Evaluating a school-based programme to prevent offending behaviour among young people
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN23403781 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN23403781 |
- Submission date
- 16/06/2021
- Registration date
- 16/06/2021
- Last edited
- 15/03/2023
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
The programme to be evaluated here is a universal life skills education programme. It is designed to help young people make safer and healthier choices and reduce offending behaviours including hate, knife, drug and alcohol-related crime. The aim of this study is to find out whether the DARE25 programme is associated with more prosocial behaviour among participating Year 6 pupils.
Who can participate?
Year 6 pupils at recruited primary schools in England
What does the study involve?
Participating schools are randomly allocated to the intervention group or the control group. In the treatment group Year 6 pupils will participate in ten one-hour lessons delivered by a trained DARE officer. The lessons will take place in the child’s regular classroom. The class teacher and classroom assistants will be present, although the session is led by the DARE officer. The lessons will involve a combination of role play, age-related scenarios, group skills sessions, discussion groups, reading and writing exercises and/or other interactive methods. The control group schools operate on a 'business-as-usual' basis and receive the DARE 25 programme after the end of the study.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Pupils may benefit from improved confidence in decision making. The intervention is delivered in school with the class teacher present. This environment reduces the risk of harm to participating pupils.
When did the study start and how long does it last?
October 2019 to July 2021
Who is funding the study?
Youth Endowment Foundation (UK)
Who is the main contact?
Martin Culliney (M.Culliney@shu.ac.uk)
Peter Moyes (peter@lifeskills-education.co.uk)
Contact information
Scientific
10101 Arundel Building
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield
S1 1AY
United Kingdom
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-7329-8675 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +44 (0)114 225 6072 |
| M.Culliney@shu.ac.uk |
Public
10101 Arundel Building
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield
S1 1AY
United Kingdom
| Phone | +44 (0)114 225 6072 |
|---|---|
| M.Culliney@shu.ac.uk |
Study information
| Study design | Cluster randomized trial |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Cluster randomised trial |
| Study setting(s) | School |
| Study type | Prevention |
| Participant information sheet | ISRCTN23403781_PIS.docx |
| Scientific title | Evaluation of DARE 25: a clustered randomised controlled trial of a school-based programme to prevent offending behaviour among young people |
| Study acronym | DARE 25 |
| Study objectives | That completion of the DARE25 programme is associated with more prosocial behaviour among participating Year 6 pupils as measured by the primary and secondary outcome measures. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Approved 23/10/2020, by the Sheffield Hallam University ethical review committee (Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, S1 1AY, UK; Tel: not available; ethicssupport@shu.ac.uk), ref: ER27796305 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Offending behaviours including hate, knife, drug and alcohol-related crime |
| Intervention | This efficacy trial uses a two-arm, two-level design, with pupils clustered into schools. The unit of randomisation is the school. Schools were randomly allocated to the treatment or control group at two separate times: December 2020 for Cohort A, and March 2021 for Cohort B. Delivery was scheduled for Spring (Cohort A) and Summer (Cohort B) terms of 2021, but due to COVID-19 school closures all delivery was moved to the Summer term (April-July 2021). In the treatment group Year 6 pupils will participate in ten one-hour lessons delivered by a trained DARE officer. The lessons will take place in the child’s regular classroom. The class teacher and classroom assistants will be present, although the session is led by the DARE officer. The lessons will involve a combination of role play, age-related scenarios, group skills sessions, discussion groups, reading and writing exercises and/or other interactive methods. This is followed by a graduation ceremony that is held in school. The control group schools operate on a 'business-as-usual' basis and receive the DARE 25 programme after the end of the study. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | Prosocial behaviour measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at baseline and 3-8 months later |
| Secondary outcome measures | Prosocial behaviour measured using the Problem Behaviour Frequency Scale (PBFS) at baseline and 3-8 months later |
| Overall study start date | 01/10/2019 |
| Completion date | 28/07/2021 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Other |
|---|---|
| Age group | Child |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 4000 pupils in 120 schools |
| Total final enrolment | 3881 |
| Key inclusion criteria | The intervention is aimed at Year 6 pupils and is intended to be delivered in class. In recruited schools it is expected that the entire Year 6 cohort participates, with the exception of pupils withdrawn by their parents or carers. As such, there was no screening of individual participants. |
| Key exclusion criteria | Not in Year 6 during the 2020/21 school year |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/11/2020 |
| Date of final enrolment | 30/03/2021 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- England
- United Kingdom
Study participating centre
Sheffield
S1 1AY
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Charity
C/O Impetus
10 Queen Street Place
London
EC4R 1AG
United Kingdom
| hello@youthendowmentfund.org.uk | |
| Website | https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/ |
Funders
Funder type
Charity
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 30/09/2022 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Stored in repository |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Protocol to be published as soon as trial registration is complete. Report to be published on the funder website. |
| IPD sharing plan | Personal data will be kept securely in a password protected folder accessible only to members of the evaluation team. The SHU evaluation team will comply with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR legal basis: public task Article 6 (1e)) and the SHU Data Protection Policy Statement. Please refer to the link for more information: https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-this-website/privacy-policy/privacy-notices/privacy-notice-for-research After the evaluation is finished (in 2022), the pupil data collected (name, unique pupil number, date of birth) will be sent to the Department for Education (at which point Sheffield Hallam University cease to be responsible for the data), where it will be stored in a pseudonymised form to allow future research into the relationship between participating in DARE 25, educational attainment and criminal records. All personal data will be deleted at this stage. No pupils will be individually identifiable in the data archived. For more detail please see: https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/YEF_Data_Guidance_Participants_Nov2020.pdf |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participant information sheet | 08/07/2021 | No | Yes | ||
| Funder report results | 01/09/2022 | 15/03/2023 | No | No |
Additional files
- ISRCTN23403781_PIS.docx
- Uploaded 08/07/2021
Editorial Notes
15/03/2023: Funder report added.
02/08/2022: The intention to publish date has been changed from 01/12/2021 to 30/09/2022.
08/07/2021: The participant information sheet has been uploaded.
16/06/2021: Trial's existence confirmed by the Youth Endowment Fund.
