Child Development
Conditions
Keywords
child development, music training, self-regulation, exposure to violence
Brief summary
This study evaluates Venezuela's National System of Child and Youth Orchestras, better known as El Sistema.
Detailed description
The randomized control trial was conducted in 16 music centers in Venezuela between May 2012 and November 2013, with a population of 6-14 year olds seeking entry to the program. During an application period (May-July 2012), 2,603 guardians (the experimental cluster) applied on behalf of 2,999 6-14 year olds. Approximately half of the guardians were randomly offered early admission in September 2012, with the rest offered admission in September 2013. Baseline and follow-up data were collected on outcomes which will be explored for full-group and specific sub-groups (children with less educated mothers, and boys or girls exposed to violence).
Interventions
BEHAVIORALTreatment (Invited entry 2012)
Entry to music program offered in September 2012
BEHAVIORALControl (Invited entry 2013)
Entry to music program offered in September 2013
Sponsors
Inter-American Development Bank
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
6 Years to 14 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Excess demand in 5 geographic areas: 24 music centers across the 5 states were identified as the experimental sites based on the likelihood of having excess demand by families in the 2012-13 academic year. * Apply protocol: Experimental sites agreed to accept written applications from guardians between May 7 and July 8, 2012 (without informing guardians of admission decisions until after randomization). Directors consented to participate in the experiment and received training in the experimental protocol. Children were eligible to apply if they would be 6 to 14 years old on September 1, 2012. Sites received applications from 2,603 guardians on behalf of 2,999 children.
Exclusion criteria
* Music center level: Two sites were excluded because their directors declined to follow the experimental protocol, and six were excluded because of insufficient demand to carry out randomized experiment. * Child/guardian level: By prior agreement, each site director could award early admission to a small number of applicants (no more than 5% of positions). In eight sites, 85 children (of 74 guardians) were excluded from the study because they entered through these positions allotted to site directors. Children were also lost from study if parental consent and child assent not given.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Child self-regulatory skills | 1 year (baseline 2012 to followup 2013) | self-reported 10 item self-control scale; response inhibition (Go/no-go), attention functioning (Flanker), and planning skills (Tower of London) |
| Child Behaviors | 1 year (baseline 2012-followup 2013) | prosocial behavior (SDQ Strengths subscale), difficulties (SDQ Difficulties subscale), risk-taking (risky driving game), and aggression (aggressive behavior and propensity scales) |
| Child Prosocial Skills and Connections | 1 year | child self-esteem (Rosenberg scale), empathy (Bryant scale), and school and family engagement (BERS-2 subscales) |
| Child Cognitive Skills | 1 year (baseline 2012-followup 2013) | working memory (digit recall), processing speed (symbol search), and visual-spatial reasoning (Raven) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Guardian Collective Efficacy | 1 year (baseline 2012-followup 2013) | collective efficacy scale of Sampson et. al. 1997 |
Outcome results
None listed