Yhteispeli - Effectiveness Study on Promoting Childrens' Socio-emotional Skills in School

Yhteispeli: Intervention Effectiveness on Elementary School Childrens' Socio-emotional Skills and Psychiatric Symptoms

The purpose of this cluster randomised trial is to investigate whether the Yhteispeli whole school programme is effective in improving children's socio-emotional skills and mental health and socio-emotional skills.

All Finnish elementary schools and their classes in 1-3 grades were invited to participate in the study. The schools were randomly allocated to receive either Yhteispeli programme or two lectures

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Children's Socio-emotional Skills and Psychiatric Symptoms
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Yhteispeli, whole school programme; Other: Two theoretical lectures

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 4400
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Finland
  • Helsinki, Finland
    • Olli Kiviruusu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 7 years to 10 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• All children from volunteering elementary schools and classes (grades 1 to 3) whose parents gave consent to participate

Exclusion Criteria:

• None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Yhteispeli, whole school programme; Yhteispeli-programme aims to support children's socio-emotional skills and well being at schools. Schools receive the Yhteispeli manual and teachers receive 3 and head masters 2 lecture days about use of Yhteispeli methods including group discussions and exercises. In addition every school is visited 4 times to support the use of Yhteispeli methods. (Lectures for the head masters March 2013 - November 2013, teachers August 2013 - January 2014)	Other: Yhteispeli, whole school programme
Active Comparator: Two theoretical lectures; Teachers receive two theoretical lectures on development of children's socio-emotional skills (3 hours in November 2013 and 3 hours in March 2014 ).	Other: Two theoretical lectures

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in children's psychiatric symptoms	SDQ - The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline
Change in children's socio-emotional skills	A set of socio-emotional skills tests A set of questions regarding bullying	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in children's emotion recognition (and processing)	A set of emotion recognition (and processing) tests	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline
Change in children's executive functions	A set of cognitive functions tests	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline
Change in teacher and work community (occupational) wellbeing	A set of teacher's occupational and work community wellbeing tests	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in teacher and parent interaction	A set of teacher-parent interaction tests	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline
Change in children's and teachers' perceptions of class environment	A set of class environment questions rated by the teacher and children	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline
Change in teaching and parenting styles	A set of questions regarding child rearing	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline
Change in teachers' and parents' socio-emotional skills	A set of questions regarding adult socio-emotional skills	6 months after baseline and 18 months after baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
• Collaborators: Tampere University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Olli Kiviruusu, PhD, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Bjorklund K, Liski A, Samposalo H, Lindblom J, Hella J, Huhtinen H, Ojala T, Alasuvanto P, Koskinen HL, Kiviruusu O, Hemminki E, Punamaki RL, Sund R, Solantaus T, Santalahti P. "Together at school"--a school-based intervention program to promote socio-emotional skills and mental health in children: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2014 Oct 7;14:1042. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-1042.
• Kiviruusu O, Bjorklund K, Koskinen HL, Liski A, Lindblom J, Kuoppamaki H, Alasuvanto P, Ojala T, Samposalo H, Harmes N, Hemminki E, Punamaki RL, Sund R, Santalahti P. Short-term effects of the "Together at School" intervention program on children's socio-emotional skills: a cluster randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychol. 2016 May 26;4(1):27. doi: 10.1186/s40359-016-0133-4.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 30, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): September 30, 2015

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 3, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 26, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): June 30, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 13, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 29, 2021
• Last Verified: November 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Children; Intervention; School; Finland; psychiatric symptoms; Effectiveness study; SDQ; Cluster randomised trial; Teacher; socio-emotional; socio-emotional skills; School community; Whole school approach
• Other Study ID Numbers: THL/455/6.00.00/2014