Musical Training to Enhance Resilience of Underprivileged School-aged Children
NCT ID: NCT07165925
Last Updated: 2025-12-18
Study Results
The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.
Basic Information
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RECRUITING
NA
174 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2025-09-08
2027-09-30
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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Therefore, there is an urgent need to design and implement promising and novel approaches for this vulnerable population to prevent children from developing mental health problems.
Growing evidence indicates the importance of fostering children's resilience to enable them to cope with adversity. Research found that resilience exerts a protective effect on the mental well-being of individuals facing adversity (i.e. exposure to poverty).
Emerging evidence reveals the promising effects of musical training of music-based interventions on enhancing resilience and psychosocial outcomes in paediatric populations. Yet, whether music-based interventions can enhance resilience in underprivileged school-aged children remains unclear.
If the proposed instrumental musical training programme is proven to be effective and sustainable, it can be recommended as usual care in the community care service for underprivileged children.
Hypothesis to be tested: Participants who receive the 6-month gamified instrumental musical training would report higher levels of resilience, reduced levels of psychological distress (depressive symptoms and anxiety), higher self-esteem, and better QoL than the placebo control group.
Design and subjects: A mulit-centre assessor-blind, randomised controlled trial will be conducted following the CONSORT guidelines; 174 underprivileged children aged 8 to 12 who are at risk of depression and/or anxiety will be randomised 1:1 to intervention or control groups.
Instruments: Validated questionnaires (RSES, CES-DC, SAS-C, RS10,and PedsQL 4.0).
Interventions: Weekly one-hour group-based gamified instrumental musical training session delivered by certified musicians for 6 months. The control group will receive weekly one-hour group-based indoor community leisure activities for 6 months.
Main outcome measures: Data collection will be conducted at baseline (T0), 6-month (T1;immediately post-intervention), 9-(T2), and 12-month(T3). The primary outcome is resilience level. Secondary outcomes include psychological distress (i.e., depressive symptoms and anxiety levels), self-esteem, and quality of life.
Conditions
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Keywords
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
SINGLE
Study Groups
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Gamified musical training
Participants in the gamified musical training group will receive weekly 1-hour lessons on a musical instrument for 6 months, delivered by professionally certified musicians. The intervention will be conducted in small groups (7-8 children/group). Two types of musical instruments (keyboard and ukulele) will be assigned to the participants based on their preferences.
Gamified music training
Instrumental musical training will progress from basic (playing simple notes) to advanced levels (playing an entire song). Key training elements will include fundamental music knowledge and skills, music improvisation, rhythm, and pitch identification exercises. In particular, the core concepts of resilience will be incorporated into the training process through various gamified music activities.
Active placebo control group
Participants in the active placebo control group will participate in weekly 1-hour group-based (7-8 children/group) indoor community leisure activities for 6 months.
Active placebo intervention
Participants in the active placebo control group will participate in weekly 1-hour group-based indoor community leisure activities for 6 months. These activities will include (i) drawing, (ii) drama workshops, (iii) cartoon film screenings, (iv) handcraft workshops, (v) board games, and (vi) exercise classes. Each activity will span for four sessions, that is, totally 24 sessions and will be delivered by trained staff at the study centres of the collaborating non-governmental organisations.
Interventions
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Gamified music training
Instrumental musical training will progress from basic (playing simple notes) to advanced levels (playing an entire song). Key training elements will include fundamental music knowledge and skills, music improvisation, rhythm, and pitch identification exercises. In particular, the core concepts of resilience will be incorporated into the training process through various gamified music activities.
Active placebo intervention
Participants in the active placebo control group will participate in weekly 1-hour group-based indoor community leisure activities for 6 months. These activities will include (i) drawing, (ii) drama workshops, (iii) cartoon film screenings, (iv) handcraft workshops, (v) board games, and (vi) exercise classes. Each activity will span for four sessions, that is, totally 24 sessions and will be delivered by trained staff at the study centres of the collaborating non-governmental organisations.
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* Able to read Chinese and communicate in Cantonese/Mandarin.
* From low-income families.
* Have a risk of mental health problems, specifically depression and/or anxiety (determined through screening during the recruitment process using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children, with a cut-off score of ≥16 indicating a high risk of depression, and/or the State Anxiety Scale for Children, with scores between 36 and 60 indicating a significant level of anxiety)
Exclusion Criteria
* if they or their siblings are currently receiving or have received any music-based interventions before the study.
8 Years
12 Years
ALL
No
Sponsors
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Chinese University of Hong Kong
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Cheung Tan
Principal Investigator
Locations
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The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, , Hong Kong
Countries
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Central Contacts
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Facility Contacts
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Assistant Professor, BN, MPhil, PhD
Role: primary
Other Identifiers
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CRE-2024.498
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id