AE, Cohodes EM, Gee DG, Pena CJ. Trauma exposure and mental health outcomes among Central American and Mexican children held in immigration detention at the United States-Mexico border. Dev Psychobiol. 2022 Jan;64(1):e22227. doi: 10.1002/dev.22227.

    PubMed 35050507
  • Martinez-Donate AP, Verdecias N, Zhang X, Jesus Eduardo GF, Asadi-Gonzalez AA, Guendelman S, Amuedo-Dorantes C, Rangel G. Health Profile and Health Care Access of Mexican Migration Flows Traversing the Northern Border of Mexico. Med Care. 2020 May;58(5):474-482. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001300.

    PubMed 32028523
  • Almeida J, Johnson RM, Matsumoto A, Godette DC. Substance use, generation and time in the United States: the modifying role of gender for immigrant urban adolescents. Soc Sci Med. 2012 Dec;75(12):2069-75. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.05.016. Epub 2012 Jun 7.

    PubMed 22727651
  • Cleary SD, Snead R, Dietz-Chavez D, Rivera I, Edberg MC. Immigrant Trauma and Mental Health Outcomes Among Latino Youth. J Immigr Minor Health. 2018 Oct;20(5):1053-1059. doi: 10.1007/s10903-017-0673-6.

    PubMed 29139024
  • Betancourt TS, Newnham EA, Birman D, Lee R, Ellis BH, Layne CM. Comparing Trauma Exposure, Mental Health Needs, and Service Utilization Across Clinical Samples of Refugee, Immigrant, and U.S.-Origin Children. J Trauma Stress. 2017 Jun;30(3):209-218. doi: 10.1002/jts.22186. Epub 2017 Jun 6.

    PubMed 28585740
  • Bailey CA, Widener K. The nexus between immigration status, policy, and proceedings, and mental health. Curr Opin Psychol. 2022 Oct;47:101411. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101411. Epub 2022 Jul 3.

    PubMed 35914487

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Mental Health, run by University of California, San Francisco at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 8 inclusion and 8 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 21 Apr 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Youth Session Feedback Forms (time frame: Weekly for 8 weeks during the 8-week group intervention period). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT07041931, which also lists 6 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 21 Apr 2026.

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