Social Emotional and Ethical Development (SEED)

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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-, post-, and 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.

Detailed Description
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According to the World Health Organization (2018), early child development lays a critical foundation for healthy habits (see also Asby, 2018) 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 (e.g., Bornstein et al., 2010). Recently, numerous SEL programs have been developed worldwide (e.g., Blewitt et al., 2018). 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 (Flock et al., 2015). In Hong Kong, the Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide has identified affective and social development as a major objective in early childhood (Curriculum Development Council, 2017). Better social emotional competence is associated with preschool-aged children's lower anxiety and fewer aggressive behaviors in Hong Kong (Lam & Wong, 2017). 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.

Official Title
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Feasibility of Mindfulness-based Training for Teachers and Young Children for Social Emotional and Ethical Development (SEED)

Conditions
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Development, Child, Mindfulness, Mental Well-being

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 3 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Other
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum<br>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. | Behavioral: Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development (SEED) curriculum<br>* In response to fulfilling children's urgent psychosocial needs, the Bodhi Love Foundation (BLF) adapted the Kindness Curriculum for young children in Hong Kong by translating it from English to Chinese and adapting its length and content for implementation in the local kindergarten context. The adapted Kindness Curriculum, renamed as Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development curriculum (SEED), is a two-part program involving teacher training and delivery of SEED. The teacher training is consist of a 12-hour mindfulness course and a 1-day (6 hours) workshop to get familiarized with the understanding and practice of mindfulness, and the details of the SEED Curriculum. The SEED Curriculum involves 8 short sessions of basic techniques in mindfulness with 10 minutes each. In addition, it has 12 mindfulness-based lessons with specific themes for children in K2 and K3. Each lesson lasts for approximately 30-40 minutes.<br>|
| No Intervention: Waitlist control group<br>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-, post-, and 4-week follow-up assessments. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mindfulness in Teaching Scale | The 14-item Mindfulness in Teaching Scale will be used to assess the extent to which teachers are consciously aware of various classroom and student activities. It contains 2 subscales measuring teacher intrapersonal and interpersonal mindfulness. | 8th week | 
| Mindfulness in Teaching Scale | The 14-item Mindfulness in Teaching Scale will be used to assess the extent to which teachers are consciously aware of various classroom and student activities. It contains 2 subscales measuring teacher intrapersonal and interpersonal mindfulness. | 12th week | 
| Copenhagen Burnout Inventory | The personal burnout and work-related burnout subscale in Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) will be used to measure teachers' burnout in three domains: and client-related burnout. CBI shows good reliability for each subscale (Cronbach's alpha = .85-.87). | 8th week | 
| Copenhagen Burnout Inventory | The personal burnout and work-related burnout subscale in Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) will be used to measure teachers' burnout in three domains: and client-related burnout. CBI shows good reliability for each subscale (Cronbach's alpha = .85-.87). | 12th week | 
| The Impermanence Awareness and Acceptance Scale | The 13-item Impermanence Awareness and Acceptance Scale (IMAAS) measures changes in an individual's state levels of impermanence awareness and impermanence acceptance on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). | 8th week | 
| The Impermanence Awareness and Acceptance Scale | The 13-item Impermanence Awareness and Acceptance Scale (IMAAS) measures changes in an individual's state levels of impermanence awareness and impermanence acceptance on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). | 12th week | 
| Interconnectedness Scale | The 12-item Interconnectedness Scale will be used to measure participants' awareness on their interdependent relationship with all matters in the world on a 6-point scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 6 (totally agree). The scale measures interconnectedness in three dimensions: emotional response to interconnectedness, appreciation of interconnectedness on self-development, and interconnectedness in social relations. | 8th week | 
| Interconnectedness Scale | The 12-item Interconnectedness Scale will be used to measure participants' awareness on their interdependent relationship with all matters in the world on a 6-point scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 6 (totally agree). The scale measures interconnectedness in three dimensions: emotional response to interconnectedness, appreciation of interconnectedness on self-development, and interconnectedness in social relations. | 12th week | 
| Mindfulness-Discernment Scale (MDS) | The 20-item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Short Form (FFMQ-SF) and 10-item Mindfulness subscale in the Mindfulness-Discernment Scale will be used to measure levels of mindfulness. FFMQ-SF measures five dimensions of mindfulness including observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity (Baer et al., 2008) on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Discernment will be assessed using the 14-item Discernment subscale in the Mindfulness-Discernment Scale. Items are rated on a scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 6 (Always). | 8th week | 
| Mindfulness-Discernment Scale (MDS) | The 20-item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Short Form (FFMQ-SF) and 10-item Mindfulness subscale in the Mindfulness-Discernment Scale will be used to measure levels of mindfulness. FFMQ-SF measures five dimensions of mindfulness including observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity (Baer et al., 2008) on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Discernment will be assessed using the 14-item Discernment subscale in the Mindfulness-Discernment Scale. Items are rated on a scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 6 (Always). | 12th week | 
