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Evaluating the Public Climate School - a multi-component school-based program to promote climate awareness and action in students: A controlled pilot study

Organizational Data

DRKS-ID:
DRKS00027021
Recruitment Status:
Recruiting complete, study complete
Date of registration in DRKS:
2021-12-01
Last update in DRKS:
2023-09-11
Registration type:
Retrospective

Acronym/abbreviation of the study

EvalPCS Pilot Study

URL of the study

https://publicclimateschool.de/pilotstudie/

Brief summary in lay language

While adolescents are particularly affected by the climate crisis, they increasingly become important drivers of transformational change. Given their potential to reach almost all adolescents, school-based programs are well suited to contribute to the acquisition of knowledge and skills enabling climate action in adolescents with potentially important ancillary effects on their health and wellbeing. Despite this, evidence on the effectiveness of multi-component school-based interventions to promote climate awareness and action is scarce. We therefore conduct a pilot study assessing the feasibility of the evaluation framework of the Public Climate School (PCS) in preparation of a large-scale effectiveness study. The Public Climate School (PCS) is a week of action on topics related to climate change - with lectures, workshops and discussion panels by and with scientists and experts from a wide range of disciplines. The unblinded controlled pilot study is conducted in 14 classes covering grades 7 to 13 in German schools. We will conduct a 30-minute online survey to assess the impact of the PCS on participants´ thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to the climate crisis. Participants will complete the survey before and after the upcoming PCS, which will take place from November 22 to 26, 2021. The second part of the pilot study involves qualitative interviews that will be conducted in January/February 2022 to receive feedback on content and methods of the PCS.

Brief summary in scientific language

While adolescents are particularly affected by the climate crisis, they increasingly become important drivers of transformational change. Given their potential to reach almost all adolescents, school-based programs are well suited to contribute to the acquisition of knowledge and skills enabling climate action in adolescents with potentially important ancillary effects on their health and wellbeing. Despite this, evidence on the effectiveness of multi-component school-based interventions to promote climate awareness and action is scarce. We therefore conduct a pilot study assessing the feasibility of the evaluation framework of the Public Climate School (PCS) in preparation of a large-scale effectiveness study. The unblinded controlled pilot study is conducted in 14 classes covering grades 7 to 13 in German schools. We will conduct a 30-minute online survey to assess the impact of the PCS on participants´ thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to the climate crisis. Participants will complete the survey before and after the upcoming PCS, which will take place from November 22 to 26, 2021. The second part of the pilot study involves qualitative interviews that will be conducted in January/February 2022 to receive feedback on content and methods of the PCS.

Health condition or problem studied

Free text:
Prevention of helplessness and frustration in relation to the climate crisis. Identification of risk factors.
Free text:
The questionnaire that is used in the study is not suitable to make an ICD-10 diagnosis. Only worries and negative emotions will be assessed. Extreme values in these items may indicate possible anxiety and/or depressive symptoms.
Healthy volunteers:
No Entry

Interventions, Observational Groups

Arm 1:
Students will be assessed with a questionnaire before and after the participation in the public climate school intervention. The intervention includes lectures, workshops, and discussion panels with experts from a wide range of disciplines on the topic of climate change and its impact on humans and environment. The intervention aims to inform participants about the facts behind climate change, raising awareness about the impact of climate change, and identifying possible ways to counteract and cope with the crisis. Thus, the intervention includes elements to prevent anxiety and depressive symptoms. The newly developed questionnaire includes scales on pro-environmental behavioural intentions, pro-environmental behaviours, identification with climate change-related civil engagement groups, climate change-related emotions, risk perception, concerns, efficacy expectation, values and norms, as well as knowledge.
Arm 2:
waitlist control group

Endpoints

Primary outcome:
Before and after the intervention / waiting period, pro-environmental behavioural intentions will be assessed via a newly devoloped questionnaire. The scale on pro-environmental behavioural intentions is an adapted version of the scale on pro-environmental behaviours by Ojala 2012 in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
Secondary outcome:
Pro-environmental behaviours, identification with climate change-related civil engagement groups, climate change-related emotions, risk perception, concerns, efficacy expectation, values and norms, as well as knowledge.

