Evaluation of the CHIME Intervention for Improving Early Head Start/Head Start Educator Well-being

NCT05791825 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 22130
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 571
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will test how well a mindfulness-based intervention called CHIME improves the emotional well-being of educators in Early Head Start and Head Start (EHS/HS) settings. The study also will examine if there are any benefits to young children's social emotional health as a result of the CHIME program. Researchers will compare educators who participate in CHIME to educators who are asked to participate at a later time to see if there are benefits to their emotional health and teaching practices.

Conditions

Health, Subjective; Work Related Stress; Compassion; Social Skills

Keywords

Mindfulness; Social-emotional learning; Self-compassion; Early care and education; Teacher well-being; Head Start

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (9)

• Change in Teacher Emotion Regulation Difficulties from baseline to post assessments

  Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Teacher Adaptive Emotion Regulation from baseline to post assessments

  Emotion Regulation Questionnaire - Reappraisal scale

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Teacher Self-Compassion from baseline to post assessments

  Self-Compassion Scale

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Teacher Workplace Stress from baseline to post assessments

  NIOSH Worker Wellbeing Questionnaire

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Teacher Mental Well-Being from baseline to post assessments

  Warkwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale measures perceptions of overall mental well-being

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Educator heart rate variability from baseline to post assessments

  Actihearts worn in the classroom

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Teacher Depressive Symptoms from baseline to post assessments

  Center for Epidemiological Depression - Short From measuring depressive symptoms

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change Teaching Practices from baseline to post assessments

  Educator scores on the CLASS Observation Emotional Support Scale measuring the teachers emotional support for all the children in the classroom

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Teaching Practices from baseline to post assessments

  Caregiver Interaction Scale that measures the interactions between the participating educator and a target child in the classroom.

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Change in Child Social Skills from baseline to post assessments

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Child Self-Regulation Skills from baseline to post assessments

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Perceived Family and Teacher Relationships from baseline to post assessments

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

• Change in Child Social Skills from baseline to post assessments

  Baseline, a post-assessment 8 weeks after the intervention or waitlist period, and a follow-up assessment after 3 months.

Study Arms (2)

Receives CHIME

EXPERIMENTAL

Half of the educators participating in the trial will be assigned to this condition. CHIME is an 8-week, mindfulness and self-compassion based intervention that teaches educators strategies to enhance socioemotional learning in the classroom. The primary endpoints are: educator mindfulness and self-compassion, educator emotional regulation, educator heart rate variability, educator wellbeing and socio-emotional learning, and educator responsiveness, support, and sensitivity in the classroom. The secondary endpoints are: child self-regulation and social skills and family-school relationships.

Behavioral: Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators

Wait-listed comparison

NO INTERVENTION

Half of the HS/EHS educators will be assigned to a waitlisted control group. Specifically, these educators will be scheduled to receive the intervention after a 6-month waiting period. During the interim period, they will complete the same assessments as Arm 1, but will continue to receive 'business as usual' support and professional development through typical Head Start/EHS programming.

Interventions

Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators BEHAVIORAL

The 8-week, manualized, CHIME intervention consists of a 2-hour overview and seven weekly sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. Each CHIME session focuses on a specific mindfulness technique, such as mindful breathing, mindful listening and bringing attention to current states and surroundings to support optimal responsiveness, emotion regulation, and compassion. Social emotional learning is promoted by focusing on five broad competencies: self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making, self-management, and relationship skills and these competencies are practiced and developed through small group discussions, storytelling, journal reflections, modeling, and guided awareness (e.g., meditations), and implementation activities (e.g., gratitude necklace).

Receives CHIME

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• There are 3 types of participants included in this study: Early Head Start/Head Start education staff who work at one of the partner sites; parents of children attending EHS or HS; children attending EHS or HS and enrolled in the classroom of a participating EHS/HS educator.
• Early Head Start and Head Start Educators:
• Provision of signed and dated informed consent form in Docusign
• Currently employed as a lead or assistant educator for \>20 hours per week in a participating Head Start or Early Head Start center
• Stated intention to participate in the CHIME intervention
• All genders; age 19 and older
• Able to complete activities in English
• Parents
• Provision of electronically (in Docusign) /manually signed informed consent form
• All genders
• Age 19 and older
• is Parent or legal guardian of child enrolled in the classroom of a EHS/HS educator participating in the study
• Able to complete activities
• Children
• Provision of electronically signed informed consent form by parent/legal guardian

You may not qualify if:

• Early Head Start and Head Start Educators:
• Does not currently work at a participating HS/EHS center
• younger than 19 years of age
• Parents
• Not a parent/legal guardian of a child in an EHS/HS classroom

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Department of Health and Human Services: collaborator
• University of Nebraska Lincoln: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588, United States

Location

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MeSH Terms

Conditions

Occupational Stress; Social Skills

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Occupational Diseases; Stress, Psychological; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Social Behavior

Study Officials

• Holly Hatton-Bowers, PhD

  University of Nebraska Lincoln

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The study employs a cluster-randomized design with two study arms, one of which will receive the intervention and the other of which will act as the control group. The study will employ repeated measures at pre- (baseline/time 1 assessment), post-intervention (time 2), and 3-month (time 3) follow-up points. The counterfactual will be a waitlisted control comparison condition and randomization to the intervention/control group will occur at the classroom level.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 13, 2023
• First Posted: March 30, 2023
• Study Start: March 13, 2023
• Primary Completion: October 31, 2025
• Study Completion: October 31, 2025
• Last Updated: January 27, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF
• Time Frame: Beginning 3 months and ending 36 months following article publication.
• Access Criteria: Investigators whose proposed use of the data has been approved by an independent review committee ("learned intermediary") identified for this purpose.

Locations

US (1)