Evaluation of the building an understanding of self music mentoring program
This project consisted of a feasibility study, followed by a pilot trial, to measure the consistency of delivery of the intervention and to find out whether the intervention meets the needs of children and young people and reduces their contact with the criminal justice system.
The Building an Understanding of Self (B.U.S) programme is a music mentoring intervention that aims to reduce behavioural problems, improve well-being and self-esteem, and enhance personal relationships. In the long term, B.U.S intends to reduce involvement in violence and offending.
Delivered by the charity United Borders (UB), B.U.S is a 10-week intervention where young people make music in a specially adapted bus that features a recording studio. The bus is parked in neutral spaces in London and invites young people for two-hour weekly, 1:1 or group music production sessions, where they also receive mentoring support from a matched mentor. Mentors then offer the child and their families as-needed support beyond the sessions. This includes four additional sessions of 1:1 mentoring and Math and English tutoring, in addition to as-needed work with other professionals involved with the family. The sessions close with a graduation ceremony, where some children perform songs they have created.
Key components of the B.U.S sessions include encouraging young people to authentically express themselves in their music, working with other children from different postcodes during the sessions and exploring the trauma children have faced through songs. Children recruited are aged 10–17, live in London and have been identified by the police, children’s services, youth offending services, schools or alternative education providers as at high risk of involvement in violence. They may have been charged for an offence previously, been involved in violence or associated with children and young people who have high levels of disruptive behaviour or have been excluded from school.
Project aims
Project aims
YEF funded and published a feasibility study of B.U.S in 2023. It found B.U.S to be a feasible intervention ready to undergo further evaluation. YEF, therefore, funded a pilot trial of the programme published in 2024. This evaluation aimed to assess the feasibility of progressing to a full efficacy study, understand how the intervention was experienced, establish a feasible way to measure outcomes of interest, consider the possibility of unexpected outcomes and explore whether there is evidence of promise.
Our approach
Our approach
The pilot trial established an intervention group (that received B.U.S) and a control group. The control group received a lighter touch mentoring intervention, with six one-hour, 1:1 weekly mentoring sessions delivered by UB mentors (on the bus or in school). No wraparound support, graduation or music creation activities were provided to the control group. Eighty-three children and young people were involved in the pilot trial; 39 received B.U.S, 42 were randomly assigned to the control group and two withdrew consent after randomisation. The evaluation collected a range of quantitative and qualitative data, including case management data, demographic data, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD) questionnaire. Interviews were conducted with 16 participants, eight UB staff and seven representatives from referring organisations, in addition to observations of sessions.
Both intervention and control conditions were delivered with a high degree of fidelity. The pilot findings also confirm the findings of the previous feasibility study in highlighting the key mechanisms by which we might expect B.U.S to have an impact. These include the creative nature of the programme, the neutral space where the programme occurs, meeting children ‘where they are’ to work with the needs and individual issues they have, and taking a trauma-informed approach.
Project team
Project team
- Professor Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay (PI)
- Dr Emily Evans
- Professor Caroline Bradbury-Jones
- Professor Paul Montgomery
- Professor Anindya Banerjee
- Dr Ioannis Karavias (Brunel University)
- Lorraine Khan (external)
- Professor Eddie Kane (University of Nottingham)
- Dr Mel Jordan (University of Nottingham)