Description

In this Video Abstract, Professor Jean-Francois Trani discusses his co-authored JCPP paper ‘Improving child mental health and learning outcomes and reducing stigma and discrimination in conflict setting: findings from a cluster randomized controlled trial of a classroom-based psychosocial intervention in rural primary schools in Afghanistan’. Conflict and crises have long-lasting and dramatic consequences on the mental health of children. This paper aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention on child mental health in Afghanistan.

Learning Objectives

1. Evaluate the effectiveness of a culturally adapted, two-component social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention for children of primary school age in rural Afghanistan.

2. Examine whether a socioecologically informed SEL intervention could enhance children's mental well-being, learning outcomes, and perceptions of school and community climate.

3. Explore whether there are gender differences in treatment effects.

4. Investigate area-level difference in treatment effects and whether there were greater benefits in areas with higher implementation intensity.