School and public administrators' awareness of mental health, public policy, and youth mental health in Lithuania.

Last registered on March 29, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

School administrators' awareness of mental health, public policy, and youth mental health in Lithuania.

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007241

Initial registration date

March 29, 2021

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

March 29, 2021, 10:51 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Lithuania

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Daniel Rogger

Affiliation

World Bank

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2021-03-08

End date

2021-08-31

Keywords

Education, Governance, Health

Additional Keywords

bureaucrats, public services, mental health, information

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

We study the effect of different types of information treatments on: teacher participation in training programs aimed at strengthening youth Mental Health; attitudes to mental health; and student outcomes. We will first randomize ~1,000 school administrators into three intervention groups, varying the nature of the information that they receive by email communication and the identity of the sender. We will collect further collect data in the form of a baseline survey on ~240 randomly selected schools (~240 school principals and ~950 school staff) and 1,100 public administrators across ~85 institutions. As part of the baseline survey, we will randomize participants to receive an informational video.

The study will inform the extent to which information increases frontline participation in centrally provided programs and attitudes towards mental health, and whether the identity of the messenger matters for the efficacy of such information treatments.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Rogger, Daniel. 2021. "School administrators' awareness of mental health, public policy, and youth mental health in Lithuania.." AEA RCT Registry. March 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7241-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

We will randomize ~1,000 school administrators to receive one of three intervention groups: (i) "Top-down email" (described below), (ii) "Bottom-up email" (described below); (iii) No email.

Top-down email: School administrators will receive an email from the Ministry of Health with information on the online training. The email will include the a selection facts on youth mental health and an accompanying graph; a text with encouragement for the principals to encourage teachers to enroll in the training; and a link to enrollment.

Bottom-up email: School administrators will receive an email from the School Student Union in Lithuania with information on the online training. The email will include the a selection facts on youth mental health and an accompanying graph; a text with encouragement for the principals to encourage teachers to enroll in the training; and a link to enrollment.

No email: school administrators will receive status quo information about the training. Targeted information may be shared with administrators at a later point in time.

~240 of the ~1,000 schools will be randomly selected to participate in a baseline survey, also targeted at other school staff and public administrators (~240 principals and ~950 school staff across ~240 schools; 1,100 public administrators across ~85 institutions). The ~240 school principals surveyed will be presented with a video that contains information on the prevalence of mental health, the efficacy of treatment, and an anti-stigma message; and a graph on the prevalence of youth mental health challenges in Lithuania. Participants will also receive reinforcing text or email messages following the survey.

Intervention Start Date

2021-03-08

Intervention End Date

2021-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Participation and interest in government teacher-training program; attitudes towards mental health; budget priorities; education and school-behavior outcomes.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We will randomize ~1,000 school administrators into one of three intervention groups. ~240 of these 1,000 administrators will also be part of a baseline questionnaire and the video-based experiment, described below. This experiment aims to answer two questions. First, does the provision of information affect the degree to which school administrators disseminate information on the government training program to school staff and encourage their participation; and the degree to which teachers enroll in, participate, perform, and complete the training? Second, does the identity of the “messenger” differentially impact these outcomes? To answer these questions, we will randomize email-recipients into different groups with varying identities of the email-sender: top-down (the sender will be the Ministry of Health); bottom-up (the sender will be the School Student Union); and a control group that will receive no email.

In addition, as part of the baseline survey exercise, covering ~2,500 respondents in schools and the public administration, we will randomize respondents to receive a short 3-minute informational video during the survey. Follow-up information will be provided via telephone or email, with the contact information to be provided by respondent choice during the baseline questionnaire, and will contain reinforcing information and presentation of the facts provided in the welcome videos. This experiment seeks to answer two questions.

First, does the provision of information itself, independent of "messenger" identity, affect the knowledge of mental disorder prevalence, stigma towards mental health, budget priorities, and interest in capacity-building reported by respondents? Second, does the identity of the “messenger” differentially impact these outcomes?

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization will be done on a computer using statistical software.

Randomization Unit

Individual (school principal; teacher; public administrators)

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

~240 school administrators and ~950 school staff across ~240 schools; 1,100 public administrators across ~85 administrative institutions

Sample size: planned number of observations

~240 school administrators and ~950 school staff across ~240 schools; 1,100 public administrators across ~85 administrative institutions

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

333 school administrators to "Top-down email"; 333 to "Bottom-up email"; 334 to "Control email".
395 school administrators and school staff to "Top-down video"; 395 to "Bottom-up video"; 400 to "Control email".
370 public administrators to ""Top-down video"; 370 to "Bottom-up video"; 370 to "Control email".

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

Institutional Committee for Ethical Review of Projects, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

IRB Approval Date

2021-03-12

IRB Approval Number

170

Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?

Data Collection Complete

Data Publication

Is public data available?

Program Files

Reports, Papers & Other Materials