Social Emotional and Ethical Development (SEED)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Development, Child; Mindfulness; Mental Well-being

Treatments: Behavioral: Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06122844

SBRE-22-0785A

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objectives of the present study are to (1) evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness in implementing teachers' training on mindfulness and developing their competency in delivering the Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum to preschool children and (2) pilot the SEED curriculum at kindergartens to assess its effectiveness.

To investigate the feasibility of SEED teacher training and the SEED Curriculum, randomized controlled trials will be conducted. A minimum of two kindergartens will be recruited to participate in the study. Half of the kindergartens, teachers, and children will receive the training and SEED curriculum, while the other half will be assigned to the waitlist control condition. Upon informed consent from the school principals and parents, parents, teachers, and children will complete pre- and post-assessments, additional follow-up assessments will be conducted in intervention group. Focus group interviews will be conducted with teachers to understand their acceptability, demand, practicality, integration, and efficacy of the teacher training at post-teacher training and delivery of the SEED curriculum for children at post-intervention. Another focus group interviews will be conducted with SEED trainers to get information about teachers' participation rate in the training session.

Full description

According to the World Health Organization, early child development lays a critical foundation for healthy habits and long-term development, including health and well-being, as well as changing the trajectory of the next generation in maximizing human potential. Specifically, social emotional learning (SEL) in early childhood lays the foundation for their later adjustment, including better emotional wellness and fewer internalizing and externalizing problems. Recently, numerous SEL programs have been developed worldwide . Among these evidence-based SEL programs, the Kindness Curriculum is a secular mindfulness-based SEL program designed for children between 4-6 years of age.

In Hong Kong, the Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide has identified affective and social development as a major objective in early childhood. Better social emotional competence is associated with preschool-aged children's lower anxiety and fewer aggressive behaviors in Hong Kong. However, the implementation of evidence-based SEL programs remains immature, with very few programs available for kindergartens and kindergarten-cum-child care settings and none being mindfulness-based. In response to fulfilling children's psychosocial needs, the Bodhi Love Foundation (BLF) has adapted the Kindness Curriculum for young children in Hong Kong. With concerted efforts of a team of qualified local mindfulness teachers and Prof. Daniel Goleman as the advisor, the curriculum was translated from English to Chinese and has been adapted for implementation in the local cultural context. The adapted Kindness Curriculum, renamed as Social, Emotional, Ethical Development Curriculum (SEED), is a two-part program involving training teachers on mindfulness and delivery of SEED to young children. As such, the curriculum may be beneficial for both teachers and children.

The project's significance is to cultivate mindfulness and loving kindness among our teachers and children so to equip them with the mindset and skills needed for self-care and promotion of mental well-being. Such well-being promotion and distress prevention approach that starts early in childhood lays a critical cornerstone for children to develop healthily, which can potentially reduce the incidence of mental illness among younger generations.

Enrollment: 160 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 3+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• For children: aged 3-7 years old, understand Cantonese
• For parents: aged 18 years old or above, understand Cantonese
• For teachers: aged 18 years old or above, understand Cantonese, currently working at a kindergarten

Exclusion criteria

• Cannot understand Cantonese

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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160 participants in 2 patient groups

Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum

Experimental group

Description:

The kindergartens, teachers, and children will receive the training and SEED curriculum. Upon informed consent from the school principals and parents, parents, teachers, and children will complete pre-, post-, and 4-week follow-up assessments. Focus group interviews will be conducted with teachers to understand their acceptability, demand, practicality, integration, and efficacy of the teacher training at post-teacher training and delivery of the SEED curriculum for children at post-intervention. Another focus group interviews will be conducted with SEED trainers to get information about teachers' participation rate in the training session.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum

Waitlist control group

No Intervention group

Description:

One kindergarten will be assigned to the waitlist control condition. Teachers in the waitlist control schools will wait for at least 12 weeks before they receive the training, and children in the waitlist control group will receive SEED curriculum after the teachers' training. Upon informed consent from the school principals and parents, parents, teachers, and children will also complete pre- and post-test assessments.