Study Design

Purpose:
Other
Allocation:
Randomized controlled study
Control:
  • Control group receives no treatment
Phase:
N/A
Study type:
Interventional
Mechanism of allocation concealment:
No Entry
Blinding:
Yes
Assignment:
Parallel
Sequence generation:
No Entry
Who is blinded:
  • Data analyst

Recruitment

Recruitment Status:
Recruiting complete, study complete
Reason if recruiting stopped or withdrawn:
No Entry

Recruitment Locations

Recruitment countries:
  • Germany
Number of study centers:
Multicenter study
Recruitment location(s):
  • Other 5 weiterführende Schulen in Deutschland Mehrere Schulen in Deutschland

Recruitment period and number of participants

Planned study start date:
No Entry
Actual study start date:
2021-11-12
Planned study completion date:
No Entry
Actual Study Completion Date:
2021-12-17
Target Sample Size:
200
Final Sample Size:
158

Inclusion Criteria

Sex:
All
Minimum Age:
12 Years
Maximum Age:
21 Years
Additional Inclusion Criteria:
all students of participating school classes

Exclusion Criteria

age under 12

Addresses

Primary Sponsor

Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, FB Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie, Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Stephan Heinzel
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin
Germany
Telephone:
+49(0)30 838 61564
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
https://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/arbeitsbereiche/klinische_psychotherapie/Forschung/Forschungsschwerpunkte/Praevention_-Gesundheitsfoerderung-und-Ressourcen/index.html
Investigator Sponsored/Initiated Trial (IST/IIT):
Yes

Contact for Scientific Queries

Klinische Psychologie und PsychotherapieErziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Stephan Heinzel
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin
Germany
Telephone:
+49(0)30 838 61564
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
https://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/arbeitsbereiche/klinische_psychotherapie/Forschung/Forschungsschwerpunkte/Praevention_-Gesundheitsfoerderung-und-Ressourcen/index.html

Contact for Public Queries

Zentrum für ökonomische Bildung, Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
M.Sc. Fabian Schäfer
Universitätsstraße 150,
44780 Bochum
Germany
Telephone:
---
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
https://publicclimateschool.de/

Principal Investigator

Klinische Psychologie und PsychotherapieErziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Stephan Heinzel
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin
Germany
Telephone:
+49(0)30 838 61564
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
https://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/arbeitsbereiche/klinische_psychotherapie/Forschung/Forschungsschwerpunkte/Praevention_-Gesundheitsfoerderung-und-Ressourcen/index.html

Sources of Monetary or Material Support

Institutional budget, no external funding (budget of sponsor/PI)

Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie, Freie Universität Berlin
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin
Germany
Telephone:
No Entry
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
No Entry

Ethics Committee

Address Ethics Committee

Ethikkommission der Freien Universität Berlin Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin
Germany
Telephone:
No Entry
Fax:
No Entry
Contact per E-Mail
URL:
http:// https://www.ewi-psy.fu-berlin.de/einrichtungen/gremien/kommissionen/ethik-kommission/index.html

Vote of leading Ethics Committee

Date of ethics committee application:
2021-09-22
Ethics committee number:
036/2021
Vote of the Ethics Committee:
Approved
Date of the vote:
2021-10-27

Further identification numbers

Other primary registry ID:
No Entry
EudraCT Number:
No Entry
UTN (Universal Trial Number):
No Entry
EUDAMED Number:
No Entry

IPD - Individual Participant Data

Do you plan to make participant-related data (IPD) available to other researchers in an anonymized form?:
Yes
IPD Sharing Plan:
Anonymized data and scripts for statistical analyses will be provided on request after the data collection will be finished (in 2022).

Study protocol and other study documents

Study protocols:
Eichinger, M., Bechtoldt, M., Bui, I.T.M., Grund, J., Keller, J., Lau, A.G., … & Heinzel, S. (2022). Evaluating the Public Climate School - A School-Based Programme to Promote Climate Awareness and Action in Students: Protocol of a Cluster-Controlled Pilot Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022, 19, 8039.
Study abstract:
No Entry
Other study documents:
No Entry
Background literature:
No Entry
Related DRKS studies:
No Entry

Publication of study results

Planned publication:
No Entry
Publikationen/Studienergebnisse:
No Entry
Date of first publication of study results:
No Entry
DRKS entry published for the first time with results:
No Entry

Basic reporting

Basic Reporting / Results tables:
No Entry
Brief summary of results:
No Entry