| Nonattachment Scale-Short Form | The 8-item Nonattachment Scale Short Form will be used to assess participants' flexibility and balanced approach towards life experiences on a 6-point scale. This abridged version was developed and validated using item response theory in Hong Kong Chinese sample. | 8th week | 
| Nonattachment Scale-Short Form | The 8-item Nonattachment Scale Short Form will be used to assess participants' flexibility and balanced approach towards life experiences on a 6-point scale. This abridged version was developed and validated using item response theory in Hong Kong Chinese sample. | 12th week | 
| Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale | The Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (SCBCS) is a 5-item inventory that measures compassion for others using a 7-point Likert-like scale. | 8th week | 
| Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale | The Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale (SCBCS) is a 5-item inventory that measures compassion for others using a 7-point Likert-like scale. | 12th week | 
| The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) | Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale-Short is a 7-item self-report measure of subjective mental well-being on 5-point Likert scale. The Chinese translation has demonstrated high levels of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity in both community and clinical samples. | 8th week | 
| The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) | Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale-Short is a 7-item self-report measure of subjective mental well-being on 5-point Likert scale. The Chinese translation has demonstrated high levels of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity in both community and clinical samples. | 12th week | 
| Delay of Shared Gratification Task | The 5-minute Delay of Shared Gratification Task measures children's sharing behavior involving the small stickers. Children will be asked to share 1-2 stickers with other people over four instances, such as sharing with cost, sharing without cost, and delay of sharing. | 8th week | 
| Delay of Shared Gratification Task | The 5-minute Delay of Shared Gratification Task measures children's sharing behavior involving the small stickers. Children will be asked to share 1-2 stickers with other people over four instances, such as sharing with cost, sharing without cost, and delay of sharing. | 12th week | 
| Head-Toe-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) | The 10-minute Head-Toe-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) measures children's behavioral regulation. Specifically, the task requires children to do the opposite of commands. For each command, the experimenter uses a 3-point scale to record the child's responses at 0 = incorrect, 1 = self-correct, and 2 = correct. | 8th week | 
| Head-Toe-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) | The 10-minute Head-Toe-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) measures children's behavioral regulation. Specifically, the task requires children to do the opposite of commands. For each command, the experimenter uses a 3-point scale to record the child's responses at 0 = incorrect, 1 = self-correct, and 2 = correct. | 12th week | 
| Disappointing Gift Task | Disappointing Gift Task measures children's emotion regulation. Specifically, they are informed that they will receive a very nice gift but end up receiving an undesirable gift, e.g., trash paper. Children's facial expression will be observed and coded based on Saarni's (1984) emotion coding system. | 8th week | 
| Disappointing Gift Task | Disappointing Gift Task measures children's emotion regulation. Specifically, they are informed that they will receive a very nice gift but end up receiving an undesirable gift, e.g., trash paper. Children's facial expression will be observed and coded based on Saarni's (1984) emotion coding system. | 12th week | 
| Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) | A 20-item internalizing and externalizing problems subscales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire will be used to access their child's adjustment difficulties on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true). The internalizing problems subscale capture emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems, whereas the externalizing problems subscale capture conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention. | 8th week | 
| Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) | A 20-item internalizing and externalizing problems subscales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire will be used to access their child's adjustment difficulties on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 (not true) to 3 (certainly true). The internalizing problems subscale capture emotional symptoms and peer relationship problems, whereas the externalizing problems subscale capture conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention. | 12th week | 
| Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (Preschool Parents version) (SSIS - SEL) | The SSIS SEL consists of 20 items which assess children's skills in each of the five social-emotional learning competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision Making. | 8th week | 
| Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (Preschool Parents version) (SSIS - SEL) | The SSIS SEL consists of 20 items which assess children's skills in each of the five social-emotional learning competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision Making. | 12th week | 
| Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version | A 63-item Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version will be used to assess their child's behavioral regulation on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 3 (often)., including inhibition, shifting, emotional control, working memory, and planning/organizing. | 8th week | 
| Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version | A 63-item Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version will be used to assess their child's behavioral regulation on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 3 (often)., including inhibition, shifting, emotional control, working memory, and planning/organizing. | 12th week | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development, Mindfulness, Mental well-being, Young children