A School-based Intervention Project to Increase Completion of Upper Secondary School in Norway (COMPLETE)

University of Bergen

Status: Completed

Conditions: Drop Out; Academic Achievement/Average Grade; Mental Health; Absence

Treatments: Other: Mental Health Support Team; Other: Dream School Program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03382080

20161789

Details and patient eligibility

About

Drop out from upper secondary school represents a risk for the future health and wellbeing of young people. Strengthening of psychosocial aspects of the learning environment may be an effective strategy to promote completion of upper secondary school. The COMPLETE study is a school based cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating two school-based interventions, namely the Dream School Program (DSP) and the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) among 1st grade upper secondary school students in four counties in Norway. The interventions aim to improve psychosocial learning environments and subsequently school achievements and decrease drop-out and absence.

Specifically, the COMPLETE study will

1. Evaluate whether the DSP alone

   1. increases completion
   2. increases presence
   3. improves school achievements
   4. improves mental health and wellbeing

2. Evaluate whether the DSP and the MHST combined

   1. increase completion
   2. increase presence
   3. improve school achievements
   4. improve mental health and wellbeing

   The COMPLETE study will also evaluate the effect of the DSP and MHST combined and the DSP alone against secondary outcomes of school satisfaction and loneliness.

3. Evaluate through a process evaluation whether the interventions were implemented in line with guidelines for each of the interventions, and whether the degree of program fidelity has influenced the effect of the interventions on the primary and secondary outcomes.

Enrollment: 3,500 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 15+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• School inclusion criteria: not been or currently involved in either of the Dream School Program or the Mental Health Support Team or similar programs or research projects
• Student inclusion criteria: student enrolled at any of the included schools.

Exclusion criteria

• Schools previously or currently involved in either of the Dream School Program or the Mental Health Support Team or similar programs or research projects.
• Student exclusion criteria: students with special needs or who are illiterate in Norwegian are excluded from the survey assessment, but included in the interventions.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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3,500 participants in 3 patient groups

Dream School Program (DSP)

Experimental group

Description:

The Dream School Program is a whole school program, involving staff and students, with the aim of creating learning environments where students are confident and experience a sense of belonging, and where mental health is promoted.

Treatment:

Other: Dream School Program

DSP and Mental Health Support Team

Experimental group

Description:

A combination of the universal Dream Schoop Program (see description above) and the selective/indicative intervention Mental Health Support Team which is aimed at specific students at risk of dropping out of upper secondary school. It is a systematization of the student services through 1. Co-location of services and staff working in services 2. "One open door" to increase accessibility to the services and staff for students 3. Focus on the transition from lower to upper secondary school 4. Close follow-up of students at risk to ensure tailored help to each student 5. Early intervention and follow up when students starts being absent from school

Treatment:

Other: Dream School Program

Other: Mental Health Support Team

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

The control group are upper secondary schools who run classes and the school as usual, and do not introduce new programs similar to the Dream School or Mental Health Support Team during the project period.