GReen And Healthy Schools (GRAS)

Hasselt University

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Pollution; Exposure; Cognitive Change; Weight, Body; Emotions; Cognitive Function 1, Social

Treatments: Other: greening of the school environment

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04898439

Green_School

Details and patient eligibility

About

This project aims to investigate the health effects of making schools greener and more biodiverse. We will mainly focus on cognitive effects, well-being, and BMI. The research hypothesis is that greening schools positively influences the health of children through more exercise and cleaner air.

Full description

Spending time in nature has been associated with improved physical and mental health and well-being. Developing nature-based health-promoting interventions such as providing more nature in schools to improve children's well-being will lead to benefits for society in our rapidly urbanizing world. Although the benefits of exposure to nature have been demonstrated, knowledge of integrating exposure to nature into public health guidelines is scarce. The latter requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates the impact of nature-based interventions both on health and on the cost-effectiveness of interventions. Little is known about the health effect of greening and, in particular, increasing biodiversity in schools and we want to investigate further with this study.

This project, therefore, aims to investigate the health effects of greening primary schools and increasing biodiversity and will mainly focus on the effects on cognition, well-being, and BMI. For this, all children from 4th to 6th grade in the participating schools will be invited to participate in this study (Belgium). This study comprises control schools and intervention schools, the schools are examined before the greening and after the greening.

When the informed consent form is signed by the parents, they complete a questionnaire that assesses the child's diet, physical activity, and general questions. A urine sample will be taken for the determination of black carbon particles. The child will also perform computer tests measuring different aspects of "cognition". During these tests, we will also look at the eye movements that play an important role in the cognitive ability of the child. To get an idea of a possible effect on BMI, height and weight will be measured. The child fills in a welfare questionnaire and a questionnaire about the perception of nature itself.

Enrollment: 200 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 9 to 12 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Being in 4th, 5th, or 6th grade
• Signed informed consent form by a legal representative

Exclusion criteria

• No knowledge of dutch

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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200 participants in 2 patient groups

Green school

Experimental group

Description:

The children from schools that are being greened will be investigated and compared to the control school. We will measure cognitive function, BMI, black carbon levels and emotional wellbeing.

Treatment:

Other: greening of the school environment

control school

No Intervention group

Description:

The children from schools that are not being greened will be investigated and used as a control group. We will measure cognitive function, BMI, black carbon levels and emotional wellbeing