Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in Preschool Children

NCT ID: NCT04512157

Last Updated: 2020-08-17

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 285 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2012-04-01
• Study Completion Date: 2016-09-30

Brief Summary

Social emotional competence is instrumental to children's health and development. The preschool edition of Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS®) intervention was tested in this study. PATHS® is a universal teacher implemented, and school-based intervention. In the first years of this study, PATHS® which was originally developed in the United States was adapted for a Swedish preschool context according to a theoretical model for intervention cultural adaptation entitled the Planned Intervention Adaptation (PIA) protocol. After the cultural adaptation process, a two-wave pre-posttest randomized controlled trial of PsPATHS was conducted with Swedish preschool aged children. Implementation data were collected and outcome evaluation results are being finalized at the time that this protocol is being submitted in August 2020.

Detailed Description

Social emotional competence is instrumental to children's health and development. The preschool edition of Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS®) intervention was tested in this study. PATHS® is a universal teacher implemented, and school-based intervention that aims to give preschool children a strategically timed boost in social emotional competence. Specifically, PATHS® encourages the use of interactive techniques to bolster children's ability to self-regulate, increase their adeptness at social cognitive problem solving, as well as to gain insight into their emotions and emotions of others. In the first years of this study, PATHS® which was originally developed in the United States was adapted for a Swedish preschool context according to a theoretical model for intervention cultural adaptation entitled the Planned Intervention Adaptation (PIA) protocol. PIA calls for specific small-scale research studies that guide the cultural adaptation of an imported intervention. After the cultural adaptation process, a two-wave pre-posttest randomized controlled trial of PsPATHS was conducted with Swedish preschool aged children. The main study, which this protocol documents was a two-wave pre to posttest, cluster randomized controlled trial with multi-method and informant assessment (N = 285 four and five-year-old Swedish children; 145 wait-list control and 140 intervention). Implementation data were collected and outcome evaluation results are being finalized at the time that this protocol is being submitted in August 2020.

Conditions

Children's Social Emotional Competence; Children's Well-being

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

PATHS, Intervention preschools

These preschools implement PATHS for one school year

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS), Preschool Edition

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

PATHS® is a universal teacher implemented, and school-based intervention that aims to give preschool children a strategically timed boost in social emotional competence. Specifically, PATHS® encourages the use of interactive techniques to bolster children's ability to self-regulate, increase their adeptness at social cognitive problem solving, as well as to gain insight into their emotions and emotions of others.

Waitlist control preschools

Preschool as usual, which does have some social emotional learning but not PATHS specifically

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS), Preschool Edition

PATHS® is a universal teacher implemented, and school-based intervention that aims to give preschool children a strategically timed boost in social emotional competence. Specifically, PATHS® encourages the use of interactive techniques to bolster children's ability to self-regulate, increase their adeptness at social cognitive problem solving, as well as to gain insight into their emotions and emotions of others.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

PATHS

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Preschool level: Public or privately administered preschools with at least one classroom of 4- to 5-year old children, located within one of three selected municipalities in the Stockholm area.
• Individual child level: Children were included if they attended participating preschools, were 4 or 5 years old and had the written consent of their guardians, and if they had a sufficient understanding of Swedish to perform tasks.

Exclusion Criteria

• Preschool level: Types of preschools excluded from study participation were open preschools, parent cooperative run preschools, and family day homes.
• Individual child level: Children were excluded if they did not have a sufficient understanding of Swedish to perform tasks.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 4 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 5 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Göteborg University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Tarleton State University

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Stockholm University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Lilianne Eninger

Associate Professor in Psychology, Senior lecturer

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Lilianne Eninger, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Stockholm University

Håkan Fischer, Department Head, PhD

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Stockholm University

References

Eninger L, Ferrer-Wreder L, Eichas K, Olsson TM, Hau HG, Allodi MW, Smedler AC, Sedem M, Gull IC, Herkner B. A Cluster Randomized Trial of Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS(R)) With Swedish Preschool Children. Front Psychol. 2021 Jul 13;12:695288. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.695288. eCollection 2021.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 34326800 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

259-2012-71

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id