Pilot Study: Improving learning by promoting mental health and socioemotional skills in adolescence with a school-based intervention in Colombia

Last registered on January 06, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Pilot Study: Improving learning by promoting mental health and socioemotional skills in adolescence with a school-based intervention in Colombia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017554
Initial registration date
December 24, 2025

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 06, 2026, 6:57 AM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Maria Adelaida Martinez
Affiliation
Bentley University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Frank Schilbach
PI Affiliation
MIT
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PI Name
Gautam Rao
PI Affiliation
UC Berkeley
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PI Name
Juan Esteban Saavedra
PI Affiliation
Harvard University - HKS
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PI Name
Christian Posso
PI Affiliation
Banco de la Republica de Colombia
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PI Name
Michael Kremer
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
PI Name
Enrique Chaux
PI Affiliation
Universidad de los Andes
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PI Name
Lina Maria Saldarriaga
PI Affiliation
Aulas en Paz
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PI Name
Jose Fernando Mejia
PI Affiliation
Aulas en Paz
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-07-11
End date
2026-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Health, Labor, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Mental Health, Adolescents.
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project aims to improve adolescent mental health and socioemotional skills in Colombia through the implementation and rigorous evaluation of a scalable, school-based mental health intervention targeting students experiencing mild psychological distress. The intervention involves a low-intensity, transdiagnostic, problem-solving therapy delivered through five one-on-one sessions by trained non-specialist counselors. During sessions, students are guided in identifying problems, exploring solutions, and developing implementation strategies. Building on the success of the PRIDE program in India (Michelson et al., 2020; Malik et al., 2021), the research team adapted the model to the Colombian context, creating “Clara-Mente”. The evaluation consists of two phases: a pilot to test feasibility and initial performance, followed by a full-scale Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) across nearly all students from public secondary schools in Medellín and Barranquilla. The study will assess impacts on (i) mental health outcomes, (ii) academic achievement, and (iii) long-term economic outcomes, including labor market earnings, using administrative data. The pilot study will focus on mental health outcomes and socioemotional skills only. Note: Although data collection was completed prior to registration, the statistical analysis plan had not been implemented, and no analyses had been performed before the date of registry entry.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chaux, Enrique et al. 2026. "Pilot Study: Improving learning by promoting mental health and socioemotional skills in adolescence with a school-based intervention in Colombia." AEA RCT Registry. January 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17554-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This project is being conducted in public schools in the urban areas of Medellín and Barranquilla—Colombia’s second- and fourth-largest cities—focusing on students in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. It is a school-based mental health intervention targeting students experiencing mild psychological distress, as identified through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) screening. All students with parental consent and who provide assent complete the screening questionnaire.
Then, based on established SDQ cutoffs and eligibility criteria, approximately 30% of students are expected to be classified as eligible for the intervention. Among those eligible, half will be randomly assigned to receive individualized counseling sessions delivered by trained non-specialist mental health counselors. The intervention consists of a low-intensity, transdiagnostic, problem-solving therapy delivered through five one-on-one 45-minute sessions. During these sessions, students are guided to identify problems, explore potential solutions, and develop concrete strategies for implementation.
Intervention Start Date
2025-09-01
Intervention End Date
2025-11-14

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Our primary outcomes include: (i) improvements in students’ mental health, which we collect using standardized screening tools: SDQ, SPSI, and SRQ.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The first step of the evaluation is screening students, which involves completing a questionnaire that measures students' socioemotional skills, mental health symptoms, problem-solving abilities, and basic sociodemographic characteristics. Note that only students whose parents provide informed consent and who themselves provide assent will participate in this screening process.
The second step is to identify eligible participants. For eligibility, we will follow a definition similar to the one used in PRIDE: a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Total Score ≥ 19 for boys or ≥ 20 for girls—corresponding to "abnormal" in the three-band categorization or "very high" in the newer four-band categorization—or an Impact Score ≥ 2 combined with a persistence of more than one month on the chronicity index. Based on the literature and lessons from the pilot, we expect approximately 30% of students to be eligible.
Finally, we will stratify random assignments to treatment by school, grade, and gender. When a stratum has fewer than four observations, we will stratify only by school and grade. Within each stratum, we will randomly assign 50% of eligible students to the treatment group and 50% to the control group.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization is done in the office by one of the PIs or Research Assistants on the computer.
Randomization Unit
Students are the unit of randomization. They are individually randomized within strata defined by school, grade, and gender.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
360 eligible students out of 1,281 screened
Sample size: planned number of observations
360 eligible students out of 1,281 screened
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
360 eligible students out of 1,281 screened
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The University of Chicago Social and Behavioral Sciences IRB
IRB Approval Date
2024-11-04
IRB Approval Number
IRB24-1206
Analysis Plan

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