Protocol for the Open Sky School: A Two-arm Clustered Randomized Controlled Trial to Test the Effectiveness of a Nature-based Intervention on Mental Health of Elementary School Children
试验速览
- 阶段
- 不适用
- 状态
- 尚未招募
- 入组人数
- 2,500
- 试验地点
- 1
- 主要终点
- Change from Baseline Child Mental Health at 3 months
研究概览
简要总结
The goal of this a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a nature-based intervention called Open Sky School to reduce mental health problems among elementary school children. More specifically a two-arm clustered randomized controlled trial will be conducted in elementary schools across Québec, Canada. Following informed consent by teachers, parents and students, schools will be randomly assigned 1:1 to the intervention or the control group with a total of 2500 6th grade students and 100 teachers expected to participate. The primary and secondary research questions are as follows.
The primary research question :
- Is the intervention effective in reducing mental health problems in children from pre-to-post test (Social Behavior Questionnaire: self and teacher reports) ?
The secondary research questions:
- Is the intervention effective in improving children's depression, positive and negative affect, nature connectedness. eco-anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors ?
- Is the intervention effective in improving teachers' well-being and affect ?
- Are the benefits to children sustained benefits at 3 months follow-up ?
- Is the primary question moderated by child's sex, child's disability status, the green space of neighbourhoods, the school's socio-economic position and teacher's experience wtih outdoor education ?
The intervention will take place outdoors in a green-space (2 hours per week for 12 weeks) and include a toolkit of 30 activities to foster well-being (e.g. mindfulness) and academic competencies (e.g. mathematics). The control group will engage in teaching-as-usual and will be provided with the activity toolkit after the trial has been conducted. Questionnaires will be administered to students before, immediately after and 3 months after the intervention in both the control and intervention groups. Teachers in both groups will complete questionnaires before and immediately after the intervention.
研究设计
- 研究类型
- Interventional
- 分配方式
- Randomized
- 干预模型
- Parallel
- 主要目的
- Prevention
- 盲法
- None
入排标准
- 性别
- All
- 接受健康志愿者
- 是
入选标准
- •for schools are: (a) access to a natural environment (e.g., park, wooden area) on school grounds or within 1 km of the school and (b) having 6th grade teachers provide informed and written consent to participate in this study. Inclusion criteria for children are (a) enrollment in 6th grade, (b) providing their assent and (c) having their parents or legal guardians provide informed written consent.
排除标准
- 未提供
研究组 & 干预措施
Intervention group
The exposure to nature consists of teachers bringing their students to the highest quality green space within 1 km of a school which could be located on or off campus. The class will spend a total of 2 hours (i.e. 2 one hour visits or one 2 hours visits) per week for 12 weeks (transportation included). The teacher be provided with a toolkit of activities (mental health and academic competencies) that they will carry out with their students. Teachers will be provided with training and support.
干预措施: Open Sky School program (Other)
Control
Six months after the inception of the trial, elementary schools (and their teachers) in the control condition will receive an unguided version of the intervention, supplemented by an online peer support group. As the children of the control group will by then be in high school with different teachers, we will provide them with a toolkit of 10 mental health activities that they can practice alone, in addition of support via video-conference, phone or email if they require help practicing the activities from a member of the research team. As in the intervention group, we will provide support by licensed psychologists to any children who report high levels of psychological distress and orient children to appropriate services if needed.
结局指标
主要结局
Change from Baseline Child Mental Health at 3 months
时间窗: Baseline, 3 months
The Social Behavior Questionnaire is a 30 items questionnaire that will be used to assess a range of mental health symptoms in children. The frequency of children's symptoms over the last 2 months is rated on a scale 3-point (never/not true = 0, sometimes/somewhat true = 1, often/very true = 2). Overall symptoms will be examined as outcomes, as well as internalizing symptoms (emotional distress and withdrawal; 11 items), externalizing symptoms (impulsive/hyperactive/inattentive and disruptive behaviors; 13 items), and social behaviors (pro-social behavior and peer relationships; 6 items). Ratings will be obtained by both child and teacher reports which will be analyzed separately.
次要结局
- Teacher's Enjoyment of Outdoor Education(3 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Mental Health at 6 months(Baseline, 6 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Connection with Nature at 3 Months(Baseline, 3 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Pro-environmental Behaviors at 3 Months(Baseline, 3 months)
- Change from Baseline Teacher Well-being at 3 Months(Baseline, 3 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Positive and Negative Affect at 3 months(Baseline, 3 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Positive and Negative Affect at 6 months(Baseline, 6 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Connection with Nature at 6 Months(Baseline, 6 months)
- Child's Appreciation of the Program(3 months)
- Green Space of Neighborhoods(Baseline)
- Disability Status of Children(Baseline)
- Child's Sex(Baseline)
- School's Level of Socio-economic Deprivation(Baseline)
- Change from Baseline Teacher Positive and Negative Affect at 3 Months(Baseline, 3 Months)
- Teacher's Qualifications and Experience(Baseline)
- Teacher's Experience Teaching Outdoors(Baseline)
- Change from Baseline Child Depressive symptoms at 3 months(Baseline, 3 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Depressive Symptoms at 6 months(Baseline, 6 months)
- Change from Baseline Child Pro-environmental Behaviors at 6 Months(Baseline, 6 months)