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Abstract
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Before
Is teacher stress holding back student achievement? How does psychological and pharmacological aid to teachers influence their mental health and students? We hope to answer these questions, by conducting a field experiment with one of the largest charter school networks in the world, the PEN Education Network of Pakistan. Using detailed data on teachers’ self-reported stress, life satisfaction, teachers stress hormonal concentrations in blood plasma, we explore whether and under which conditions do teacher stress is alleviated and whether this impacts student achievement. We randomize teachers into 6 treatment arms. In the first treatment group, we assign teachers in 4 weekly sessions with a psychologist practicing cognitive behavioral therapy. The second, third and fourth group is assigned a session with the psychiatrist with possibility to prescribe medicines where we subsidize the prescription medicines to varying degrees (0% vs 50% vs 100% subsidies of prescriptions). Finally, we randomly assign the teachers into 4 weekly sessions of mindfulness meditation of same length of time as the psychologist treatment.
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After
Is teacher stress holding back student achievement? How does psychological and pharmacological aid to teachers influence their mental health and students? We hope to answer these questions, by conducting a field experiment with one of the largest charter school networks in the world, the PEN Education Network of Pakistan. Using detailed data on teachers’ self-reported stress, life satisfaction, teachers stress hormonal concentrations in blood plasma, we explore whether and under which conditions do teacher stress is alleviated and whether this impacts student achievement. We randomize teachers into 6 treatment arms. The teachers are further cross-randomized into social signaling treatment using color-coded bracelets that aims to reduce stigma associated with mental health. In the first treatment group, we assign teachers in 4 weekly sessions with a psychologist practicing cognitive behavioral therapy. The second, third and fourth group is assigned a session with the psychiatrist with possibility to prescribe medicines where we subsidize the prescription medicines to varying degrees (0% vs 50% vs 100% subsidies of prescriptions). Finally, we randomly assign the teachers into 4 weekly sessions of mindfulness meditation of same length of time as the psychologist treatment.
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Last Published
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Before
March 31, 2022 03:32 PM
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After
September 10, 2022 01:51 PM
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Intervention (Public)
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Before
T1) Psychology Treatment: 4-week of weekly sessions with a psychologist administrating cognitive behavioral therapy (4 individual sessions).
T2) Psychiatrist with no subsidy of prescription medicines: 1 session with a psychiatrist who has an option to prescribe medicines (zero subsidy of medicine: 100% payment from teachers own pocket) - 1 individual session
T3) Psychiatrist with full subsidization of prescription medicines- 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines, with the prescribed medications provided for free (100% subsidization) - 1 individual session
T4) Psychiatrist with co-paying - 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines and providing those medications for 50% of total costs (co-paying) - 1 individual session
T5) 4 sessions each week mindfulness meditation for one month (equal to time spent for psychologist treatment). - 4 sessions.
T6) Placebo lectures (4 lectures) on macroeconomic facts, concepts and trends of equal length and frequency of meetings with psychologist and mindfulness meditation (4 sessions).
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After
T1) Psychology Treatment: 4-week of weekly sessions with a psychologist administrating cognitive behavioral therapy (4 individual sessions).
T2) Psychiatrist with no subsidy of prescription medicines: 1 session with a psychiatrist who has an option to prescribe medicines (zero subsidy of medicine: 100% payment from teachers own pocket) - 1 individual session
T3) Psychiatrist with full subsidization of prescription medicines- 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines, with the prescribed medications provided for free (100% subsidization) - 1 individual session
T4) Psychiatrist with co-paying - 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines and providing those medications for 50% of total costs (co-paying) - 1 individual session
T5) 4 sessions each week mindfulness meditation for one month (equal to time spent for psychologist treatment). - 4 sessions.
T6) Placebo lectures (4 lectures) on macroeconomic facts, concepts and trends of equal length and frequency of meetings with psychologist and mindfulness meditation (4 sessions).
Each treatment arm, including the placebo, are further cross-randomized into social signaling treatment using color-coded bracelets that aimed to reduce stigma associated with mental health.
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Experimental Design (Public)
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Before
Our sample consists of 850 teachers with about 140 teachers per treatment arm and 25000 students across Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. We randomly assign teachers into the following 6 groups:
T1) Psychology Treatment: 4-week of weekly sessions with a psychologist administrating cognitive behavioral therapy.
T2) Psychiatrist with no subsidy of prescription medicines: 1 session with a psychiatrist who has an option to prescribe medicines (zero subsidy of medicine: 100% payment from teachers own pocket)
T3) Psychiatrist with full subsidization of prescription medicines- 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines, with the prescribed medications provided for free (100% subsidization).
T4) Psychiatrist with co-paying - 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines and providing those medications for 50% of total costs (co-paying)
T5) 4 sessions each week mindfulness meditation for one month (equal to time spent for psychologist treatment).
T6) Placebo lectures (4 lectures) on macroeconomic facts, concepts and trends of equal length and frequency of meetings with psychologist and mindfulness meditation.
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After
Our sample consists of 850 teachers with about 140 teachers per treatment arm and 25000 students across Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. We randomly assign teachers into the following 6 groups:
T1) Psychology Treatment: 4-week of weekly sessions with a psychologist administrating cognitive behavioral therapy.
T2) Psychiatrist with no subsidy of prescription medicines: 1 session with a psychiatrist who has an option to prescribe medicines (zero subsidy of medicine: 100% payment from teachers own pocket)
T3) Psychiatrist with full subsidization of prescription medicines- 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines, with the prescribed medications provided for free (100% subsidization).
T4) Psychiatrist with co-paying - 1 session with a psychiatrist prescribing medicines and providing those medications for 50% of total costs (co-paying)
T5) 4 sessions each week mindfulness meditation for one month (equal to time spent for psychologist treatment).
T6) Placebo lectures (4 lectures) on macroeconomic facts, concepts and trends of equal length and frequency of meetings with psychologist and mindfulness meditation.
The teachers are further cross-randomized into social signaling treatment using color-coded bracelets that aims to reduce stigma associated with mental health.
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Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Exact pre-registered secondary outcome variables:
1) Teacher score on analytical creativity task
2) Student creative writing test scores
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After
Exact pre-registered secondary outcome variables:
1) Teacher score on analytical creativity task
2) Student creative writing test scores
3) A measure of extent of mental health stigma perceived by the teacher.
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