Ecological Footprint Awareness Program in 60-72 Months Children

Effectiveness of Ecological Footprint Awareness Program in 60-72 Months Children: A Randomized Controlled Study

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an ecological footprint awareness training program for children aged 60-72 months.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Program, Communication
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Ecological Footprint Awareness Program

Detailed Description

This study was conducted using a cluster randomized controlled pretest-posttest experimental design. It was carried out in four kindergartens located in a city center between April and June 2023. Two of the kindergartens were assigned to the intervention group while the other two were assigned to the control group. Data was collected using the Ecological Footprint Awareness Scale for Children (EFAS-C). The training program was conducted with the children in the intervention group for four weeks, with a 40-minute session each week. The program covered one topic each week, which included waste management, water and energy use, food consumption, and transportation. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired groups t-test, and independent groups t-test, with a 95% confidence interval and p<.05 significance level.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 66
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey
  • Burdur, Turkey
    • Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• enrolled in the schools where the study was conducted
• Approved by their family to participate in the study,
• 60-72 months old

Exclusion Criteria:

• participation in less than 2/3 of the intervention protocol

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Ecological Footprint Awareness Program Group; The program was conducted for four weeks, one day each week, for 40 minutes. Each week, a different topic was addressed such as waste evaluation, water and energy usage, food consumption, and transportation. The program was created in line with expert opinions and literature.	Behavioral: Ecological Footprint Awareness Program; The program was conducted for four weeks, one day each week, for 40 minutes. Each week, a different topic was addressed such as waste evaluation, water and energy usage, food consumption, and transportation. The program was created in line with expert opinions and literature. The sessions were based on the principles of the Social Cognitive Learning Theory, developed by Bandura, which includes mutual determinism, symbolization, anticipatory capacity, vicarious learning, self-regulation capacity, and self-judgment capacity. During each session, various techniques such as animation, drawing, storytelling, memory cards, and games were employed. To ensure the program's content was appropriate for children's development, the opinions of two experts from the child development department of the university were obtained.
No Intervention: Control Group; No intervention was applied to the group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Ecological Footprint Awareness Scale for 60-72 Month-old Children scores	ıt contains five themes, including 'Water and energy use,' 'Waste utilization,' 'Food consumption,' and 'Transportation'. It contains a total of 19 items, which are asked through a game and story structure. he scale is divided into two sections: a game section and a story section. In the game section, children are shown pictures and asked how the characters should behave. In the story section, children are told a story and asked which character is behaving in an environmentally friendly way. Children who answer correctly receive a score of "1", while those who answer incorrectly receive a score of "0". The total score is used to measure environmental awareness. The KR-20 coefficient for internal consistency reliability of the EKAY-O was calculated as 0.66.	four weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 2, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 19, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): July 24, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 24, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 7, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): February 8, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 8, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 7, 2024
• Last Verified: February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: child; environment; awareness; ecology
• Other Study ID Numbers: ERSOYU-SBF-ASB-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No