Abstract
BackgroundDrop out from upper secondary school represents a risk for the future health and wellbeing of young people. Strengthening of psychosocial aspects of the learning environment may be an effective strategy to promote completion of upper secondary school. This paper is a study protocol of a school based cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluating two school-based interventions, namely the Dream School Program (DSP) and the Mental Health Support Team (MHST). The interventions aim to improve psychosocial learning environments and subsequently school achievements and decrease drop-out and absence.Methods/DesignThe COMPLETE RCT is aimed at youth in upper secondary school, grade 1 (age 15-16 years), and examines the effect of the combination of the DSP and the MHST; and the DSP only, compared with a comparison group on the following primary outcomes: student completion, presence, average grade, and self-reported mental health. Seventeen upper secondary schools from four counties in Norway were randomized to one of the three arms: 1) DSP and MHST; 2) DSP; and 3) comparison (offered DSP intervention in 2018/2019). The study will evaluate the interventions based on information from two cohorts of students (cohort 1 (C1) and cohort 2 (C2)). For C1, data was collected at baseline (August 2016), and at first follow-up seven months later. Second follow-up will be collected 19 months after baseline. For C2, data was collected at baseline (August 2017), and first and second follow-up will be collected similarly to that of C2 seven and 19 months respectively after baseline. Process evaluations based on focus groups, interviews and observation will be conducted twice (first completed spring 2017).DiscussionThe COMPLETE trial is a large study that can provide useful knowledge about what interventions might effectively improve completion of upper secondary school. Its thorough process evaluation will provide critical information about barriers and points of improvement for optimizing intervention implementation. Findings can guide school development in the perspective of improving psychosocial learning environments and subsequent completion of upper secondary schooling.Trial registrationThe trial was retrospectively registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov register on December 22.2017: NCT03382080.
Highlights
Drop out from upper secondary school represents a risk for the future health and wellbeing of young people
As part of the efforts initiated by the Norwegian Ministry of Education [26] to reduce drop out in upper secondary schooling, a call for research evaluating promising interventions through randomized controlled trials was issued in the spring of 2015
This led to the development of the research project which is described in this study protocol: COMPLETE – Good psychosocial environments improve the completion of upper secondary school [27]
Summary
This paper aimed to describe the COMPLETE study, a cluster RCT including two intervention programs to improve youth mental health, completion of, presence at, and academic achievements in upper secondary school in Norway. COMPLETE is innovative due to its three armed design, assessing the variation in effectiveness of implementing the entire prevention triangle including both universal and indicative and selective approaches versus a universal approach only, and comparing these approaches with a control group. Such a comprehensive effect evaluation is of value for education authorities with respect to where efforts should be intensified – is the universal approach enough, or are more systematic efforts recommended for the at-risk groups of students?.
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