School-based Intervention to Address Climate Change Emotions

I Want to Talk About Climate Change, But I Wish I Didn't Have to… A Descriptive Qualitative Study of an Intervention Combining Creative Arts and Philosophical Inquiry to Help Elementary School Students Cope With Climate Change Emotions

The goal of this study was to qualitatively document the social validity of an intervention combining creative arts and philosophy inquiry and to examine its acceptability, the perceived goals, and perceived benefits for children's mental health and ability to cope with climate change from the perspective of one elemetary-school class students and their teacher.

The guiding research question was: How do children and their teacher perceive the acceptability, the goals and the benefits of the intervention? The participants were asked to participate in a seven-week creative arts and philosophical inquiry intervention. Once a week, a research assistant led a workshop using creative arts and group philosophical inquiry to discuss the topic of climate change and the emotions that can arise. Students participated in a brief individual interview after the intervention. The teacher also participated in an individual online interview.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Elementary school students between the ages of 8 and 12 years old who's teacher accepted to participate in the study
• Elementary school teacher