Learning Disabilities
Conditions
Keywords
Dramatherapy, Group tutoring activities, Impairment, Emotional and behavioural problems, Learning difficulties
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a drama workshop program for immigrant and refugee youth is effective in reducing impairment in high school students presenting learning difficulties.
Interventions
OTHERGroup tutoring program
Academic in-class intervention that focuses on differentiated academic instruction and improved overall academic adjustment. In each classroom assigned to the tutorship intervention, two academic resource assistants will provide weekly in-class support to students for the same length of time than the drama workshop (75 minutes, once a week), with the teacher present in the classroom.
OTHERTheatre workshops
The theatre expression workshops will run for 12 weeks, with one 75-minute workshop per week. They will be incorporated into the regular class timetable and will be run by the two members of the intervention team who have training in theatre and psychology, and the homeroom teacher, whose level of direct involvement will increase gradually as he or she becomes familiar with the workshops.
Sponsors
McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
12 Years to 17 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* All students who are assigned to special classes based on behavioural or learning problems in grades 7-10 in the participating schools will participate in the program and be included in the study if they and their parents consent to in the research.
Exclusion criteria
* More severe cases
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in impairment of emotional and behavioural symptoms reported by youth | T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention | Impairment of emotional and behavioural symptoms will be assessed by the Impact Supplement of the SDQ completed by the adolescents. The SDQ is a 25-item Likert scale assessing emotional and behavioural symptoms. This questionnaire includes an impairment measure that enquires about symptoms in terms of chronicity, distress, social impairment, and burden for others. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in emotional and behavioural symptoms | T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention | Will be assessed by the SDQ global scores (teachers and youths reports). |
| Change in impairment | T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention | Measured by the SDQ (teacher report). |
| Change in relations with peers | T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention | Will be assessed using the Adolescent Friendship Inventory (AFI) designed by Rubenstein et al. (1989). This 30-item instrument requires the adolescent to indicate to what degree, on a scale of 1 to 5, the feeling expressed by the statement corresponds to his or her personal feelings in relation to his or her network of peers. |
| Change in school performance | T0: up to 6 weeks before the intervention, T1: up to 2 weeks after the intervention, T2: between 7 and 8 months after the intervention | Will be assessed on the basis of the first and the last report cards of the school year (T0 and T1) and with the first report card of the subsequent year (T2). We will consider students' grades in mathematics and French. |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed