Promoting Mental Health in Young Children - a Dialogue Based Approach in Kindergartens

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if the novel Dialogue Based Early Detection (DBED) method can prevent impaired mental health in kindergarten children. It will also learn about the screening properties of DBED to identify children with impaired mental health, if DBED facilitates early interventions, and if DBED is well accepted and sustainable in an ordinary kindergarten setting.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Do children in kindergartens where DBED is implemented develop better mental health scores than children in kindergarten where DBED is not implemented?
* How well identifies DBED kindergarten children with impaired mental health compared to a traditional screening instrument (the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire)?
* What is the impact of DBED on activation of interventions for mental health problems?
* What is the social validity of DBED?

Researchers will compare outcomes in kindergartens where DBED is implemented with outcomes in kindergartens where it's not.

* During the last three years of kindergarten attendance participants (parents of kindergarten children) in the intervention kindergartens will take part in the biannual DBED parent-teacher meetings, while participants in the control kindergartens will take part in traditional parent-teacher meetings.
* Twice a year all participants will answer questionnaires of the child's mental health and parental stress during the follow-up period (3 years in kindergarten and 2 first years in school).
* Participants in the intervention kindergartens will answer user satisfaction questionnaires after every parent-teacher meeting.
* The kindergarten teachers will report on type and time of supportive interventions for each participating child during the follow-up period in kindergarten.

Conditions

• Child Behavior
• Child Development

Interventions

OTHER

Dialogue Based Early Detection

Before the biannual parent-teacher meeting, both the kindergarten teacher and the parents will complete the Early Worry Questionnaire containing 39 items related to development and well-being of the individual child. For each item the respondents are asked to indicate if they during the last three months have been concerned. In the parent-teacher meeting they will discuss their possible concerns and try to reach an agreement on how to evaluate the child. If necessary, possible supportive interventions or further assessments locally in the kindergarten or in the public services will be decided.

OTHER

Traditional parent-teacher meeting

This is an annual or biannual meeting that is prepared by the kindergarten teacher where (s)he reports on the child's appearance / behaviour and possible challenges as to development and behaviour from an educationalist's view. There are no common templates for the agenda of such meetings, however, usually the kindergarten teacher's perspective and opinion will dominate.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Bergen

  collaborator OTHER

• Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

  collaborator OTHER

• Haukeland University Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ingvar Bjelland, PhD · Haukeland University Hospital

• Randi-Luise Møgster, MD · Haukeland University Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

2 Years

Max Age

3 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-01-01

Primary Completion

2029-06-30

Completion

2029-06-30

Countries

• Norway

Study Locations