Title: Effectiveness of the Roots of Empathy Program: A Summary of Five Years of Research
1Effectiveness of the Roots of Empathy Program
A Summary of Five Years of Research
- Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl
- University of British Columbia
- Veronica Smith
- University of Alberta
- Denise Buote, Angela Jaramillo, Clyde Hertzman
- University of British Columbia
HELP 2007 Seminar Series, Simon Fraser
University November 29, 2007
2Creating a more caring, peaceful, and civic
society a classroom at a time Mary Gordon
3Focus of the Discussion
What is the Roots of Empathy Program?
- BACKGROUND
- The importance of promoting childrens social and
emotional competence. - The need for evidence-based practice.
4Take Home Messages
- There is an inextricable link between childrens
social and emotional competence and their school
and life success. - There is a growing research literature
demonstrating that social and emotional
competence can be fostered in childhood and
adolescence. - There is a need for evidence-based programs that
can foster childrens social and emotional
understanding and development.
5Guided by Research
- Rigorous science provides an essential
foundation for effective policies and practices.
6Practice Informing Developmental Theory
- . . . if the developmental course is altered as
a result of the implementation of preventive
interventions and the risk for negative outcomes
is reduced, then prevention research has
contributed to specifying the processes that are
involved in the emergence of maladaptive
developmental outcomes and psychopathology
(Cicchetti Hinshaw, 2002, p. 667).
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8- . . . emotional literacy is as vital as any
other skill, and is particularly central to
childrens ability to interact and form
relationships. - Susanne Denham
- Social and Emotional Prevention and Intervention
Programming for Preschoolers, 2003
9- The developmental mechanism that is used most
frequently to explain age-related increases in
altruistic behavior is the increasing ability of
the child to take the point of view of the other
person.
10- Promoting Childrens Social and Emotional
Competence - The Need for Evidence-Based Practice
11The Need for Research Examining Efficacy of
Prevention Programs
- There is a growing awareness of the importance of
evidence-based practices in schools. - Limited research exists that has examined the
effectiveness of school-based programs (CASEL,
2002). - Of those evaluations that exist, many have been
limited in scope and fraught with methodological
shortcomings (Durlak Wells, 1997). - Not informed by developmental theory.
- Absence of experimental design (e.g., control
group). - Utilize outcome measures of questionable
reliability and validity.
12The Need for Research . . .
- Very few programs exist that focus specifically
on the development of childrens emotions -- a
factor identified as important for reducing
aggression and promoting prosocial behaviors
(Arsenio Lemerise, 2001 Izard, 2002). - There is a need for evaluations of programs that
are routine practice programs that is those
programs that exist in the school on an ongoing
basis (Wilson, Lipsey, Derzon, 2003). - We need to understand what conditions are
necessary for interventions to maintain their
effectiveness in broader applications (SPR News,
May 14, 2004). - Community contexts
- Implementation quality
13Can an Infant be a Catalyst for Change? The
Roots of Empathy Program
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15Roots of Empathy
- A universal primary preventive classroom-based
social emotional competence promotion program
created by Mary Gordon. - Cornerstone of the program is a class visit by an
infant, his/her caregiver(s), and an instructor
over 9 months. - In lessons children learn about the babys growth
and development via interactions and observations
with the baby.
16Fosters Student Engagement
17Connects Classrooms to Communities
18Engages Students in Learning
19Creates Community in the Classroom
20ROE in Canada and Beyond
- Piloted in Toronto in 2 classrooms in 1996.
- Last school year, 45,000 children in 1,800
classrooms across 9 provinces in Canada received
the ROE program. - By June 2006, 113,000 children in total received
the program. - Piloted in Japan, Australia, New Zealand.
21ROE Program Goals
- Overall, the ROE program is designed
- To foster the development of childrens empathy,
emotional literacy, and social understanding, - To foster childrens prosocial qualities (concern
for others, helpfulness, and cooperation), - To reduce levels of childrens aggression,
- To increase childrens knowledge of human
development, parenting, and infant safety.
22Components of ROE
- Classroom lessons for each theme (27 lessons)
- The Pre Family Visit
- The Family Visit
- The Post Family Visit
- Curricula are designed to be developmental
appropriate (preK K grades 1 to 3, grades 4
6, grades 7 8) - Lessons are scripted to match the age of the baby
and the age of the students.
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24Lesson Themes
- Meeting the Baby
- Crying
- Caring and Planning for the Baby
- Emotions
- Sleep
- Safety
- Communication
- Who am I?
