NCT07469423

Continuous Music and Sports Training for Children

JC Project MuSE: Continuous Music and Sports Training for Primary School Children

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 620 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Hong Kong Baptist University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The current study, JC Project MuSE, is a multi-year project aimed at initiating transformative changes in the lives of young learners in schools with a lower socio-economic background through the integration of music and sports education. The research project posits that engaging in structured music and sports programmes can lead to significant improvements in educational performance through the enhancement of executive functions. The research further explores the longitudinal effects of continuous music and sports training, examining the impact of these interventions on developing a greater sense of appreciation for these activities in these young learners. This research is a 3-year study that examines theoretical underpinnings, methodological approaches, and the impact of music and sports interventions to empower youth in schools of lower socio-economic background and promote holistic development through the synergistic effects of sports and music education.

Detailed description

JC Project MuSE is a school-based music (Mu) and sports (S) education (E) programme, initiated and funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. It offers free, high-quality and tailored music and sports programmes to primary school children in the most impoverished areas of Hong Kong. It aims to develop children's artistic and physical literacy and to enhance their positive whole-person development, emotional well-being and academic advancement, thereby endowing them with the best opportunities for future growth and development. The overall research will study the impact of the sports and music interventions provided in Tier 2 of the project and aims to bring transformative changes to underprivileged children by enhancing their social, emotional and cognitive development through 3-year sports and music education. Primary outcomes include executive functioning, psychological well-being, social-emotional competence, and academic results (e.g., scores of major subjects and attendance record). This study will adopt a parallel-group, 4-arm randomized controlled trial design. Upon assessing the eligibility of the participants, they will be randomized into four groups, including (1) continuous music training, (2) continuous sports training, (3) continuous music and sports training, and (4) treatment-as-usual control. Outcome measures will be assessed at six time-points (T0: Baseline, the start of the first school year; T1: the end of the first school year; T2: the start of the second school year; T3: the end of the second school year; T4: the start of the third school year; and T5: post-intervention, the end of the third school year) to assess the effects of continuous music and/or sports training on the students' psychological well-being, executive functioning, social-emotional competence, and academic performances.

Conditions

• Primary School Students

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Continuous Music Training (CMT)	Participants in this arm will receive regular music training throughout the study period.
OTHER	Continuous Sport Training (CST)	Participants in this arm will receive regular sports training throughout the study period.
OTHER	Continuous Music and Sports Training (CMST)	Participants in this arm will receive regular music and sports training throughout the study period.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-09-01
• Primary completion: 2029-08-31
• Completion: 2029-12-31
• First posted: 2026-03-13
• Last updated: 2026-03-13

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Hong Kong