Abstract
BackgroundThe transition from childhood into adolescence can be considered as a critical developmental period. Moreover, adolescence is associated with a decreased use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies and an increased use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies increasing the risk of emotional problems. Targeting emotion regulation is therefore seen as an innovative prevention approach. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Boost camp, an innovative school-based prevention program targeting ER, on adolescents’ emotion regulation skills and emotional wellbeing. Also secondary outcomes and possible moderators will be included.MethodsThe aim is to reach 300 adolescents (16 class groups, 6 schools) in their first year of high school. A clustered Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with two conditions, intervention (n = 150) and control (n = 150), will be set up. Adolescents in the intervention condition will receive 14 lessons over the course of 2 days, followed by Booster sessions, and will be compared with adolescents in a non-intervention control group. The outcomes will be measured by self-report questionnaires at baseline, immediately after Boost camp, and at three and 6 months follow-up.DiscussionData-collection is planned to be completed in May 2018. Data-analyses will be finished the end of 2018. The presented paper describes the Boost camp program and the clustered RCT design to evaluate its effectiveness. It is expected that Boost camp will have beneficial effects. If found effective, Boost camp will have the potential to increase adolescent’s ER and well-being, and reduce the risk to become adults in need. The trials is registered on the 13th of June 2017 in ISRCTN registry [ISRCTN68235634].
Highlights
The transition from childhood into adolescence can be considered as a critical developmental period
These findings are of great concern since mental health problems in adolescence are a clear predictor of serious psychopathology in adulthood [44, 146]
The heightened risk for the development of psychological problems, the long-term burden of adolescent psychopathology, and the limited reach of treatment services highlight the importance of prevention and early intervention programs to prevent the development of psychopathology in adolescents [32, 33, 84]
Summary
Participants and procedure Six secondary schools in the East of Flanders are contacted to participate in the study. Note: FEEL-KJ = the Fragebogen zur Erhebung der Emotionsregulation bei Kindern und Jugendlichen [22], DERS = Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale [62], PANAS = Positive And Negative Affect Schedule for Children [88], CDI = Children’s Depression Inventory [85], CES-D = Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale [109], STAI-C = State-Trate Anxiety Inventory for Children [7], CBSA = Competence Belief Scale for Adolescents [139], HRQoL = KIDSCREEN-10 wellbeing and health-related quality of life [112], CBCL = Child Behavior CheckList [141], OBVQ = Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire [91], SSRPH = Stigma Scale for Receiving Psychological Help [106], ARSP = Academic Performance Rating Scale [50], BRIEF = Behavior Rating Inventory for Executive Function [60] T0 = Baseline assessment, T1 = Post-test, T2 = 3 months follow-up, T3 = 6 months follow-up model will be used. To account for the temporal correlation of measurements within a student, an unstructured residual covariance will be assumed
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