Promoting Social-emotional Development and Self-esteem in Primary School Students

Summary

This is an effectiveness study into a program ("HiRO") for improving social-emotional development, self esteem and the perceived classroom peer context in primary school students (aged 4-13 years). To this end, schools are divided into three conditions based on the choice of the schools (non-randomized): 1) School As Usual, 2) HiRo without judo classes, and 3) HiRO with judo classes. In all participating schools, social-emotional skills, self-image, emotional problems, and classroom peer context are measured three times by means of questionnaires (both self-report and parent-report).

In The Netherlands primary schools are obliged to offer students training in social-emotional development. Schools can decide to develop their own program or make use of existing programs delivered by third parties, such as HiRO. In this study HiRO is compared to school as usual, that is, any other program offered to promote social -emotional development than HiRO.

The main questions to answer are:

* What is the effect of HiRO on the development of prosocial behavior?
* What is the effect of HiRO on the development of emotional problems (depression, anxiety)?
* What is the effect of HiRO on self-esteem?
* What is the effect of HiRO on perceived peer context?

Researchers will compare HiRO with and without judo to "school as usual" testing the following hypotheses:

HiRO will result in increased prosocial skills as compared to school as usual. HiRO will result in decreased emotional problems as compared to school as usual.

HiRO will result in increased self-esteem as compared to school as usual. HiRO will result in improved perceived peer context as compared to school as usual.

Conditions

• Prosocial Behavior
• Anxiety Disorders and Symptoms
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• Healthy
• Emotional Problem
• Self Esteem
• Peer Group

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

HiRO

HiRO consists of weekly lessons. The lessons are aimed to promote social-emotional development. More specifically, lessons are designed to develop and enhance 1) trust, 2) collaboration, 3) respect, 4) self control, 5) resilience, 6) discipline, 7) joy. The annual program consists of four phases: Phase 1 \& 3: Fundamental phase (6 weeks) Engaging with the values through movement. In these phases, group formation and establishing behavioral expectations are central. In the Fundamental phase, one value is addressed school-wide each week. The entire school starts with trust and ends with discipline. Phase 2 \& 4: Theme weeks (12 lessons) A customized series of Experiential lessons for each class. Experiential learning is the guiding principle of the program, with a strong foundation based on the values upheld in judo. The learning cycle forms the basis for each experiential lesson within HiRO, and focusses on concrete experience, reflective observation, conceptualization, and practice.

BEHAVIORAL

HiRO +judo

In the condition HiRO with judo, students receive the same treatment as offered in the HiRO condition. In addition, they receive physical judo classes that are designed to translate the above-mentioned values to the behavioral level.

BEHAVIORAL

School as usual

Any amount of classes offered to promote social-emotional development

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universiteit Leiden

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Bianca Boyer, PhD · Leiden University

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

4 Years

Max Age

13 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-01

Primary Completion

2024-09-01

Completion

2024-09-01

Countries

• Netherlands

Study Locations