- Goodbye and Good Wishes
25ROE Theoretical Framework
- View of empathy as multidimensional (Feshbach,
1979) - Cognitive perspective-taking
- Affective emotion
- Roots of empathy
- Identification of emotions,
- Understanding emotions,
- Emotional responsiveness.
26Learning Emotional Literacy
- Observation of and labelling babys emotions.
- Reflecting and identifying own emotions.
- Understanding the emotions of others (empathy)
27Emotional Literacy
When my friand is scard of the slad I will help
him.
28Emotional Literacy
Try not to get mad at a baby because he might
learn to be mean when he grows up.
29Theoretical Framework (contd)
- Ecological Focus
- A focus on changing the ecology of the classroom
environment to one in which belonging, caring,
collaboration, and understanding others is
emphasized (Cohen, 2001 Goodenow, 1993
Noddings, 1992). - Fostering a prosocial value orientation thru
engaging children collectively in activities that
benefit others (Staub, 1988).
30Process/Mechanisms of Emotional Competence and ROE
- Discussion of emotions (Saarni, 1999).
- ROE from the first lesson onwards the concept of
a literacy of feelings is discussed. - Opportunities to take others perspectives
(Selman, 1980). - ROE perspective taking activities invite the
children to explore the babys, the mothers,
their peers and their own perspectives. - Opportunities to understand ones own emotions
(Harris, 1995). - ROE many of the lessons include activities in
which children are asked to reflect upon their
own feelings.
31Fostering a prosocial value orientation thru
engaging children collectively in activities that
benefit others (Staub, 1988).
32- Evaluations of the Effectiveness of the Roots of
Empathy Program
33Evaluating the Roots of Empathy
- Evaluation of a routine practice program vs. a
demonstration program. (Wilson, Lipsey,
Derzon, 2003) - Developmental evaluation methodology (Schultz,
Barr, Selman, 2001) - Rigorous Experimental Design (Quasi-Experimental
and Randomized Controlled Trial)
34UBC VSB Partnership
35Research studies to date
- 2000-2001Primary Grade Evaluation (N 132)
- 2001-2002 National Evaluation (N 585)
- 2002-2003 Rural/Urban Evaluation (N 419)
- 2003-2004 RCT(N 456)
- 2004-2007 Longitudinal Follow-up (N 374)
36Evaluation Design
- 2000-2003
- Quasi-experimental, pretest, posttest, comparison
group design - Comparison classrooms were matched with the
program classrooms as close as possible with
respect to grade, gender, and race/ethnicity
composition. No sig. differences emerged on any
of these variables. - 2003-2004
- Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)
- Classrooms randomly assigned to ROE program and
comparison classrooms.
37The ROE Research StudyOutcome Measures
Socio-Emotional Understanding
Social Behaviours
Parenting
38Child Outcome Measures Self Reports
- Social/Emotional Understanding
- Chandler Cartoon Task (Chandler, 1973)
- Socio-Emotional Understanding
- Theory of Mind (ToM)
- Mixed Emotions (Brown Dunn, 1996)
- The Relationship Questionnaire Interpersonal
Understanding subscale (Schultz Selman, 2000) - Empathy (Davis, Empathy-related 1983)
39Child Outcome Measures Teacher Reports
- Teacher Reports (Child Behavior Scale, Ladd
Profilet, 1996 NLSCY) - Proactive Aggression cold blooded (bullying)
- Reactive Aggression hot-headed
- Relational Aggression (indirect) e.g., gossip
- Prosocial Behaviors (share, help, cooperate)
40Child Outcome Measures Peer Reports
- Peer Behavioural Assessments (Parkhurst Asher,
1992 Schonert-Reichl, 1999 Wentzel, 1997) - Aggression (proactive, reactive, relational)
- Prosocial Behaviors (shares, helps, cooperates)
- Prosocial Characteristics (fair, trust, kind)
- Peer Acceptance (include in school activities)
41Child Outcome Measures Self Reports
- Classroom Context (Battistich, Solomon, Watson,
Schaps, 1997) - Classroom Autonomy
- Classroom Supportiveness
- Infant Facial Expression of Emotion Task (Emde et
al.,1993) - Parenting Sense of Competence (Gibaud-Walston
Wandersman, 1978) - Parenting Satisfaction
- Parenting Efficacy
42Results (2000-2003)
- Program Effects on Socio-Emotional Understanding
432000-2001 Social Emotional Understanding
(Adjusted Mean Scores)
44Results (2000-2003)
- Program Effects on
- Aggression
452000-2001 Changes in Teacher-Rated Proactive
Aggression from Pretest to Post-Test by Group
Comparison Children
Roots of Empathy Children
462000-2001 Children who evidenced some proactive
aggression at pre-testROE children 88
decreased Comparison children 9 decreased 50
