Art-Based Intervention to Promote Psychological Adjustment, Self-Concept and Quality of Life in Children: Protocol for a Cluster Non-Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Children's mental health is a critical public health priority, with approximately 8% of children aged 10 years or younger experiencing mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders. Despite evidence supporting early intervention, access to mental health services remains limited, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Art-based interventions have emerged as promising approaches to support mental health and socioemotional development. However, significant gaps persist in understanding their efficacy, scalability, and long-term impact. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a community-based visual arts intervention on children's self-concept, psychological adjustment, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in vulnerable communities. METHODS: This study is a cluster nonrandomized controlled trial with children from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Children aged 6 to 12 years (n=156; intervention: n=104, 66.7%; waitlist control: n=52, 33.3%) will be recruited through schools and community projects. Allocation to the intervention or waitlist control group will be based on neighborhood or cluster membership. The intervention consists of 1-hour weekly visual arts sessions over 9 months led by a professional artist, culminating in community art exhibitions. Assessments will be conducted at baseline (T1) and postintervention assessment (T2) using validated measures: the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for psychological adjustment, the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) for self-concept, and the Child Health Utility 9D (CHU9D) for HRQoL, as well as societal resource use and related costs. Quantitative data will be analyzed using regression models and intention-to-treat principles. RESULTS: This study was funded in September 2023. Recruitment began in March 2024 and ended in July 2025. As of April 2024, a total of 179 participants had been enrolled. Data collection was completed in July 2025, and analysis is expected to begin in April 2026. Results are anticipated to be published in September 2026. CONCLUSIONS: This project has the potential to enhance children's self-concept, psychological adjustment, and HRQoL through participation in a community-based visual arts intervention. The study design, with assessments at preintervention and postintervention time points, will provide valuable insights into the trajectories of psychosocial and quality-of-life outcomes in this population. In addition, the combination of psychosocial assessment and economic evaluation will generate important evidence on the cost-effectiveness of art-based interventions, informing both educational and public health decision-making. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07165704; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07165704. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/84994.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.016 | 0.017 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.007 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.012 | 0.007 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.005 | 0.004 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.004 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.004 | 0.003 |
| Research integrity | 0.006 | 0.009 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.091 | 0.009 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".