Clinical trial NCT06445777: Impact of Preventive Mental Health Programme on Social/Emotional Functioning and Resilience in Children in South Africa
Official title: Impact of Preventive Mental Health Programme on Social/Emotional Functioning and Resilience in Children in South Africa
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Psychological Well-Being
Keywords: Emotional Resilience
Mental Health Prevention
South Africa
Universal Mental Health Promotion
Lead sponsor: Little Lions Child Coaching
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Cape Town
name: King's College London
First posted: 2024-06-06
Enrollment: 150
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 8
Maximum age (years): 13
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Intervention model description: Children will be randomly assigned to either the control or intervention group after the baseline assessment. Participants in the control group will receive the intervention at a later stage.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of a mental health prevention and promotion programme delivered to children (ages 8 to 13) living in under-resourced communities in South Africa.

The main question it aims to answer is:

Does the programme increase resilience and improve psychological well-being?

Participants will be asked to attend the programme twice a week after school for a period of six weeks and complete a series of questionnaires.

Researchers will compare children who attended the programme to those who did not to see if the programme resulted in better social/emotional functioning and resilience.

Detailed description: Although the well-being of vulnerable South African children is a significant public health concern, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of mental health prevention and promotion interventions in low- and middle- income countries. Little Lions Child Coaching is a South African youth-led, community-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that aims to normalise mental health conversations and empower the next generation to tap into their emotional resilience by providing accessible mental health support to children in under-resourced communities surrounding Cape Town.

The aim of this effectiveness study is to measure how a mental health prevention and promotion programme, designed and implemented by Little Lions Child Coaching, impacts the resilience and social/emotional functioning of children (ages 8 to 13) living in townships surrounding Cape Town.

Participants in the intervention condition will receive the programme twice a week after school for a period of six weeks to boost their emotional awareness, confidence, coping skills and resilience. Resilience scores will be compared to a control group.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Between 8 and 13 years old
* Fluent in Xhosa and/or English
* Lives in one of the following communities in Cape Town, South Africa: Khayelitsha, Langa, or Mfuleni

Exclusion Criteria:

* Younger than 8 years old or older than 13 years old
* Do not have a strong understanding of the language of instruction (i.e., Xhosa/English)
* Lives in an area outside of Khayelitsha, Langa, or Mfuleni

Primary outcomes:
measure: Mean change from baseline in resilience scores using the Child and Youth Resilience Measure
timeFrame: At baseline and in 6 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Cape Town
country: South Africa
facility: Neighbourgood
state: Western Cape
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Cape Town
name: Susan Malcolm-Smith
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: