Department of Health Sciences, California State University East Bay, Hayward, CA, United States.
Institute of Human Development, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States.
Front Public Health. 2021 Jan 28;9:623283. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.623283. eCollection 2021.
The maturational period from age 10 to 14-often referred to as very young adolescents (VYAs)-represents a dynamic period of learning and neurobehavioral development as individuals transition from childhood to adolescence. This developmental period presents a window of opportunity for strategic investment to improve trajectories of health, education and well-being among young people. More specifically, neurodevelopmental changes during pubertal maturation influence neural circuitry involved in processing emotions, risks, rewards and social relationships. Technology can be leveraged to create social emotional learning experiences for VYAs and provide opportunities for flexible, distance learning in low-income countries. The aim of this study protocol is to detail how insights from developmental science can be used to inform the intervention design, implementation and evaluation of a distance learning, social emotional learning intervention for VYAs. This study will be delivered to 500 VYAs in Temeke District, Dar es salaam. Study participants will watch culturally-relevant, animated videos on social emotional mindsets and skills and content will be paired with experiential learning activities over a period of 10 weeks. A nested smart-phone based study will practice learning social emotional skills and mindsets through engagement with multi-media material via the WhatsApp messenger application. Surveys and in-depth interviews will be administered to adolescents, their parents/caregivers and teachers before and after the intervention to evaluate the effect of the intervention on study outcomes. This study is among the first to provide results on how to effectively design a distance-learning intervention to promote social emotional learning and identity development within a low-resource context. The findings will provide substantial evidence to inform new intervention approaches that are effective in low-resource contexts and strategies to reach scale among similar programs invested in leveraging technology to support adolescent health and development. Study registered with ClinicalTrials.gov. Identifier number NCT0445807.
从 10 岁到 14 岁的成熟阶段——通常被称为非常年轻的青少年（VYAs）——代表了个体从儿童期向青春期过渡时学习和神经行为发展的活跃时期。这段发展时期为加强年轻人健康、教育和福祉轨迹提供了战略投资的机会。更具体地说，青春期成熟过程中的神经发育变化会影响处理情绪、风险、奖励和社会关系的神经回路。技术可以被利用为 VYAs 创造社会情感学习体验，并为低收入国家提供灵活的远程学习机会。本研究方案的目的是详细说明发展科学的见解如何用于为远程学习、社会情感学习干预措施为 VYAs 提供信息。这项研究将在达累斯萨拉姆的坦盖区为 500 名 VYAs 提供。研究参与者将观看有关社会情感心态和技能的文化相关动画视频，并且在 10 周的时间内将内容与体验式学习活动相结合。一个嵌套的智能手机研究将通过通过 WhatsApp 消息应用程序参与多媒体材料来练习学习社会情感技能和心态。在干预前后，将对青少年、他们的父母/照顾者和教师进行调查和深入访谈，以评估干预对研究结果的影响。这项研究是第一个提供如何在资源匮乏的环境中有效地设计远程学习干预措施以促进社会情感学习和身份发展的结果的研究之一。研究结果将提供大量证据，为新的干预方法提供信息，这些方法在资源匮乏的环境中是有效的，并且为利用技术支持青少年健康和发展的类似计划提供了扩大规模的策略。这项研究在 ClinicalTrials.gov 上注册。标识符编号 NCT0445807。
