School-based Intervention to Address Climate Change Emotions

NCT06781788 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 767-2023-1376-1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 15
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this study was to qualitatively document the social validity of an intervention combining creative arts and philosophy inquiry and to examine its acceptability, the perceived goals, and perceived benefits for children's mental health and ability to cope with climate change from the perspective of one elemetary-school class students and their teacher. The guiding research question was: How do children and their teacher perceive the acceptability, the goals and the benefits of the intervention? The participants were asked to participate in a seven-week creative arts and philosophical inquiry intervention. Once a week, a research assistant led a workshop using creative arts and group philosophical inquiry to discuss the topic of climate change and the emotions that can arise. Students participated in a brief individual interview after the intervention. The teacher also participated in an individual online interview.

Conditions

Eco-anxiety

Keywords

Eco-anxiety in children; Creative arts intervention; Philosophical inquiry intervention; School-based intervention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Social validity of the intervention

  The social validity comprises of the perceived acceptability, goals and benefits of the intervention from participants' perspectives. It was measured using semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions to allow children and teachers to freely describe in detail their experience of the intervention. The interview guide was developed by the research team and piloted in previous research project to ensure that children understood the questions and that it allowed both positive and negative elements related to the intervention to emerge.

  Immediately after the end of the intervention (at week 7)

Study Arms (1)

Creative arts an philosophy inquiry intervention

OTHER

Participation in a seven-week school-based creative arts and philosophy inquiry intervention to talk about climate change emotions

Other: Making room for climate emotions in the classroom

Interventions

Making room for climate emotions in the classroom OTHER

The "Making room for climate emotions in the classroom" program is designed to address emotions as students learn (formally or informally) about climate change. Each session features a drawing, photography, Lego sculpture, rock painting or collage/drawing workshop to address themes, explore emotions/feelings/experiences and initiate discussions on topics related to climate change.

Creative arts an philosophy inquiry intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 8 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Elementary school students between the ages of 8 and 12 years old who's teacher accepted to participate in the study
• Elementary school teacher

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Université du Québec a Montréal: lead
• Bishop's University: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Bishop's University

Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1M 1Z7, Canada

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Leger-Goodes T, Herba CM, Piche J, Smith J, Ethier MA, Lefrancois D, Malboeuf-Hurtubise C. I want to talk about climate change, but I wish I didn't have to: A descriptive qualitative study of an intervention combining creative arts and philosophical inquiry to help elementary school students cope with climate change emotions. BMC Psychol. 2025 Dec 8;13(1):1339. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-03589-w.

  PMID: 41361496 DERIVED

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal investigator

Model Details: The ORBIT model for intervention development is a framework developed by Czajkowski and colleagues (2015) in collaboration with the National Institute for Health. The model is a systematic approach that helps guide researchers through the various stages of intervention development, evaluation and implementation. The model emphasizes the iterative and dynamic nature of intervention development and evaluation. Phase 1b aims to refine the intervention to optimize it while retaining the components essential to its power to change, which corresponds to the first part of this framework. The data obtained in the previous phase are therefore taken into account to maximize the intervention's effectiveness. Among other things, qualitative methods to assess the acceptability of the intervention in the target population can be used.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 7, 2025
• First Posted: January 17, 2025
• Study Start: October 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: January 19, 2024
• Study Completion: January 19, 2024
• Last Updated: August 5, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)