Multi-Site Cluster, Randomized Proof of Concept Trial to Study the Effects of the ACT OUT! Social Issue Theater Program on Social-Emotional Competence and Bullying in Youth and Adolescents

This study will be an assessment of the ACT OUT! Social Issue Theater program as a universal social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention targeting social-emotional competence (SEC) and bullying in elementary, middle, and high school students. ACT OUT! is an existing program that has been performed in various forms by professionally-trained members of an acting ensemble since 1995. The present iteration consists of three distinct scenarios per grade range (elementary, middle, and high) that present age-appropriate improvisational drama illustrating issues related to SEL and bullying, including facilitated discussion with the actors, who remain in character. The program lasts approximately one hour (scenario descriptions and a fidelity checklist for SEL/bullying elements will be made available as supplemental files).

SEL curricula typically consist of manualized and/or structured classroom or multicomponent programs taking place over time; the median number of sessions within an SEL program in a meta-analysis of 213 SEL studies was 24. At one hour in duration, ACT OUT! is substantially shorter and is performed by professional actors - meeting the goal of reduced school resource costs for SEL programming, but potentially raising concerns about whether such a dose could reasonably be expected to produce an effect. Underlying this study is a supposition that unique properties of a dramatic performance specifically may trigger SEL responses. In Aristotle's Poetics, which is the first known work on dramatic theory, it is written that a dramatic tragedy (in the Aristotelian sense) is designed to arouse certain feelings, "wherewith to accomplish catharsis of... emotions." This precise mechanism underlies the development of psychodrama as a psychotherapeutic intervention, as combined action and verbalization can present a situation "freed from the restricting stereotyped residues of past experience." Recent studies and meta-analyses have examined psychodrama as a means of prevention and/or behavior change with generally positive findings. Researchers have also found that youth report that they enjoy psychodramatic elements as part of a larger prevention curriculum. However, no studies have measured any outcomes of a psychodramatic SEL experience.

This will be the first study to examine whether a short dose of interactive psychodrama can affect SEC metrics and bullying experiences in schoolchildren. In responding to recent criticism of SEL studies, the investigators have chosen to utilize the SPIRIT 2013 clinical trial guidelines in developing this protocol to promote rigor, reproducibility, and transparency.