increased
472001-2002 Changes in Teachers Reports of Social
Behaviours
Statistically sig. at p lt .05
48, Of those children who demonstrated some form
of Proactive Aggression at pretestROE Children
-- 67 decreased Comparison Children, 64
increased
49Results (2000-2003)
- Program Effects on
- Prosocial Behaviors/Characteristics
502001-2002 Changes in Peer Assessments of
Prosocialness
512002-2003 Changes in Peer Assessments of
Prosocialness and Peer Acceptance
52Results (2000-2003)
- Program Effects on Beliefs about Parenting
Competence
532001-2002 Infant Facial Expression of Emotion
Task Changes in Causal Explanations
542001-2002 Infant Facial Expression of Emotion
Task Changes in Strategy Knowledge
552002-2003 Changes in Beliefs About Parenting
Competence
56Results (2000-2003)
- Program Effects on Perception of the Classroom
Environment
572002-2003 Changes in Perceptions of a Caring
Classroom Environment
58Implementation Results Summary
- Program dosage
- Mean number of lessons taught, 25.21 (SD 1.25),
with a range of 23 to 26 lessons. - No significant relation of program dosage to
child outcomes. - Stronger positive outcomes among ROE children
were associated with - Instructors years of experience with
implementing social-emotional competence
programs. - Instructors previous experience implementing
ROE. - Childrens level of engagement during ROE lessons
(pre/post lessons, instructors reports). - Teachers belief in the efficacy of ROE.
- Number of ROE extension activities in classrooms.
59- Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)
60What is an RCT?
- Randomized controlled trials or RCTs are the
most rigorous way of determining whether a
cause-effect relation exists between a program
and an outcome. - That is, it is only through random assignment to
the program and comparison groups that we can
determine whether or not the program caused
changes in childrens social and emotional
competence.
612003-2004, RCT Method
- Participants
- 456 children (46 girls)
- 10 ROE Program classrooms (n 234) in 10 schools
- 10 Comparison classrooms (n 222) in 10 schools
- Grades 4-7 (Mean Age 10.71, SD 1.1)
- 53 English as a First Language
- Classrooms were randomly assigned to serve as
either program or comparison classrooms.
62Change Scores for Interpersonal Understanding and
Peer Intimacy
63Change Scores for Teachers Ratings of Aggression
64Change Scores for Teachers Ratings of Prosocial
Behaviour
65Change Scores for Peer Nominations of Prosocial
Behaviours
66Change Scores for Classroom Supportiveness
67- ROE Summary of Research Findings
68What have we learned so far?
- Across the 4 years of research, children who
receive ROE in contrast to those who do not, show
significant improvements in the following areas - Increased understanding of emotion
- Increased prosocial behaviors
- Decreased aggression/bullying
- These findings are in direct concordance with the
ROE program goals. - These findings demonstrated some consistency
across grade levels, settings, informants, and
measures utilized.
69What are the mechanisms/processes of change?
Classroom Context
70Some Future Directions
- Longitudinal follow-up
- Are changes sustained?
- Sleeper effects?
- Changes across developmental transitions
- Effects of ROE on internalizing problems
- Psychobiologic correlates (biological roots of
ROE) - Subgroup analyses of high risk children
- Examine relation between childrens knowledge of
infant development and their behaviors with
infant siblings/other infants. - Implementation and sustainability
71With Thanks To . . .
- Co-investigators
- Clyde Hertzman
- Anat Zaidman-Zait
- Community Collaborators
- Vancouver School Board (Alva Jensen, Larry
Haberlin) - Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (Lois Yelland)
- Research Assistants
- Shayna Rusticus, Celina Vergel de Dios, Lynda
Hutchinson, Zoe Paris, Matt Haberlin, Molly
Stewart Lawlor, Janette McIntosh
- Funders
- UBC Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP),
- BC Ministry of Education,
- UBC Hampton Research Fund,
- United Way,
- BC Medical Services Foundation (Vancouver
Foundation) - And to . . .
- Mary Gordon and the members of the Roots of
Empathy Board
72Contact Information
- Kim Schonert-Reichl
- Dept. of Educational and Counselling Psychology,
Special Education - University of British Columbia
- Office (604)822-2215
- Research Lab (604)822-3420
- E-mail kimberly.schonert-reichl_at_ubc.ca
- Roots of Empathy
- (416) 944-3001
- Website www.rootsofempathy.org