Evaluation of a child-centred intervention targeting wellbeing and cognitive skills in primary age children

拟议的项目将交付和评估一项试验，以改善唐卡斯特地区小学年龄儿童的福祉和认知技能。这是教育神经科学中心（CEN）和Evolve之间的合作，Evolve是一家成立于2003年的社会企业，旨在通过支持身体，情感和认知健康和福祉的各个方面，使儿童能够发挥其潜力。Evolve的HE：RO项目是一个针对小学生的社会和情感学习活动方案，将健康指导和认知培训结合起来。项目HE：RO最近进行了一项试验，以测试干预措施在促进8至11岁儿童的健康和认知技能方面的有效性，这些儿童有被学校排斥的风险。虽然观察到健康导师和认知训练的健康和认知增益，但评估认为试验的认知训练组动力不足，未考虑教育结果。拟议的项目将跟进先前试验的结果，旨在通过增加样本量来解决建议的改进问题，并侧重于评估教育成果。由于干预针对多种技能，了解干预带来的改善机制将是研究的重点，并评估通过干预开发的认知技能的可转移性。此外，将通过比较Evolve训练有素的健康导师、接受过Evolve培训的学校工作人员和一个积极的对照组提供的干预措施的效果来评估干预措施的可扩展性。该项目通过其跨学科合作与ESRC的职权范围相关，并通过制定和评估针对面临学校排斥风险的小学儿童的福祉和认知技能的教育干预措施，产生潜在的社会影响。

The proposed project will deliver and evaluate a trial to improve well-being and cognitive skills in primary age children in the Doncaster area. It is a collaboration between the Centre for Educational Neuroscience (CEN) and Evolve, a social enterprise established in 2003 with the aim of enabling children to achieve their potential through supporting all aspects of physical, emotional and cognitive health and wellbeing. Evolve's Project HE:RO is a programme of social and emotional learning activities for primary school children which combines health mentoring and cognitive training. Project HE:RO recently underwent a trial to test the effectiveness of the intervention in promoting wellbeing and cognitive skills in children ages 8 to 11 who were at risk of school exclusion. Whilst wellbeing and cognitive gains from health mentors and cognitive training were observed, it was assessed that the trial's cognitive training arm was underpowered and educational outcomes were not considered. The proposed project will follow-up on the results of this prior trial and aim to address the recommended improvements through increased sample size and focus on evaluating educational outcomes. As the intervention targets multiple skills, understanding the mechanisms of improvement brought about by the intervention will be a key point of the study, as well as assessing the transferability of cognitive skills developed through the intervention. In addition, intervention scalability will be assessed through comparison of the effects of intervention delivery by Evolve's trained health mentors, school staff who have received training from Evolve, and an active control group. This project is relevant to ESRC remit by its interdisciplinary collaboration and the potential for societal impact through the development and evaluation of an educational intervention targeting wellbeing and cognitive skills in primary school children at risk of school exclusion.