Feasibility of a Social-emotional Learning Curriculum in a STEM-based After-school Program

The goal of this single arm study is to:

1. primary purpose: to determine the feasibility of a novel social-emotional learning curriculum when implemented in the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program; 2a. secondary purpose: to determine whether the novel social-emotional learning curriculum has positive effects youth social emotional learning skills; 2b. secondary purpose: to determine whether the novel social-emotional learning curriculum has positive effects on youth resilience and overall functioning.

Participants:

1. Facilitators working with the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program
2. Youth aged 11-14 who participate in the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program
3. Parents of youth who participate in the STEM Academy Visions of Science after school program

The main questions this study aims to answer are:

Primary Objectives:

1. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum feasible within the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program?
2. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum acceptable within the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program?
3. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum appropriate within the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program?

Secondary Objectives: Social-emotional learning skills

1. Have youth social-emotional learning skills improved as a result of participating in the novel social-emotional learning curriculum?

Secondary Objectives: Resilience and overall functioning

1. Have youth resilience abilities and overall functioning improved as a result of participating in the novel social-emotional learning program?

Comparator: None

Measures:

Primary Objective: Feasibility

After school program staff participants will be asked to complete:

* 3 feasibility measures (feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness of intervention) after each social-emotional module they complete teaching.
* weekly fidelity checklists to assess feasibility.

Youth participants will be asked to complete:

- the intervention appropriateness measure during the post-curriculum data collection time point.

Secondary Objective: Social-emotional learning skills

After school program staff participants will be asked to complete the following measure pre- and post-curriculum implementation:

- social-emotional learning skills measure for each youth aged 11-14 years in their class.

Youth participants will be asked to complete the following measure pre- and post-curriculum implementation:

- social-emotional learning skills measure Parents participants whose youth are in the intervention arm will be asked to participate in an interview.

Secondary objective: Resilience and overall functioning

After school program staff participants will be asked to complete the follow measures pre- and post-curriculum implementation:

- overall functioning measure for each youth aged 11-14 years in their class.

Youth participants will be asked to complete:

- resilience measure

The EMPOWER project is a community-academic partnership between 2 after school programs (beyond 3:30 and Visions of Science) and a mental health teaching hospital (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health). The main objective of this project is to bolster youth mental well-being by developing a novel social-emotional learning curriculum that after school programs can embed into their existing activities.

The curriculum is designed to improve youth's social emotional learning skills through the integration of short social-emotional learning lessons that are embedded into existing programming within an after-school program. The curriculum is based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning's five core SEL competencies that include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and decision-making.

The investigators have designed a pilot study to test the feasibility and efficacy of the EMPOWER social-emotional learning curriculum. Visions of Science hosts a 14-week program from January - April 2025 called STEM Academy, an after-school science-based program for youth in grades 6-8. We designed a single arm study to assess a shortened and modular use of the EMPOWER social-emotional learning curriculum that is tailored to Visions of Science.

Eligibility Criteria:
INCLUSION:

Youth participants must meet the following inclusion criteria:

1. Must be a youth aged 11-14 years attending the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program
2. Must sign and date the informed consent form
3. Must speak and understand English

Staff participants must meet the following inclusion criteria:

1. Must be a facilitator of the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program
2. Must sign and date the informed consent form
3. Must speak and understand English

Caregiver/parent participants must meet the following inclusion criteria:

1. Must be a caregiver/parent of a youth aged 11-14 years attending the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program. Caregivers/parents whose children decide not to participate in data collection are still able to participate in an interview post-SEL curriculum implementation.
2. Must sign and date the informed consent form
3. Must speak and understand English

EXCLUSION; None