Improving Mental Health in School-age Children Through the Kids' Empowerment Program (KEP)
- Conditions
- Child Mental Disorder
- Interventions
- Behavioral: The Kids' Empowerment Program
- Registration Number
- NCT06354907
- Lead Sponsor
- University of Michigan
- Brief Summary
Depression and anxiety are major challenges to American children's optimal mental health, with already high rates exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet help is beyond reach for many children who do not have access to care for reasons including a severely depleted cadre of professionally trained service providers, fear of stigma that goes along with a diagnosis, low access to clinics, and lack of insurance. Without help their problems will likely accelerate and become more deleterious to their development as adolescents and young adults. The current study aims to address the lack of care by providing a program in school classrooms that will reduce children's symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as enhance their emotion regulation and coping skills. The mental health and adjustment of two groups of children are compared and evaluated at twelve week intervals in this clinical trial - those who first participate in the Kids' Empowerment Program (KEP) and a comparison group that participates in the program after the second evaluation. Once proven to be successful, the ultimate goal of the project is to disseminate the program throughout the State of Michigan and beyond, thereby providing children with tools that will empower them to be successful in managing emotional challenges throughout their life.
- Detailed Description
The aim of this clinical trial is to conduct an evaluation of whether children who participate in the Kids' Empowerment Program (KEP) have fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety after 12 weeks relative to those in the comparison group.
Further, the investigator seeks to identify for whom the program is most helpful and elements of the program that contribute to success. The experimental condition consists of both those who experience the KEP in-person in their classroom (n = 60) and 60 in the comparison condition. Standardized measures assess children's mental health, coping, resilience, and emotion regulation before and after 12 weeks. Those in the comparison group receive the KEP program in their classroom after the second interview. Children are interviewed at school and parents complete an online survey.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 120
- Child age 6 to 12 years
- Parent consents to participate interviews and the program
- Parent agrees to two assessments
- Child age younger than 6 and older than 12
- Child with significant developmental or cognitive delays prohibiting program participation
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description The KEP Group The Kids' Empowerment Program Children in the KEP group will be interviewed before and after participation in the 12 weeks Kids' Empowerment Program in their classroom. Their parent will complete an online assessment via survey software before their child begins the program and again after 12 weeks.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Pre-intervention and 12 weeks later Parent reported and child self-rated aggression, peer problems, and pro social skills - 15 items (5 items each scale). Scoring ranges from 0 to 2. Minimum score for each scale is 0 and maximum score if 10. Higher scores indicate greater aggression, greater peer problems, and greater prosocial behavior.
Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale Pre-intervention and 12 weeks later Parent reported and child self-rated symptoms of child's anxiety and depression - 25 items, scored 0 to 3, with minimum score of 0 and highest score of 75. Higher scores indicate greater anxiety and depression.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Pre-intervention and 12 weeks later 36 items assessing 9 areas of emotion regulation: Self-blame, Other blame, Acceptance, Planning, Positive refocusing, Rumination, Positive reappraisal, Putting into perspective, and Catastrophizing. Each subscale consists of 4 items, scored 1 to 4, with a possible range of 4 to 16 for each subscale. Higher scores indicate greater use of that particular emotion regulation strategy.
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
University of Michigan
🇺🇸Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States