Clinical trial NCT06122844: Social Emotional and Ethical Development (SEED)
Official title: Feasibility of Mindfulness-based Training for Teachers and Young Children for Social Emotional and Ethical Development (SEED)
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Development, Child
Mindfulness
Mental Well-being
Keywords: Social, Emotional, and Ethical Development
Mindfulness
Mental well-being
Young children
Lead sponsor: Chinese University of Hong Kong
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
First posted: 2023-11-08
Enrollment: 158
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 3
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: 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- and post-assessments, additional follow-up assessments will be conducted in intervention group. 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: According to the World Health Organization, early child development lays a critical foundation for healthy habits 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. Recently, numerous SEL programs have been developed worldwide . 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.

In Hong Kong, the Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide has identified affective and social development as a major objective in early childhood. Better social emotional competence is associated with preschool-aged children's lower anxiety and fewer aggressive behaviors in Hong Kong. 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.

Eligibility criteria: 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

Primary outcomes:
measure: Mindfulness in Teaching Scale(MTS)
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Mindfulness in Teaching Scale(MTS)
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Copenhagen Burnout Inventory
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Copenhagen Burnout Inventory
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: The Impermanence Awareness and Acceptance Scale
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: The Impermanence Awareness and Acceptance Scale
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Interconnectedness Scale
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Interconnectedness Scale
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Mindfulness-Discernment Scale (MDS)
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Mindfulness-Discernment Scale (MDS)
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Nonattachment Scale(NAS)-Short Form
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Nonattachment Scale(NAS)-Short Form
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS)
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS)
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Delay of Shared Gratification Task
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Delay of Shared Gratification Task
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Head-Toe-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS)
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Head-Toe-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS)
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Disappointing Gift Task
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (Preschool Parents version) (SSIS - SEL)
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (Preschool Parents version) (SSIS - SEL)
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version
timeFrame: 12th week
measure: Children's Behavioral Questionnaire(CBQ) age 3-7-Short Form
timeFrame: 8th week
measure: Children's Behavioral Questionnaire(CBQ) age 3-7-Short Form
timeFrame: 12th week
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Hong Kong
country: Hong Kong
facility: Dept of Psychology, CUHK
Study officials:
affiliation: Chinese University of Hong Kong
name: Winnie WS Mak
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
name: Rebecca YM Cheung
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
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