Evaluation of First Year Implementation of Komtü Programme to Improve Emotional Well-being in School.

Autonomous University of Barcelona

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Mental Health Wellness; Psychological Well-Being

Treatments: Behavioral: Komtü Training and Reflective Practice; Behavioral: Komtü Programme (Komtü)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06488833

2023 DI 00057

Details and patient eligibility

About

Objectives: (1) To analyse the benefits of Komtü Programme implementation in children's and teachers' well-being (primary outcomes); (2) to analyse the benefits of Komtü Programme implementation in teacher's assertiveness, mentalization and self-efficacy (secondary outcomes). (3) and to analyse the benefits of Komtü Programme implementation according to children's prosocial behaviour, self-esteem and mentalization (secondary outcomes).

Participants: Teachers will be placed in one of the 3 groups, according to the school's support needs they work at. In this case, randomization would not be possible in the allocation process. In one of the interventions, the participants will receive the planned actions for the first school year of the Komtü Programme. In the other intervention, the participants will only receive the training and the reflective practice planned for the Komtü. The last group will complete the school year as usual (TAU, control group).

Comparisons: Researchers will compare all 3 groups among them to see to what extent:

• Komtü Programme shows efficacy in fostering children's well-being compared with the training and TAU (control group).
• Komtü Programme shows efficacy in fostering teachers' well-being compared with the training and TAU (control group).
• Training and reflective practice shows efficacy in fostering children's well-being compared with TAU (control group).
• Training and reflective practice shows efficacy in fostering teachers' well-being compared with TAU (control group).

And as for the secondary outcomes, researchers will also compare all 3 group to observe possible inter-group differences.

Full description

Context: Lately, mental health has become an important issue of global priority, especially when it comes to child and youth population. Acting during this stage of life is crucial, as the symptomatology of some mental disorders present in adulthood could start before the age of 14 in 33.3% to 50% of cases. It seems that schools could be a great context to foster mental health, as children spend most of the day hours there. At school, children not only acquire academic knowledge, they also learn emotional and social competencies and, in this process, teachers can become a model for them. However, most of the school programmes that aim to enhance children's well-being are directly implemented with children, and few programmes are designed to work with teachers. Furthermore, when implementing a school programme, it is not usual to have a specialist within the school centre, that addresses teacher's worries and accompanies them through the programme completion. That is why Nous Cims Private Foundation decided to create the Komtü programme, which aims to impact children's well-being by accompanying teachers during 3 school years by a specialist that visits the centre twice a week. As this programme is relatively new, the researchers in this study intend to: (1) analyse the benefits of Komtü programme and, considering that this is a long-term programme, (2) the investigators want to study the effectiveness of a more cost-efficient approach by only implementing the training and reflective practice associated with the programme.

Methodology: 8-month 3-armed quasi-experimental pre-post design with control group.

Measures Operationalization: It is expected that Komtü programme could benefit teachers who receive the intervention and their students, since they share a lot of classroom time. Teacher benefits are expected in terms of higher emotional well-being (primary outcome) but also in terms of higher sense of self-efficacy, higher assertiveness and improved mentalizing capacities (secondary outcomes). Children benefits are expected in terms of higher emotional well-being (primary outcome) but also in terms of mentalization, prosocial behaviour and self-esteem (secondary outcomes). We will also consider teachers' burnout and faculty trust as process outcomes since they can impact teacher's well-being.

Statistical Analyses: The analysis will encompass all participants, with the utilization of multiple imputation techniques to address any missing data. Estimation of parameters, accounting for the specific statistical assumption of each model and the data's characteristics, will be carried out using general linear modelling adjusting for baseline values. Various Stata packages will be employed to execute these models, primarily SPSS and jamovi. Concerning statistical power, a sample size of 90 teachers (30 per arm) and 180 students (90 per arm) has been proposed as the minimum required to detect a medium effect size (d=0.50) -in case of teachers- and small effect size (d =0.30) -in case of students- in the design comprising 3 arms, 2 repeated measures (pre-post), and a power level of 0.80.

Enrollment: 270 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 9 to 67 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Teachers at public school (6 y.o. - 12 y.o.) or preschool (3 y.o. - 6 y.o.) in active
• Students from 4th, 5th and 6th grade of Primary School (9 - 12 y.o.)
• Understanding Catalan
• Written Informed Consent

Exclusion criteria

• Teachers at private or charter schools.
• Teachers at rural schools.
• Preschool students (3-y.o. - 6 y.o.) and students from 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade of Primary School (6 y.o. - 8 y.o.).
• Schools that already have any training/knowledge related to emotional support or emotional intelligence.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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270 participants in 3 patient groups

Komtü Programme (Komtü)

Experimental group

Description:

The Komtü is a programme that aims to enhance the well-being and the emotional support of children by providing training and support to the entire school community, with a particular focus on teachers. The Komtü programme comprises two distinct phases: the first, the Implementation Phase, is conducted over a period of three school years. During this phase, a specialist visits the school twice a week during the 1st and 2nd school years, and once a week during the 3rd school year. Some actions take place during this phase. For example, the specialist will provide training with reflective practice exercises, healing spaces and support for teachers and will also provide coaching for the school management team. The second phase, the Sustainability Phase, is also conducted over three school years. This phase is designed as a follow-up phase, which is meant to ensure the continuity of the programme at the school even in the absence of the specialist's weekly visits from the centre.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Komtü Programme (Komtü)

Komtü Training and Reflective Practice

Experimental group

Description:

This is a different version of the Komtü Programme that aims to enhance the well-being and the emotional support of children. In Komtü Training and Reflective Practice, the Implementation Phase is modified. The 1st school year, the specialist will only provide training with reflective practice exercises. This means, the other actions that are usually carried out by the programme will not be offered. In contrast to the original version, this would reduce the cost of the intervention and allow a greater number of schools to participate in the programme, as the specialist would have the time to intervene in more centres. It has been decided to prioritise training with reflective practice exercises as it is the core component that gives meaning to the functioning of the other activities that are developed throughout the programme.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Komtü Training and Reflective Practice

Control group or Treatment as usual (TAU)

No Intervention group

Description:

The school year will be developed as normal.