Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a health education programme for school-aged children’s social anxiety, interpersonal closeness and perspective- taking (PT) ability in an urban area of eastern China. Methods: This study was a non‐randomized controlled trial. A total of 257 school-aged children in fourth to sixth grades from a primary school were recruited, aged between 9 and 12 years. They were assigned by their classes in each grade to the intervention (N = 128) and control (N = 129) groups and completed anonymous self-reported questionnaires. Data were collected before and after interventions. Changes in children’s social anxiety, interpersonal closeness, and social cognition and behaviors were measured using different assessment scales. Results: Overall, 122 interventions and 128 controls participated in the trial. Significant differences for the intervention group were found between before and after interventions in the scores of social anxiety, interpersonal closeness, and PT ability (all p < 0.05), while the scores for the control group were roughly unchanged. Conclusion: This health education programme was effective for decreasing the Chinese schoolaged children’s social anxiety, improving their interpersonal closeness, as well as increasing their PT ability.
