Clinical trial NCT06286787: Efficacy of Mountain Craft Training at Enhancing the Resilience and Physio-psychological Well-being of Children From Low-income Families
Official title: Efficacy of Mountain Craft Training at Enhancing the Resilience and Physical and Psychological Well-being of Children From Low-income Families: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Resilience
Well-being
Children
Lead sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-02-29
Enrollment: 40
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 14
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: It is imperative to offer adequate community resources and psychosocial support, with a particular focus on enhancing resilience for children from low-income families. This study aims to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of mountain craft training in enhancing resilience and self-esteem, reducing depressive symptoms, and improving the physical health of children from low-income families.

Detailed description: It is imperative to offer adequate community resources and psychosocial support, with a particular focus on enhancing resilience for children from low-income families. This study aims to determine the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of mountain craft training in enhancing resilience and self-esteem, reducing depressive symptoms, and improving the physical health of children from low-income families. This will be a pilot RCT using a two-group pre- and post-test within-subject design. The investigators plan to recruit 40 children in the Kwai Tsing District to participate in this study via the Asbury Methodist Social Service. Participants in the intervention group will be invited to join the mountain craft training programme. The research team will work with Mountain \& Stream (https://www.mtandstream.com/) to offer a tailor-made hiking training programme for Form 1 students. Participants will be invited to join a control intervention that mimics the time and attention received by participants in the intervention group but will be designed to have no specific effect on the outcome variables. The investigators hypothesise that participants who receive mountain craft training (six sessions) over 3 months will report significant improvements in: (i) resilience, (ii) self-esteem; (iii) depressive symptoms, and (iv) physical well-being compared with those in the placebo control group at the 6-month follow-up assessment.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Form 1 students
* able to speak Cantonese and read Chinese, and
* from low-income families (with a half-median monthly household income or the recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Children with identified cognitive or learning problems, chronic illness, or physical disabilities

Primary outcomes:
measure: Resilience Scale-14 (RS-14)
timeFrame: baseline, 3-month, and 6-month
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC)
timeFrame: baseline, 3-month, and 6-month
measure: Chinese version of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)
timeFrame: baseline, 3-month, and 6-month
measure: The children's peak expiratory flow rate
timeFrame: baseline, 3-month, and 6-month
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: China
facility: The Asbury Methodist Social Service
Study officials:
References: