Youth formerly in state custody (foster care or the juvenile justice system) received customized case management that included weekly meetings with a transitional living specialist who used motivational interviewing and provided trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy services as needed. Participants also received soft-skills training, supportive services, and other services to encourage independent living, education, and work. About half of participants received services for the intended intervention period of nine months. Participants were youth ages 18 to 24; had been in state custody through the child protection or juvenile justice systems at the age of 17 or for 1 year after the age of 14; did not have histories of severe violence, mental health problems, drug use, or developmental delays; and were deemed capable of living independently with support. YVLifeSet was evaluated in Tennessee.
- 0.12,1.00
- -0.05,1.00
Summary
YVLifeSet served youth formerly in state custody and aimed to provide case management services and training to improve outcomes in employment, earnings, education, housing, justice involvement, health, and benefit receipt.
Effectiveness rating and effect by outcome domain
Need more context or definitions for the Outcome Domain table below?
View the "Table help" to get more insight into terms, measures, and definitions.
Scroll to the right to view the rest of the table columns
Outcome domain | Term | Effectiveness rating | Effect in 2018 dollars and percentages | Effect in standard deviations | Sample size |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Increase earnings | Short-term | ![]() |
![]() |
0.075 | 1322 |
Long-term | ![]() |
![]() |
0.026 | 1322 | |
Very long-term | ![]() |
||||
Increase employment | Short-term | ![]() |
![]() |
0.101 | 1322 |
Long-term | ![]() |
![]() |
0.076 | 1322 | |
Very long-term | ![]() |
||||
Decrease benefit receipt | Short-term | ![]() |
![]() |
0.050 | 1114 |
Long-term | ![]() |
||||
Very long-term | ![]() |
||||
Increase education and training | All measurement periods | ![]() |
![]() |
0.064 | 1114 |
Studies of this intervention
Study quality rating | Study counts per rating |
---|---|
![]() |
1 |
Implementation details
Dates covered by study
The study enrolled participants between October 2010 and October 2012. The study examined participant impacts two years after random assignment. The YVLifeSet intervention was first implemented in 1999 and is in operation as of 2021.
Organizations implementing intervention
Youth Villages, which operated the YVLifeSet intervention, is a nonprofit social services provider headquartered in Memphis, TN, that has served at-risk and disadvantaged youth since 1986. At the time the intervention was evaluated, Youth Villages operated several other residential and community-based programs that served 20,000 youth each year across 12 states and the District of Columbia. Youth Villages provided other services such as foster care placements, adoptions, and mentoring; operated a Tennessee crisis hotline; and ran residential facilities for youth with behavioral and emotional problems. The YVLifeSet intervention took place at 13 offices across Tennessee, which served all counties in the state.
Populations served
The YVLifeSet intervention served young adults ages 18 to 24 in Tennessee who had previously been in the custody of the state for at least 1 year after age 14 or for at least 1 day after age 17. The intervention defined “custody” as either through the child protection system or the juvenile justice system.
The majority of study members were age 18 (71 percent) or 19 (19 percent). There were slightly more male participants (52 percent) than female (48 percent). Most study participants identified as White, not Hispanic (51 percent), or Black or African American, not Hispanic (37 percent). The employment rate at baseline for study participants was 19 percent. At baseline, about 40 percent were in high school, and 17 percent were not in high school and did not have a high school diploma or GED. Sixty-one percent were ever in foster care, and 52 percent had prior involvement with the juvenile justice system at baseline.
Most study sample members enrolled came from a list provided by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services that included all individuals in state custody age 17 or older. Youth Villages also recruited participants from broad marketing efforts to other organizations serving similar youth populations, word-of-mouth, and outreach to youth who had participated in other Youth Villages services.
Description of services implemented
The YVLifeSet intervention provided case management, support, and counseling services that were intensive, customized, and clinically focused to foster care and justice-involved youth. Services addressed challenges youth faced transitioning from adolescence to adulthood related to employment, housing, education, financial literacy, and mental health.
- Case management. YVLifeSet assigned a case manager called a transitional living (TL) specialist to each participant. The TL specialist served up to eight individuals at any time. Upon enrollment, participants worked with their TL specialist to complete assessments and develop an individual treatment plan addressing participant-specific barriers and goals. The Youth Villages Treatment Manual provided the basis for the service strategies the TL specialist outlined in the individual treatment plan. TL specialists also administered several psychosocial assessments to obtain a holistic picture of participants’ lives, including problem and treatment history, substance use, legal issues, and mental health. YVLifeSet’s clinical consultants and supervisors reviewed the individual treatment plans the TL specialists developed. This served as a quality control check on the treatment plan developed by the TL specialist and also an opportunity to identify the most appropriate treatment strategies for participants. The clinical consultants and supervisors were also actively involved in discharging participants who were meeting their goals and in a stable life situation.
- Life-skills training. Services provided included evidence-based activities from the Youth Villages Treatment Manual. The services detailed in the manual for TL specialists and provided to participants included life-skills training, individual counseling, and activities like finding an apartment and setting up a bank account. The services covered six primary domains: education, employment, housing and economic well-being, social support, health and safety, and criminal involvement.
- Supportive services. YVLifeSet also provided TL specialists with flexible funding to support participant financial and material needs and expenses. This flexible funding paid for clothes for job interviews, application fees for apartments, or transportation assistance.
Most services occurred during weekly one-hour sessions with the TL specialist and varied based on the needs and goals outlined in the individual treatment plan. YVLifeSet participants also received other services either directly from the intervention or from referrals to other agency resources. This included TL specialists referring individuals to GED classes or housing assistance resources. The intervention also provided, and participants were encouraged to attend, monthly group activities to build connections with other participants. YVLifeSet also made educational and vocational coordinators available to participants interested in postsecondary education, vocational training, and employment. The exact mix of services an individual received depended on the specific needs identified in the individual treatment plan and the young person’s overall goals.
The YVLifeSet study authors noted that the program was implemented mostly in line with the intervention model, with about half of participants receiving the expected amount of services (nine months) and two-thirds participating for at least five months. Study authors noted that although there was a specified structure for the intervention based on the Youth Villages Treatment Manual, TL specialists had significant flexibility in customizing the suite of services to individual participant needs and goals.
Service intensity
YVLifeSet expected participants to receive services for one hour per week over a nine-month period. Almost all YVLifeSet participants (99 percent) received at least 1 type of service from the intervention, and 95 percent had at least 1 session with their TL specialist. On average, YVLifeSet participants met with their TL specialist 26 times for 75 minutes each, over the 12 months after enrollment. About two-thirds of participants engaged in the intervention for five months, and about half participated for at least nine months. Study authors noted that about 38 percent of participants received financial supports averaging $384 per participant. During the one-year follow-up survey, about 41 percent had successfully completed the program, and 27 percent were still enrolled.
Comparison conditions
Participants randomly assigned into the comparison group could not receive YVLifeSet services but were provided with a list of other resources in the community.
Partnerships
The primary partner for YVLifeSet was the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, which provided some funding and referrals of potentially eligible youth. TL specialists made referrals to other services in the community such as food banks.
Staffing
Staff involved in the delivery and operation of the YVLifeSet intervention included TL specialists, clinical consultants, clinical supervisors, regional managers, regional supervisors, regional directors, and educational and vocational coordinators. The study authors did not include information on the number of staff or their training, degrees, or certifications.
Fidelity measures
The study did not discuss any tools to measure fidelity to the intervention model.
Funding source
The funding for YVLifeSet came from a mix of public and private funding sources. In the study period, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services provided one-third of the funding, and foundation and philanthropic support, including a grant from the Day Foundation, funded the remaining two-thirds of intervention expenses.
Cost information
The average cost per participant was $11,825 in 2018 dollars.
This figure is based on cost information reported by authors of the study or studies the Pathways Clearinghouse reviewed for this intervention. The Pathways Clearinghouse converted that information to a single amount expressed in 2018 dollars; for details, see the FAQ. Where there are multiple studies of an intervention rated high or moderate quality, the Pathways Clearinghouse computed the average of costs reported across those studies.
Cost information is not directly comparable across interventions due to differences in the categories of costs reported and the amount of time interventions lasted. Cost information is not an official price tag or guarantee.
The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.