An interventional study of raise in Empathy Education, sponsored by ISPA - Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Psicologicas, Sociais e da Vida. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 24 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-12.
Sponsored by ISPA - Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Psicologicas, Sociais e da Vida · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
Child mental health has become a pressing global concern, with 13-20% of children and adolescents presenting mental disorders and about half of adult disorders emerging before age 18. Socioemotional development - encompassing emotion regulation, self-empathy, and empathy for others - is considered a cornerstone of mental health and a key protective factor. Although primary caregivers are central to fostering these competencies, educators also play a decisive role once children enter preschool, while being themselves particularly vulnerable to burnout, with consequences for classroom climate and child outcomes. Integrated programs that simultaneously support children's development and adults' socioemotional competencies are therefore needed, yet remain scarce in Portugal. This study aims to evaluate the cultural adaptation, implementation, and effectiveness of the RAISE program (Research and Practice Partnership: Building Awareness and Increasing Social-Emotional Capacity in the Early Years), developed in Canada and grounded in Malti's 3 E's model and the Kindness developmental paradigm. A Randomized Controlled Trial will be conducted with approximately 100 educators from public and private institutions, randomly allocated to an intervention or waitlist control group. RAISE is delivered online over three weeks, combining asynchronous videos and synchronous group sessions across three modules. Assessments at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up will use multi-informant measures, including the DASS-21, SDQ, and SERT. Data will be analyzed through mixed ANOVA models following intention-to-treat principles. Findings are expected to inform the feasibility and cultural relevance of integrated, prevention-oriented socioemotional programs and to contribute to early childhood mental health promotion in Portugal.
Child mental health has become one of the most pressing public health concerns worldwide. It is estimated that between 13% and 20% of children and adolescents present some form of mental disorder, such as anxiety or depression, and approximately half of adult mental disorders begin before the age of 18 . These figures underscore the importance of promoting psychological well-being from early childhood and of identifying domains that play a protective role for mental health. Among these, socioemotional development has been described as the foundation of mental health, integrating emotional and social competencies that are fundamental for recognizing and self-regulating emotions, constructing identity, establishing positive interpersonal relationships, supporting learning, and making responsible decisions .
Among the theoretical models seeking to explain the development of these competencies, Malti's framework organizes socioemotional development around three components - the 3 E's: Emotion Regulation, Self-Empathy, and Empathy for Others. Emotion regulation, the first of these components, refers to the human capacity to control the occurrence, intensity, and expression of internal states in order to achieve goals and develop morally appropriate behaviors , involving both adaptive strategies (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) and maladaptive strategies (e.g., rumination, suppression) . Emotion regulation develops across the lifespan, initially supported by processes of hetero- and co-regulation with attachment figures and progressively internalized into self-regulatory skills, particularly between the ages of 3 and 4. Empathy, in turn, constitutes a central indicator of socioemotional development and unfolds across three dimensions - affective, cognitive, and behavioral - whose emergence begins in the first months of life and becomes progressively more complex throughout childhood .
Although primary caregivers play a central role in the development of these competencies , as children gain autonomy and enter preschool education, their relational world expands beyond the family context . From this ecological perspective, educators and teachers emerge as authentic agents with a decisive role in promoting children's socioemotional competencies . At the same time, the socioemotional competencies of these professionals themselves shape classroom climate and children's development . Yet the complexity of the profession and continuous exposure to emotional demands make educators and teachers particularly vulnerable to burnout and exhaustion - the so-called "burnout cascade" with direct implications for their well-being and for the quality of their interactions with children .
Considered jointly, these lines of evidence converge on the need for socioemotional learning programs that adopt an integrated approach - one that fosters children's development while simultaneously supporting the socioemotional competencies and well-being of caregivers and educators, and that addresses protective and risk factors for mental health. It is within this framework that the RAISE program (Research and Practice Partnership: Building Awareness and Increasing Social-Emotional Capacity in the Early Years) emerges, developed at the Centre for Child Development, Mental Health, and Policy (Canada), and grounded in Malti's E's model and in the developmental paradigm of Kindness . The program targets caregivers and education professionals working with children aged 3 to 8 and is organized into three modules - socioemotional development, early relationships (the 3 C's: connection, caring, and coaching), and developmental indicators such as well-being and stress - articulating three core pillars: knowledge, practice, and routine .
In Portugal, the scarcity of structured programs aimed at promoting socioemotional competencies among education professionals makes the cultural adaptation and evaluation of RAISE particularly relevant. The present study therefore aims to evaluate the adaptation, implementation, and effectiveness of the program in the Portuguese context, examining its impact on (i) professionals' knowledge and practices, (ii) professionals' mental health, (iii) children's socioemotional competencies, and (iv) children's mental health, as well as (v) the associations between these variables. It is hypothesized that professionals and children allocated to the intervention group will show significantly greater improvements in these indicators over time compared to those in the control group.
