H. Thompson Prout

A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Studies of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Update.

Abstract The effectiveness of psychological interventions has long been discussed and studied in the behavioral sciences. In recent years, the quantitative review technique of meta-analysis has been utilized to evaluate effectiveness across a wide variety of therapeutic interventions. The purpose of this study was to apply this technique to school-based outcome studies of counseling and psychotherapy published in a recent 10-year period. In particular, this study updates and extends an earlier meta-analysis focusing on the same question (Prout & DeMartino, 1986) . Seventeen studies were identified that met criteria acceptable for use in a meta-analysis and were either conducted in school settings or dealt with relevant school issues or problems. The analysis found an overall effect size of nearly one standard deviation across all studies and outcome variables. These findings support the effectiveness of school-based therapeutic interventions, although this conclusion is offered with some cautions and limitations. These findings apply almost exclusively to group interventions. Further, the greatest impact was on self-report variables and variables reflective of more internal states. Cognitive-behavioral interventions appeared to have the stronger effects, with interventions with elementary students also showing greater impact. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

The Relationship of Season of Birth and Special Education Referral.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether children with summer birthdates, or the youngest children within their respective grades, comprised a larger portion of an annual elementary-age special education referral population than would be expected by chance. The 1,222 referrals from grades K-5 of a Southeastern school district were classified according to three seasons of birth (months 6-9, 10-1, and 2-5), three age groups (ages 5-7, 8-9, and 10 and up), and gender. Expected numbers of referrals for each season of birth were computed based on the numbers of children within the respective groups for the overall elementary-age school population of 16,379. Independent chi-square analyses revealed differences at the <.0001 level of significance between the expected and obtained numbers of referrals for both the 5- to 7-year-old children overall and the 5- to 7-year-old boys, and at the .0011 level of significance for 5- to 7-year-old girls. No significant differences between the expected and obtained numbers of referrals were found for the two older groups. Alternative means for providing educational services for the younger, at-risk primary-age student population were discussed.

Psychotherapy with persons with intellectual disabilities: a review of effectiveness research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the effectiveness of psychotherapy with persons with intellectual disabilities.Design/methodology/approach – This paper focused on summarizing the conclusions of other reviews published in the last ten years, including a recent review by the authors.Findings – The paper concludes that there is evidence that psychotherapy with persons with intellectual disabilities is at least moderately effective. Further, there is evidence of effectiveness of psychotherapy for both child and adolescent, and adult populations. There is also evidence that a range of therapeutic interventions are effective and that a spectrum of problems can be addressed via psychotherapy.Research limitations/implications – This area has received relatively little attention in the research literature and the area lacks a large base of methodologically sound and rigorous studies. There is a need for well‐designed studies, particularly randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and a ne...

Psychosocial Adjustment of Adolescents and Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities.

Issues with adolescents with intellectual disabilities have received little attention in the research literature. This study compared adolescents with and without intellectual disabilities on several indices of psychosocial adjustment. The participants were selected from a large longitudinal database and comparisons were made at three points in time. Analyses indicated that adolescents with intellectual disabilities report mild to moderate depression over time when compared with their typically developing peers, they express more family connectedness, but differ little on measures of self-concept. In later adolescence, typically developing adolescents appear to have a significant increase in optimism that is not experienced by the adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Implications of the findings are discussed as well directions for further investigation.

Does psychotherapy work with school-aged youth? A meta-analytic examination of moderator variables that influence therapeutic outcomes

The present study is a quantitative synthesis of the available literature to investigate the efficacy of psychotherapy for childrens mental health outcomes. In particular, this study focuses on potential moderating variables-study design, treatment, client, and therapist characteristics-that may influence therapeutic outcomes for youth but have not been thoroughly accounted for in prior meta-analytic studies. An electronic search of relevant databases resulted in 190 unpublished and published studies that met criteria for inclusion in the analysis. Effect sizes differed by study design. Pre-post-test designs resulted in absolute magnitudes of treatment effects ranging from |-0.02| to |-0.76| while treatment versus control group comparison designs resulted in absolute magnitudes of treatment effects ranging from |-0.14| to |-2.39|. Changes in youth outcomes larger than 20% were found, irrespective of study design, for outcomes focused on psychosomatization (29% reduction), school attendance (25% increase), and stress (48% reduction). The magnitude of changes after psychotherapy ranged from 6% (externalizing problems) to 48% (stress). Several moderator variables significantly influenced psychotherapy treatment effect sizes, including frequency and length of treatment as well as treatment format. However, results did not support the superiority of a single type of intervention for most outcomes. Implications for therapy with school-aged youth and future research are discussed.