Solid as a rock, flexible as water? Improving students' socio-emotional adjustment and social safety in prevocational schools.

INTERVENTION: R&W is an intervention that aims to increase the social‐emotional adjustment and social safety of students by increasing students’ psychosocial wellbeing, sexual health, resilience and social safety in the classroom and decreasing aggression and bullying. The term ‘rock’ indicates a rigid and uncompromising attitude. The term ‘water’ indicates flexibility and cooperation. The intervention consists of 14 lessons in the 1st year (Grade 7) and 8 lessons in the 2nd year (Grade 8) and uses a psychophysical approach; through play and exercise students experience their own strength, learn to make physical contact and learn to explore, respect and set own and other’s boundaries. This study examines the effect of R&W by including three experimental conditions and one control condition. Schools will be randomly assigned to one of these conditions: 1. R&W Light: A core team of teachers is trained to implement R&W. 2. R&W Standard: A core team of teachers is trained to implement R&W and the school team is trained to support the R&W trainer. 3. R&W Plus: A core team of teachers is trained to implement R&W, the school team is trained to support the R&W trainer and students’ parents are involved by providing them additional information and inviting them to participate in a R&W lesson at the school. 4. Control condition: Current school policy to enhance students’ socio‐emotional adjustment and social safety. CONDITION: Socio‐emotional adjustment, Social safety, Randomized controlled trial ; ; PRIMARY OUTCOME: The main goal of this study is to examine the effectiveness of R&W in increasing students’ socio‐emotional adjustment and social safety:; ; ; ; Socio‐emotional adjustment:; ; ‐ Psychosocial wellbeing; ; ‐ Sexual health; ; ‐ Resilience; ; ; ; Social safety:; ; ‐ Social safety in the classroom; ; ‐ Aggression; ; ‐ Bullying; SECONDARY OUTCOME: Moderators: ; ; ‐ Characteristics of students (gender, ethnicity, personality) ; ; ‐ Characteristics of trainer (gender, ethnicity, education level, level of experienced competence, expertise, degree of received training and supervision) ; ; ‐ Characteristic of parents (sense of parenting competence, and positive parenting) ; ; ; ; Mediators: ; ; ‐ Self‐control ; ; ‐ Self‐reflection ; ; ‐ Self‐esteem ; ; ‐ Emotion regulation ; ; ‐ Communication ; INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Students in the seventh Grade of preparatory secondary vocational education level.