Feasibility of a Social-emotional Learning Curriculum in an After-school Program for Youth

Summary

The goal of this cluster randomized trial is to:

1\. primary purpose: to determine the feasibility of a novel social-emotional learning curriculum when implemented in the beyond 3:30 after school program; 2a. secondary purpose: to determine whether the novel social-emotional learning curriculum has positive effects youth social emotional learning skills; 2b. secondary purpose: to determine whether the novel social-emotional learning curriculum has positive effects on youth resilience and overall functioning.

Participants:

1. Beyond 3:30 facilitators
2. Youth aged 11-14 who participate in the beyond 3:30 program
3. Parents of youth who participate in the beyond 3:30 program

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

Primary Objectives:

1. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum feasible within the beyond 3:30 after school program?
2. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum acceptable within the beyond 3:30 after school program?
3. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum appropriate within the beyond 3:30 after school program?

Secondary Objectives: Social-emotional learning skills 1. Have youth social-emotional learning skills improved as a result of participating in the novel social-emotional learning curriculum?

Secondary Objectives: Resilience and overall functioning

1. Have youth resilience abilities and overall functioning improved as a result of participating in the novel social-emotional learning program?

Comparator:

Primary objective: Feasibility - There is no comparison group for the feasibility objectives.

Secondary objective: Social-emotional learning skills
* The investigators will compare the intervention arm \[10 sites within the beyond 3:30 program who will implement the EMPOWER social-emotional learning curriculum\] with the usual programming control arm \[10 sites within the beyond 3:30 program who will implement the usual beyond 3:30 program\]

Secondary objective: Resilience and overall functioning

\- The investigators will compare the intervention arm \[10 sites within the beyond 3:30 program who will implement the EMPOWER social-emotional learning curriculum\] with the usual programming control arm \[10 sites within the beyond 3:30 program who will implement the usual beyond 3:30 program\]

Measures:

Primary Objective: Feasibility

After school program staff participants in the intervention arm will be asked to complete:

\- 3 feasibility measures (feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness of intervention) every 4-weeks after each social-emotional module they complete teaching.

\- weekly fidelity checklists to assess feasibility.

Youth participants in the intervention arm will be asked to complete:

\- the intervention appropriateness measure during the post-curriculum data collection time point.

Secondary Objective: Social-emotional learning skills

After school program staff participants in both intervention and usual programming arms will be asked to complete the following measure pre- and post-curriculum implementation:

\- social-emotional learning skills measure for each youth aged 11-14 years in their class.

Youth participants in both intervention and usual programming arms will be asked to complete the following measure pre- and post-curriculum implementation:

\- social-emotional learning skills measure Parents participants whose youth are in the intervention arm will be asked to participate in an interview.

Secondary objective: Resilience and overall functioning

After school program staff participants in both intervention and usual programming arms will be asked to complete the follow measures pre- and post-curriculum implementation:

\- overall functioning measure for each youth aged 11-14 years in their class.

Youth participants in both intervention and usual programming arms will be asked to complete:
* resilience measure

Conditions

• Social Emotional Learning
• Feasibility Studies
• Efficacy of Intervention

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Social-emotional learning curriculum

EMPOWER is a 16-week social-emotional learning curriculum that is integrated into the after-school program context.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Brendan F Andrade, PhD · Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

11 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-10-01

Primary Completion

2025-05-01

Completion

2025-05-01

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations