Planetary Health and Environmental Justice in Construction Career Education (EJT-CTE)

January 2, 2026 updated by: Devan Cantrell Addison-Turner, Stanford University

Integrating Planetary Health and Environmental Justice Into High School Construction Career Education: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Ecosystem Justice Translator

This study tests whether a new educational curriculum can help high school students in construction career programs better understand how building design affects community health and environmental justice. The study compares two approaches: (1) a new "Community-Centered Design" curriculum that uses the Ecosystem Justice Translator (EJT) software tool, which helps students see connections between construction decisions, energy efficiency, nature exposure, and health outcomes in different neighborhoods; versus (2) the traditional construction career curriculum that focuses on technical skills. Students aged 14-18 enrolled in construction career programs will be randomly assigned to one of these two groups. Over 6 months, the intervention group will learn to use the EJT tool and apply environmental justice concepts to construction projects. Researchers will measure how well students understand connections between construction, environment, and health at the start, middle, and end of the program, and again 6 months later. The goal is to determine if integrating environmental justice and health concepts into construction education improves students' awareness of how their future work can help or harm community health, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 14-18 years at enrollment
  • Current enrollment in a participating construction career pathway program (minimum 2nd semester)
  • Ability to participate in 6-month curriculum during regular CTE class periods
  • Written informed consent from parent/guardian for participants under 18 years
  • Written assent from student participant
  • Ability to complete assessments in English (with accommodations as needed)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Prior participation in a formal environmental justice or planetary health curriculum within the past 12 months
  • Expected inability to complete study assessments due to planned relocation or program withdrawal
  • Concurrent enrollment in another research study involving educational interventions

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Community-Centered Design Curriculum with EJT
6-month Community-Centered Design curriculum integrating the Ecosystem Justice Translator (EJT). Structure: Weeks 1-4 foundations of planetary health and environmental justice; Weeks 5-10 EJT module training; Weeks 11-18 community engagement project with local stakeholder interviews; Weeks 19-24 capstone design project. Delivered during regular CTE class periods (~4 hours weekly). Students work in teams of 3-4 on authentic community challenges. EJT is a web-based computational system with four modules: Community Voice Equity Translation (CVET), Ecosystem Service Health Integration (ESHI), Environmental Justice Investment Prioritization (EJIP), and Uncertainty, Bias, and Risk Quantification (UBR).
Behavioral: Community-Centered Design Curriculum with EJT
6-month (24-week) Community-Centered Design curriculum integrating the Ecosystem Justice Translator (EJT), delivered during regular CTE class periods (~4 hours weekly). EJT is a web-based computational system with four modules: (1) Community Voice Equity Translation using large language models; (2) Ecosystem Service Health Integration linking InVEST models with epidemiological dose-response functions; (3) Environmental Justice Investment Prioritization; (4) Uncertainty, Bias, and Risk Quantification. Curriculum structure: Weeks 1-4 planetary health foundations; Weeks 5-10 EJT training; Weeks 11-18 community engagement projects; Weeks 19-24 capstone design. Students work in teams of 3-4 on authentic community challenges.
Other Names:
  • Community-Centered Design Curriculum with Ecosystem Justice Translator
  • EJT Curriculum
Active Comparator: CONTROL
Standard construction career curriculum per California CTE Model Curriculum Standards: building codes and permitting, construction safety (OSHA 10), blueprint reading and computer-aided design (CAD), materials science and selection, basic carpentry and framing. Control participants receive equal contact hours (~4 hours weekly for 24 weeks) without explicit health equity, environmental justice, or planetary health content. Control participants will be offered access to intervention materials and EJT software after study completion (waitlist control design).
Behavioral: Traditional Technical Curriculum
Standard construction career curriculum per California CTE Model Curriculum Standards delivered over 24 weeks (~4 hours weekly). Content includes: building codes and permitting, construction safety (OSHA 10 certification), blueprint reading and CAD, materials science and selection, basic carpentry and framing techniques. Equal contact hours to intervention arm without explicit health equity, environmental justice, or planetary health content. Control participants offered access to EJT curriculum materials after study completion (waitlist control design).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health-Integrated Equity Consciousness Index (HI-ECI)
Time Frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months (primary endpoint), 12 months
Composite measure of awareness of relationships between built environment, energy systems, nature exposure, and health equity. Derived from coded qualitative responses to standardized scenario prompts. Higher scores indicate greater health equity consciousness. Range 0-100.
Baseline, 3 months, 6 months (primary endpoint), 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Stanford University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Devan C. Addison-Turner, PhD in CEE, daddisonturner@stanford.edu

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

August 5, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 12, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 20, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 20, 2025

First Posted (Estimated)

January 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 2, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB-84369
  • DGE-2146755 (Other Grant/Funding Number: National Science Foundation)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

IPD Plan Description

I may keep anonymous, unique Individual Participant Data (IPD) for participant performance tracking in a codebook and database. The information may be used to publish a journal paper.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Environmental Exposure

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Zimbabwe

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe