The goal of this single arm study is to: 1. primary purpose: to determine the feasibility of a novel social-emotional learning curriculum when implemented in the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program; 2a. secondary purpose: to determine whether the novel social-emotional learning curriculum has positive effects youth social emotional learning skills; 2b. secondary purpose: to determine whether the novel social-emotional learning curriculum has positive effects on youth resilience and overall functioning. Participants: 1. Facilitators working with the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program 2. Youth aged 11-14 who participate in the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program 3. Parents of youth who participate in the STEM Academy Visions of Science after school program The main questions this study aims to answer are: Primary Objectives: 1. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum feasible within the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program? 2. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum acceptable within the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program? 3. Is the novel social-emotional curriculum appropriate within the STEM Academy program at the Visions of Science after school program? Secondary Objectives: Social-emotional learning skills 1\. Have youth social-emotional learning skills improved as a result of participating in the novel social-emotional learning curriculum? Secondary Objectives: Resilience and overall functioning 1\. Have youth resilience abilities and overall functioning improved as a result of participating in the novel social-emotional learning program? Comparator: None Measures: Primary Objective: Feasibility After school program staff participants will be asked to complete: * 3 feasibility measures (feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness of intervention) after each social-emotional module they complete teaching. * weekly fidelity checklists to assess feasibility. Youth participants will be asked to complete: \- the intervention appropriateness measure during the post-curriculum data collection time point. Secondary Objective: Social-emotional learning skills After school program staff participants will be asked to complete the following measure pre- and post-curriculum implementation: \- social-emotional learning skills measure for each youth aged 11-14 years in their class. Youth participants will be asked to complete the following measure pre- and post-curriculum implementation: \- social-emotional learning skills measure Parents participants whose youth are in the intervention arm will be asked to participate in an interview. Secondary objective: Resilience and overall functioning After school program staff participants will be asked to complete the follow measures pre- and post-curriculum implementation: \- overall functioning measure for each youth aged 11-14 years in their class. Youth participants will be asked to complete: \- resilience measure
The EMPOWER project is a community-academic partnership between 2 after school programs (beyond 3:30 and Visions of Science) and a mental health teaching hospital (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health). The main objective of this project is to bolster youth mental well-being by developing a novel social-emotional learning curriculum that after school programs can embed into their existing activities. The curriculum is designed to improve youth's social emotional learning skills through the integration of short social-emotional learning lessons that are embedded into existing programming within an after-school program. The curriculum is based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning's five core SEL competencies that include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and decision-making. The investigators have designed a pilot study to test the feasibility and efficacy of the EMPOWER social-emotional learning curriculum. Visions of Science hosts a 14-week program from January - April 2025 called STEM Academy, an after-school science-based program for youth in grades 6-8. We designed a single arm study to assess a shortened and modular use of the EMPOWER social-emotional learning curriculum that is tailored to Visions of Science.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
26
EMPOWER is a 16-week social-emotional learning curriculum that is integrated into the after-school program context. The STEM Academy program will implement a shortened version of the social-emotional learning curriculum to meet their timelines.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Feasibility assessed by 5-point Likert-type scale
Description: Staff will complete the Feasibility of Intervention (Weiner et al., 2017) measure after each social-emotional domain (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship skills, decision-making) is taught. This is a 4-item, 5-point Likert-type scale that measures a composite feasibility of intervention score.
Time frame: 13 weeks
Acceptability of Intervention
Staff in the active intervention arm will complete the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (Weiner et al., 2017) measure after each social-emotional domain (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship skills, decision-making) is taught. This is a 4-item, 5-point Likert-type scale that measures a composite acceptability of intervention score.
Time frame: 13 weeks
Intervention Appropriateness
Staff will complete the Intervention Appropriateness (Weiner et al., 2017) measure after each social-emotional domain (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship skills, decision-making) is taught. This is a 4-item, 5-point Likert-type scale that measures a composite appropriateness of intervention scale. Youth will complete the intervention appropriateness (Weiner et al., 2017) scale post-SEL curriculum implementation.
Time frame: 13 weeks
Overall functioning
KIDSCREEN 10 (Child Public Health, 2023) is a 10-item, 5-point Likert-type scale that measures global quality of life. Staff will complete an adapted version of the KIDSCREEN for each youth they work with (avg. 25 youth/site) pre- and post-EMPOWER SEL curriculum intervention. Youth will complete the KIDSCREEN pre- and post-EMPOWER SEL curriculum intervention.
Time frame: 13 weeks
Resilience
Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10; 2007) is a 10-item, 5-point Likert-type scale that measures overall resilience. Youth will complete this measure pre- and post-EMPOWER SEL curriculum intervention.
Time frame: 13 weeks
Social-emotional learning skills
The Social Skills Improvement System - Social Emotional Learning (SSIS-SEL Brief Scale; (Elliot et al., 2020) is a 20-item, 4-point Likert-type scale that measures self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and decision making as a composite score of social-emotional competency. Staff will complete the SSIS-SEL Brief Scale for each youth they work with (avg. 25 youth/site) pre- and post-EMPOWER SEL curriculum intervention. Youth will complete the SSIS-SEL Brief Scale pre- and post-EMPOWER SEL curriculum intervention.
Time frame: 13 weeks
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