Promoting mental health and well-being in schools: examining mindfulness, relaxation and strategies for safety and well-being in English primary and secondary schools—study protocol for a multi-school, cluster randomised controlled trial (INSPIRE)

Abstract

There are increasing rates of internalising difficulties, particularly anxiety and depression, being reported in children and young people in England. School-based universal prevention programmes are thought to be one way of helping tackle such difficulties. This paper describes an update to a four-arm cluster randomised controlled trial (http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN16386254), investigating the effectiveness of three different interventions when compared to usual provision, in English primary and secondary pupils. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trial was put on hold and subsequently prolonged. Data collection will now run until 2024. The key changes to the trial outlined here include clarification of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, an amended timeline reflecting changes to the recruitment period of the trial due to the COVID-19 pandemic and clarification of the data that will be included in the statistical analysis, since the second wave of the trial was disrupted due to COVID-19. Trial registration ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN16386254. Registered on 30 August 2018.