The main tasks and achievements performed so far have been:
>> Finding Teaching Artists (TAs) and artistic organizations to form the work team to develop the SMART intervention program and implement the intervention part of the experiment. A session per session parallel curriculum between music composition (MUS) and photography (VIS) interventions was designed and detailed in collaboration with the involved TAs. This syllabus and the materials created for its implementation are now openly available to be distributed and applied beyond our study through the Open Access publication of the SMART protocol paper [https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2550079].
Also, the collaborative links and joint work performed with these communities of artists have opened new avenues of collaborations that are going to last beyond the boundaries and funded time of this project.
>> Submitting the study protocol to local ethics IRBs (New York University and New York State Department of Education) to ensure that the implementation of SMART was performed in agreement with the highest standards in terms of research ethics. This is especially crucial in our case, since we study vulnerable populations (i.e. minors).
>> Searching for participating high schools where SMART could be implemented. Over a dozen of public high schools in the NYC area were contacted, from which 2 accepted to participate and acted as the recruitment and implementation contexts for our project.
>> Registering the SMART study protocol as a Clinical Trial (ID#: NCT06402253 -
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06402253(öffnet in neuem Fenster)) preparing a protocol manuscript, and submitting it to an Open Access journal (current status: published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology).
>> Implementing the intervention programs (MUS, VIS) in the participating high schools during the 2024 Spring semester, and the Fall 2024–Spring 2025 semesters. We have recruited 39 participants who fully completed the intervention (20 in the MUS and 19 in theVIS group).
>> Recruiting and testing control (CON) participants, who did not complete any type of intervention but will serve to compare the interventions with a comparable 3-month period without performing any new creative training. Behavioral measures have been collected from this group before and after a 3 month period. Weekly measures that mirror the ones collected for the MUS/VIS groups have also been recorded. The group of control participants has been now fully recruited (N=18).
>> A first analysis of preliminary data was performed during Summer 2024. Then, the final database has been organized to perform the final analyses. Although the data analyses process is still ongoing, initial information suggests that our MUS intervention had positive effects on stress levels and in the use of digital devices in social contexts, while our VIS intervention had positive effects on executive functions and cognitive control.
At least one comprehensive results-based article is expected to be prepared and submitted for publication during the year 2026. Once this manuscript is published, all data and metadata will be shared online through a public repository.
>> In addition, a Comentary article reflecting about the methodological, theoretical and logistic constraints encountered during the implementation of SMART and other internet-based research projects aiming to study digital consequences in youth from a social justice angle has been prepared and submitted for publication to the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (where is currently Under Review).
Progression of all activities planned in our project, as well as communication and dissemination activities involving SMART and the main researchers involved in the project during the MSCA-funded period has been described in the project’s website (
https://smartproject.blog(öffnet in neuem Fenster)) which we intend to keep updating with major events after the termination of the MSCA-funded period.
