Assessment of a Drama Workshop Program for Immigrant and Refugee Adolescents

McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre464 enrolled

Overview

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a drama workshop program for immigrant and refugee youth is effective in reducing impairment in high school students presenting learning difficulties.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

464

Conditions

Learning Disabilities

Interventions

Group tutoring programOTHER

Academic in-class intervention that focuses on differentiated academic instruction and improved overall academic adjustment. In each classroom assigned to the tutorship intervention, two academic resource assistants will provide weekly in-class support to students for the same length of time than the drama workshop (75 minutes, once a week), with the teacher present in the classroom.

Theatre workshopsOTHER

The theatre expression workshops will run for 12 weeks, with one 75-minute workshop per week. They will be incorporated into the regular class timetable and will be run by the two members of the intervention team who have training in theatre and psychology, and the homeroom teacher, whose level of direct involvement will increase gradually as he or she becomes familiar with the workshops.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 12 YearsMax age: 17 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * All students who are assigned to special classes based on behavioural or learning problems in grades 7-10 in the participating schools will participate in the program and be included in the study if they and their parents consent to in the research. Exclusion Criteria: * More severe cases

Locations (5)

École Antoine-de-St-Exupéry

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

École La Dauversière

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

École La Voie

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

École Lucien-Pagé

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

École Saint-Luc

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Change in impairment of emotional and behavioural symptoms reported by youth

Impairment of emotional and behavioural symptoms will be assessed by the Impact Supplement of the SDQ completed by the adolescents. The SDQ is a 25-item Likert scale assessing emotional and behavioural symptoms. This questionnaire includes an impairment measure that enquires about symptoms in terms of chronicity, distress, social impairment, and burden for others.

Time frame: T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention

Secondary Outcomes

Change in emotional and behavioural symptoms

Will be assessed by the SDQ global scores (teachers and youths reports).

Time frame: T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention

Change in impairment

Measured by the SDQ (teacher report).

Time frame: T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention

Change in relations with peers

Will be assessed using the Adolescent Friendship Inventory (AFI) designed by Rubenstein et al. (1989). This 30-item instrument requires the adolescent to indicate to what degree, on a scale of 1 to 5, the feeling expressed by the statement corresponds to his or her personal feelings in relation to his or her network of peers.

Time frame: T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention

Change in school performance

Will be assessed on the basis of the first and the last report cards of the school year (T0 and T1) and with the first report card of the subsequent year (T2). We will consider students' grades in mathematics and French.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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