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Project Description

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Roots of Empathy (ROE) is a universal mental health promotion and prevention program, intended to teach children and youth about their feelings, and the feelings of others (1). It is a classroom-based program in which a certified instructor visits the classroom every week, and is joined by an infant & parent once a month. An established curriculum focuses on nine key themes, with three lessons per theme; each lesson is tailored for classrooms from Kindergarten to Grade eight. Through guided observations of the parent-child relationship, children learn to identify and reflect on their own thoughts and feelings and those of others (empathy). The program was developed in Canada, and has been introduced in every province, and several other countries.
Key goals of the program are to reduce aggression and increase pro-social behaviour among children and youth. The effectiveness of the program has been demonstrated for proximal outcomes including reduced direct and indirect aggression, and increased pro-social behaviour (2). However, no studies have examined the differential impact of the program based on the SES of the classroom children’s families, or the impact on other outcomes like school performance or health outcomes. Furthermore, no studies have quantified ‘spill-over’ effects – for example, among children attending the same school, but in classrooms that did not receive the program. School year 2002/03 was the first year the program operated in Manitoba, and each year a number of schools participate (meaning hundreds of students), though not always the same schools/grades are involved.
 
The main goal of this project is to determine whether ROE improves child outcomes of reduced aggression and increased pro-social behaviour for all SES groups equally, and whether the benefits extend beyond these program-specific outcomes (for example, in educational success). It will also examine whether there are measurable educational impacts on children within the same school that did not receive ROE, compared to matched childen in similar schools.  
 

Research Question

Is the impact of the Roots of Empathy (ROE) program comparable for children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and does it affect performance and progression in school?
 

Hypotheses

1. The program will result in other beneficial impacts on participants beyond the proximal outcomes, to include outcomes like performance and progression in school, graduation rates, and injury-related emergency room/hospital use. 1b) by SES

2. Participation in the Roots of Empathy program will benefit children from all socio-economic strata equally (using the proximal outcomes measured by the program and area-level SES data from the MCHP Repository).

3. Children in schools which participated in the ROE program but were not themselves in classrooms that participated in the program will also benefit, though to a lesser extent than program participants (for outcomes listed in Hypothesis 2).
 

References

(1) Gordon M. Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Child by Child. Toronto, ON: Thomas Allen; 2005.
 
(2) Santos R, Chartier M, Whalen J, Chateau D, Boyd L. Effectiveness of school-based violence prevention for children and youth: Cluster randomized controlled field trial of the Roots of Empathy program with replication and 3-year follow-up. Healthcare Quarterly. In press 2011.
Published Papers