178 studies on the registry are indexed under Problem Behavior; 47 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 120 is above the median of 90 across 165 interventional studies indexed under Problem Behavior.
Browse Problem Behavior studies →ISPA - Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Psicologicas, Sociais e da Vida is the lead sponsor of 11 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.
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Inclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Intervention
Behavioral: raise
No Intervention
The RAISE training is delivered over three weeks and comprises three modules. Each module includes an asynchronous session (three self-paced 15-minute videos on definitions, developmental examples, and home strategies) followed by a 90-minute synchronous group session focused on practice, mindfulness, discussion, and interactive activities. The modules cover, respectively, the 3 E's of social-emotional development (emotion regulation, self-empathy, and empathy toward others), the 3 C's of early relationships (connection, caring, and coaching), and developmental indicators such as well-being, resilience, and stress, with educators receiving additional content on assessment tools. Follow-up sessions are held one week and two months after completion, and participants retain unlimited online access to all materials (Speidel et al., 2021, 2023, 2024).
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997)
The SDQ (Goodman, 1997; Portuguese version: Fleitlich, Loureiro, Fonseca, \& Gaspar, 2005) assesses children's strengths and difficulties across five domains: (1) emotional symptoms, (2) conduct problems, (3) hyperactivity/inattention, (4) peer problems, and (5) prosocial behavior. The scale has 25 items rated on a 3-point scale (0 = not true, 1 = somewhat true, 2 = certainly true). Children's competencies (strengths) are assessed through the prosocial behavior domain, whereas the total difficulties score is derived from the remaining four domains.
Time frame: Baseline, up to five weeks, up to 13 weeks
Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale - 21 (DASS-21)
The DASS-21 (Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995; Portuguese version: Pais-Ribeiro, Honrado, \& Leal, 2004) is a self-report scale designed to assess the emotional states of depression, anxiety, and stress. It comprises 21 items, each rated on a 4-point scale (0 = did not apply to me at all to 3 = applied to me very much, or most of the time). The scale comprises three subscales: (1) depression (7 items), assessing symptoms such as inertia, dysphoria, lack of interest or involvement, anhedonia, self-deprecation, discouragement, and devaluation of life; (2) anxiety (7 items), assessing autonomic arousal, subjective experiences of anxiety, musculoskeletal effects, and situational anxiety; and (3) stress (7 items), assessing difficulty relaxing, ease of being upset or agitated, nervous arousal, irritability, exaggerated reactions, and impatience.
Time frame: Baseline, up to five weeks, up to 13 weeks
Social-Emotional Responding Task (SERT; Malti, 2017)
The SERT (Malti, 2017) is an instrument for assessing social-emotional development in children aged 4 to 8 years across four domains: (1) emotion regulation, (2) healthy guilt, (3) self-sympathy, and (4) sympathy for others (Malti, 2017; Malti et al., 2021). The 29-item questionnaire uses a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) and asks caregivers and educators/teachers to rate the child's behavior based on interactions with others and reactions to specific scenarios (e.g., "My child feels bad for other children who are sad").
Time frame: Baseline, up to five weeks, up to 13 weeks
Satisfaction with the training (Speidel et al., 2021, 2023, 2024)
After each asynchronous and synchronous session, participants will report their satisfaction with the session on a 10-point scale (1 = very dissatisfied, 4 = to a small extent, 7 = to a moderate extent, 10 = very satisfied).
Time frame: up to five weeks
Perceptions of learning
participants will report their perceptions of their own learning on a single item rated on a 10-point scale (1 = not at all to 10 =to a very great extent).
Time frame: one weeks, two weeks, three weeks
Intent to use strategies
e.g., "To what extent would you use any of the strategies mentioned in the training to promote growth and well-being?").
Time frame: one week, two weeks, three weeks
Knowledge of training content
Participants will report their understanding of core social-emotional concepts. These items were developed by Speidel, Colasante, and Malti to assess knowledge of the core social-emotional concepts targeted in the training (e.g., "I understand what empathy for oneself is and how it develops") as well as knowledge of how to apply them (e.g., "I know how to support children's empathy for themselves"). Items are rated on a 10-point scale (1 = entirely disagree, 4 = somewhat disagree, 7 = somewhat agree, 10 = entirely agree).
Time frame: Baseline, one week, two weeks, three weeks and up to 13 weeks.
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No — Intellectual Property Data (IPD) might not be shared due to concerns about confidentiality and legal restrictions. Sharing it could risk exposing proprietary or sensitive information, including details that may affect entire family's privacy.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Aug 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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ISPA - Instituto Universitario de Ciencias Psicologicas, Sociais e da Vida