Effectiveness of Motivated Social Motional Learning (MSEL) Program on Bullying Among Hong Kong Primary School Students

NCT06615778 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: EA230558
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 250
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The present study aimed to test the effectiveness of motivated social-emotional Learning (MSEL) and traditional curriculum-based social-emotional learning (CSEL) in reducing bullying perpetration and victimization among Hong Kong primary school students. The main research questions the cRCT aims to answer are:

1. 1.Does MSEL reduce bullying perpetration and victimization among Hong Kong primary school students?
2. 2.Is MSEL more effective than the traditional CSEL in reducing bullying perpetration and victimization among Hong Kong primary school students?

Conditions

Bullying of Child

Keywords

Bullying perpetration and victimization

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Defending Behavior in bullying incidents

  Defending behavior in bullying incidents is assessed with three items from the larger Bystander Behavior Scale (Jungert et al., 2016), using a 4-point Likert scale ( 1= Has not happened, 2 = Only once or twice, 3 = 2 or 3 times a month, 4= About once a week, 5 = Several times a week). Students are asked how often they defend the bullying victims in the last semester in the way of 1) comforting the victim, 2) telling others to stop bullying, and 3) trying to make others stop bullying. The total score ranges from 4 to 20, with higher scores indicating more frequent defending behaviors.

  Baseline, 3-month and 6-month

• Cyberbullying Perpetration

  Cyberbullying Perpetration is measured with a 7-item Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization Scale (CPVS). Students are asked how many times in the last semester they had engaged in various cyberbullying behaviors through online short message services via the Internet and electronic devices (e.g., emails, blogs, Messenger, Facebook). 7 items include cursing/insulting/ humiliating, threatening/intimidating, posting or sending private/embarrassing pictures without consent, making unwanted sexual remarks, spreading rumors, and spreading a computer virus. Students indicate their cyberbullying behaviors by checking one of five categories (1=has not happened, 2=only once or twice, 3- 2 or 3 times a month, 4=about once a week, 5=several times a week). The total score ranges from 7 to 35, with higher scores indicating more frequent cyberbullying behaviors.

  Baseline, 3-month and 6-month

• School bullying perpetration and victimization

  School bullying perpetration and victimization are evaluated using the Chinese version of the Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire (C-OBVQ). Students are asked about their bullying-engaged experience in the last semester. The answers to all 12 questions can be chosen from a uniform 5-point Likert scale: has not happened, only once or twice, 2-3 times a month, once a week, and several times a week. Students who reported "2-3 times per month" or more frequently have been bullied in any form were classified as victims, participants who reported "2-3 times per month" or more frequently bullied others were deemed as bullies, participants who reported bullying perpetration and victimization simultaneously for "2-3 times per month" or more frequent were labeled as bully-victims (Solberg \& Olweus, 2003). With the total scores ranging from 12 to 60 points, a higher score indicates a higher level of school bullying perpetration and victimization.

  Baseline, 3-month and 6-month

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Psychological Well-being

  Baseline, 3-month and 6-month

• Social Emotional Competence (SEC)

  Baseline, 3-month and 6-month

• School well-being

  Baseline, 3-month and 6-month

• Prosocial behavior

  Baseline, 3-month and 6-month

Study Arms (3)

Waitlist Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

The waitlist control arm consists of participants who are randomly assigned to not receive any treatment. This group will continue with their regular school curriculum and activities, without any additional programming or modifications. The purpose of the control group is to provide a point of comparison for the outcomes measured in the two experimental groups that receive different intervention. If the study shows that the intervention is effective, they will receive all the intervention components of MSEL the in following school year.

Curriculum-based Social-Emotional Learning (CSEL)

EXPERIMENTAL

6-session SEL training will be delivered as the experimental component in this arm. The primary goal of the SEL training is to reduce bullying and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization by enhancing students' social-emotional competence, which has been examined to be the protective factor for bullying-related behaviors (Espejo-Siles et al., 2020; Zych et al., 2018). Additionally, due to the interactive and cooperative nature of the SEL curriculum, it is also beneficial for improving interpersonal relatedness (i.e., peer relationships, teacher-student relationships) within the class, which according to past research, is also associated with reduced bullying behaviors (Durlak, Mahoney, \& Boyle, 2022). Each session lasts 40 minutes and will be delivered by the headteacher who will received systematic training on SEL instructions in each class.

Behavioral: Curriculum-based Social Emotional Learning

Motivated Social Emotional Learning

EXPERIMENTAL

MSEL arm consists of three intervention components: 1) CSEL, 2) the Class Ambassador (meaningful role-taking), and 3) Secret Angel . Participants in this arm will receive the same 6-session SEL training as participants in the CSEL arm. Other than CSEL, the second component is the Class Ambassador, adapted from the pupil responsibilities intervention developed by Ellies et al. (2016). The main goal of Class Ambassador is to offer autonomous, prosocial ways of acquiring recognition and social status through a variety of daily classroom jobs. The objective of Class Ambassador is to provide opportunities for students to 1) practice their social-emotional skills, 2) establish healthy peer relationships, 3) autonomously performing prosocial roles and fulfilling social responsibilities. The third component is the Secret Angel. Students will be observe, record, recognize each other's performance anonymously through appraisal notes.

Behavioral: Motivated Social Emotional Learning

Interventions

Motivated Social Emotional Learning BEHAVIORAL

MSEL arm consists of three intervention components: 1) CSEL, 2) the meaningful role tasks, and 3) the Secret Angel activity. First, participants in the MSEL arm will receive the same 6-session SEL as participants in the Curriculum-based Social-Emotional Learning arm. Second, other than the CSEL, the second component is the Class Diploma tasks adopted from the pupil responsibilities intervention developed by Ellies et al. (2016). Participants will be provided with a list of meaningful roles and select the role they are willing to take based on their talents and interests. Each participant will take the role for two weeks, fulfilling the related duties and responsibilities. The third component is the Secret Angel, in which participants will anonymously recognize each other via the appraisal notes on Shout Out for Your Board.

Motivated Social Emotional Learning

Curriculum-based Social Emotional Learning BEHAVIORAL

In the CSEL arm, 6-session SEL training will be delivered as the experimental component. The primary goal of the SEL training is to reduce traditional bullying and cyberbullying perpetration and victimization by enhancing students' social-emotional competence, which has been examined to be the protective factor for bullying-related behaviors. Each session lasts 40 minutes and is delivered by the headteacher in each class weekly as an after-school workshop. The SEL curriculum is tailored to the social-emotional needs of primary school students, as suggested by CASEL (2013). Also, building on past literature highlighting the lack of SEC as a risk factor linked to bullying behaviors both in the physical and cyber world, specific topics such as self-appreciation (self-awareness), stress management (self-management), respect and acceptance (social awareness), and conflict resolution (relationship skills) incorporated into the curriculum design.

Curriculum-based Social-Emotional Learning (CSEL)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 9 Years - 13 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Primary School: To reduce the confounding effect of academic achievements on student behavior, only public schools in the middle band (i.e., the middle 33% of academic ratings) in Hong Kong will be included in the sampling. Single-sex schools will be excluded in consideration of the sampling diversity. Furthermore, schools implementing other manualized anti-bullying programs will not be included.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The University of Hong Kong: lead
• The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

The Boys and Girls Clubs Association of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

Central Study Contacts

Jingqi Guan

CONTACT

852+5536-2162; jingqig@connect.hku.hk

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Due to the nature of the RCT, blinding the trial participants, school officials, and teachers is not possible. Also, the investigator and the outcome assessor cannot be masked in the research.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 15, 2024
• First Posted: September 27, 2024
• Study Start: September 1, 2024
• Primary Completion: April 30, 2025
• Study Completion: September 30, 2025
• Last Updated: September 27, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

HK (1)