Assessment of a Drama Workshop Program for Immigrant and Refugee Adolescents

Sponsor
McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (Other)
Overall Status
Completed
CT.gov ID
NCT01426451
Collaborator
(none)
464
5
3
92.8

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

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 or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
  • Other: Group tutoring program
  • Other: Theatre workshops
N/A

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
464 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Parallel Assignment
Masking:
None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose:
Supportive Care
Official Title:
Assessment of a Drama Workshop Program for Immigrant and Refugee Adolescents
Study Start Date :
Nov 1, 2011
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Dec 1, 2012

Arms and Interventions

Arm Intervention/Treatment
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.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

  1. Change in impairment of emotional and behavioural symptoms reported by youth [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]

    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

  1. Change in emotional and behavioural symptoms [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]

    Will be assessed by the SDQ global scores (teachers and youths reports).

  2. Change in impairment [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]

    Measured by the SDQ (teacher report).

  3. Change in relations with peers [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]

    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.

  4. Change in school performance [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]

    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.

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:
12 Years to 17 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
No
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

Locations

Site City State Country Postal Code
1 École Antoine-de-St-Exupéry Montréal Quebec Canada
2 École La Dauversière Montréal Quebec Canada
3 École La Voie Montréal Quebec Canada
4 École Lucien-Pagé Montréal Quebec Canada
5 École Saint-Luc Montréal Quebec Canada

Sponsors and Collaborators

  • McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Cécile Rousseau, MD, McGill University Health Center, CSSS de la Montagne

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None 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 Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT01426451
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • CIHR/IRSC-229984
First Posted:
Aug 31, 2011
Last Update Posted:
Mar 27, 2014
Last Verified:
Mar 1, 2014
Keywords provided by 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 Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Mar 27, 2014