Social Inclusion through Educational, Social and Digital Support in Roma Population in Spain

Last registered on January 19, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social Inclusion through Educational, Social and Digital Support in Roma Population in Spain
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012779
Initial registration date
January 19, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 19, 2024, 2:21 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Spain
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ana Garcia Hernandez
Affiliation
J-PAL Europe, RWI
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Inés Torres Rojas
PI Affiliation
J-PAL Europe, CEMFI
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-06-01
End date
2024-03-31
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
Social Inclusion, Digital Skills, Social Support
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Roma population in Spain suffers from extreme levels of risk of poverty and/or social exclusion, a considerably lower educational level and much higher unemployment rates than the general population, especially women. The aim of this study is to obtain causal evidence on the impact of a multi-dimensional program providing vulnerable Roma population families with children with social and individual support, educational tutoring and digital skills training. The randomized control trial (RCT), implemented by Fundación Secretariado Gitano, will randomly assign around 170 families to two groups: one that will receive the three types of assistance (treatment group), and other not participating in any of the interventions (control group). We will analyze the effect of the program on educational performance of children and parental involvement in their education, life conditions and digital competences. Regarding education, we expect the intervention to improve attendance, attitudes and competences, as well as a positive effect in life conditions and digital skills among children and adults.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Garcia Hernandez, Ana and Inés Torres Rojas. 2024. "Social Inclusion through Educational, Social and Digital Support in Roma Population in Spain." AEA RCT Registry. January 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12779-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name
Fundación Secretariado Gitano
Type
ngo
URL
https://www.gitanos.org
Name
Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones
Type
government
URL
https://www.inclusion.gob.es/home
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention will consist of two types of services and an educational pathway:

1. Social and personal support service: it is aimed at all participating families, and it will include the following areas of intervention:
a) Social care: social accompaniment to improve the family's living conditions, access to public aid and support in the management of benefits.

b) Development of basic, personal, and social competences: self-knowledge and self-esteem, personal motivation, social and communication skills, time management, planning of personal and family objectives, conflict management and coexistence within and outside the family (neighbourhood), etc.

c) Complementary transversal actions: Participation and active citizenship; Gender equality; Equal treatment: awareness of rights, prevention of discrimination, assistance in cases of discrimination.

2. Technological accessibility service: it focuses on the acquisition of digital skills, improvement of these skills, prevention and safety, as well as including an internet access point (connectivity) in the service offices available to beneficiaries.

3. Educational itinerary: it is aimed at children and teenagers in the household who are studying between the 3rd year of Primary school and 3rd year of secondary school.Three levels of intervention are defined in the itinerary: individual, group and socio-community.

- Individual level: Educational Guidance by Competences. Educational Guidance consists of carrying out a personalised process of accompanying students in personal, contextual and family aspects, which are not strictly curricular and which can influence and determine educational success or failure.

-Group level: actions to improve educational, vocational and transversal competences, such as tutoring, trainings and counselling.

-Socio-community level: networking with the environment and other social agents
Intervention Start Date
2022-09-01
Intervention End Date
2023-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Educational outcomes:
- Composite indicator of educational achievement
- Average score in school tests
- Educational competencies
- Individual variables (motivation, attitudes)
Life conditions: index of social protection
Digital competences: index of digital skills
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
All the indexes previously mentioned will be constructed as averages or as Anderson indexes.

The composite index of educational achievement is composed of the average score in school tests, educational competencies and individual variables.

Educational competences include motivation and attitudes, attendance, expectations about their education, satisfaction and behavior at school.

Personal variables include variables related with self-esteem and social skills

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Educational outcomes: motivation, expectations, satisfaction, behavior at school, personal variables, and family involvement in educational itineraries


Life conditions: access to resources, individual and social competencies, and community participation for adults. Healthy habits and community participation for children.


Digital competencies: digital skills and confidence and security in internet access
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The recruitment of the families participating in the project will be carried out directly by Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) among the families with whom it establishes direct contact or channelled by FSG from referrals received from schools, and possibly from other entities of the municipality (Social Services and other public resources) in the 6 cities involved in the pilot project. The families participating in the project must meet the following requirements:

- Families in a situation of social vulnerability with dependent minors.

- At least one of the children must be enrolled between the 3rd year of Primary school and 3rd year of Secondary School.

It is expected that 500 children will participate in the project, which could mean around 166 families, half of them will be part of the treatment group and half of them will be part of the control group, which means 83 randomly assigned to the treatment group and 83 to the control group. The randomisation will be done at the family level and stratifying by the municipality and the degree of support received by the family from FSG or other entities before the intervention
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The randomization is done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization is the family and randomization is stratified at the municipality level and the level of support received by the family before
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
166 families
Sample size: planned number of observations
500 children and teenagers and more than 166 adults
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
83 families in the control and 83 families in the treatment group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

Documents

Document Name
Reduced Pre-Analysis Plan
Document Type
other
Document Description
The document describes the hypothesis to be tested with the RCT, the indicators that will be used to test each hypothesis, an impact analysis plan and the theory of change.
File
Reduced Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: 98515d77b4ed576af58cac4b349770a2

SHA1: 684ef58a3438a38450e69a995507a5532bec1d4c

Uploaded At: January 19, 2024

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Comité Ético vinculado a los itinerarios de inclusión social de la Secretaría General de Objetivos y Políticas de Inclusión y Previsión Social
IRB Approval Date
2022-04-18
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials