The Effectiveness of a Classroom-based Intervention Promoting a Prosocial Classroom Climate in Children

NCT ID: NCT05891067

Last Updated: 2024-05-08

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 3360 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-05-11
• Study Completion Date: 2024-07-31

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a classroom-based program promoting a prosocial classroom climate is more effective than treatment-as-usual (control condition).

Detailed Description

A positive, prosocial classroom climate is associated with improved social competence and academic achievement, as well as decreased internalizing and externalizing problems and antisocial behavior in children. It is expected that motivation to behave prosocially is needed to achieve a prosocial climate in the classroom, and that such motivation can be enhanced through three components of self-determination theory (SDT): competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The goal of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a classroom-based program based on SDT that aims to promote prosocial classroom climate, through a cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). SterkWerk is hypothesized to be more effective than treatment-as-usual (TAU) in creating more prosocial classrooms, through improving prosocial (intrinsic) motivation and behavior, social autonomy, social competence, and social relatedness.

The design of the current study is a cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with two conditions: the intervention condition and a waitlist control condition (TAU: treatment-as-usual). Schools in the intervention condition receive the materials and training to implement the intervention in the school year 2023/2024. Schools in the control group do not receive the intervention (do not receive material or training), and function as normal (TAU). Control schools are requested to not start any social-emotional program during the school year 2023/2024.

Conditions

Child Behavior

Study Design

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

Study Groups

SterkWerk

SterkWerk is a classroom-based approach (throughout the school year) for primary school groups 5-8 (children aged 8-12 years old) in which children are given specific roles to actively work on responsibility, ownership and prosocial behavior. SterkWerk consists of three main components: meaningful roles, classroom meeting and compliments.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

SterkWerk

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Classroom-based intervention program

Treatment-as-usual

Schools in the control group do not receive the intervention (do not receive material or training), and function as normal (treatment-as-usual). Control schools are requested to not start any social-emotional program during the school year 2023/2024.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Treatment-as-usual

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Active control group

Interventions

SterkWerk

Classroom-based intervention program

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Treatment-as-usual

Active control group

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

TAU

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Primary school children of grades 5-8 (mostly aged between 8-12 years)
• Teachers and school leaders of participating schools (no age limit)

• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

KiVa B.V.

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Utrecht University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Amanda van Loon

Postdoc

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Tessa Kaufman, dr.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Utrecht University

Locations

Utrecht University

Utrecht, , Netherlands

Countries

Netherlands

References

van Loon AWG, Kaufman TML. The effectiveness of the Dutch Meaningful Roles program in children: a study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled study. BMC Public Health. 2023 Jul 27;23(1):1440. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16362-8.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 37501078 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

23-0082

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

UtrechtU

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id