Assessment of a Drama Workshop Program for Immigrant and Refugee Adolescents - Full Text View

Purpose

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.

Condition	Intervention
Learning Disabilities	Other: Group tutoring program Other: Control groups with no intervention Other: Theatre workshops

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Allocation: Randomized Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment Masking: Open Label Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
Official Title:	Assessment of a Drama Workshop Program for Immigrant and Refugee Adolescents

Further study details as provided by McGill University Health Center:

Primary Outcome Measures:

Change in impairment of emotional and behavioural symptoms reported by youth [ 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 ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
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.

Secondary Outcome Measures:

Change in emotional and behavioural symptoms [ 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 ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Will be assessed by the SDQ global scores (teachers and youths reports).
Change in impairment [ 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 ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Measured by the SDQ (teacher report).
Change in relations with 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 ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
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.
Change in school performance [ 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 ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
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.

Estimated Enrollment:	600
Study Start Date:	November 2011
Estimated Study Completion Date:	March 2014
Estimated Primary Completion Date:	January 2013 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Arms	Assigned Interventions
Experimental: Theatre intervention 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.	Other: Theatre workshops 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.
Experimental: Group tutoring intervention 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 weekly). Individualized student objectives on reading fluency and math will be implemented (one in math and one in reading per student).	Other: Group tutoring program 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.
No Intervention: No intervention Classes not participating neither in drama workshops nor in group tutoring activities will fill out a questionnaire as a basis for comparison.	Other: Control groups with no intervention These groups will receive no intervention in particular, but will complete a questionnaire thrice.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	12 Years to 17 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	No

Criteria

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

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01426451

Locations

Canada, Quebec
École La Voie
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
École Lucien-Pagé
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
École La Dauversière
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
École Saint-Luc
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
École Antoine-de-St-Exupéry
Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Sponsors and Collaborators

McGill University Health Center

Investigators

Principal Investigator:

Cécile Rousseau, MD

McGill University Health Center, CSSS de la Montagne

More Information

No publications provided

Responsible Party:	Cécile Rousseau, Associate Professor, Division of Social and Cultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Transcultural Research and Intervention Team (TRIT), Youth Mental Health, CSSS de la Montagne (Park Extension), McGill University Health Center
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT01426451 History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers:	CIHR/IRSC-229984
Study First Received:	August 25, 2011
Last Updated:	March 14, 2012
Health Authority:	Canada: Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Keywords provided by McGill University Health Center:

Dramatherapy
Group tutoring activities
Impairment
Emotional and behavioural problems
Learning difficulties

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Learning Disorders
Communication Disorders
Neurobehavioral Manifestations
Neurologic Manifestations

Nervous System Diseases
Signs and Symptoms
Mental Disorders Diagnosed in Childhood
Mental Disorders

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 23, 2013