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CLINICAL TRIAL article

Front. Pediatr.

Sec. Children and Health

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1514793

This article is part of the Research Topic Interdisciplinary Approaches to Enhancing Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Schools View all articles

CARTOON-Based Educational Intervention for Children to Foster Hygiene Knowledge and Emotional Resilience in Preschool Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Provisionally accepted
Philipp Steinbauer Philipp Steinbauer *Magdalena Bichler Magdalena Bichler Renate Fuiko Renate Fuiko Sanja Seferagic Sanja Seferagic Hanna Haas Hanna Haas Tamara Lisy Tamara Lisy Sophie Weinmüller Sophie Weinmüller Angelika Berger Angelika Berger Monika Olischar Monika Olischar Agnes Panagl Agnes Panagl Vito Giordano Vito Giordano
  • Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In the last four years, COVID-19 has prompted concerns about children's well-being. While children's physical health may not be severely affected, their psychological well-being is a significant concern. Therefore, we developed an interdisciplinary psychoeducational intervention program for children named CARTOON. The study aimed to assess whether CARTOON helps kindergarten children to better adhere to mandatory hygiene measures, while also investigating its potential to reduce children's anxiety.A randomized controlled trial was conducted from January and June 2021 in two Viennese kindergartens involving 53 children aged 3 to 6 years. Children were randomized into an intervention (specific psychoeducational program) and a control group (routine hygiene practices). CARTOON comprised five sessions covering key hygiene and COVID-19 awareness aspects, facilitated by trained staff. Primary outcomes included changes in children's emotional state and knowledge about COVID-19 and hygiene measures. Secondary outcomes assessed CARTOON's long-term impact on knowledge retention and emotional well-being.Children in the intervention group showed increased COVID-19 knowledge from baseline to longterm assessment (3.9±2.4 vs. 5.9±2.0, p=.003). Moreover, children in the intervention group demonstrated significantly improved long-term hygiene knowledge compared to baseline (8.2±2.2 vs. 5.9±2.3, p<0.001). Additionally, anxiety scores significantly decreased in the intervention group post-intervention compared to baseline (2.2±1.7 vs 5.6±2.5; p=.01). Regression analysis identified higher age, higher maternal education, and lower family mental stress as knowledge acquisition predictors.Our findings demonstrate the efficacy of our psycho-educational program in enhancing both knowledge about COVID-19 and adherence to hygiene measures among preschool children, while also reducing anxiety related to the pandemic.

    Keywords: child well-being, hygiene-education, Anxiety, RCT -randomized controlled trial, Psychoeducational, Hygiene

    Received: 21 Oct 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Steinbauer, Bichler, Fuiko, Seferagic, Haas, Lisy, Weinmüller, Berger, Olischar, Panagl and Giordano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Philipp Steinbauer, Comprehensive Center for Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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