Initiative Description: Evaluation of successful professional intervention for two case studies of female adolescents’ school refusal behaviors. Interviews with the young person, parent, school staff, and other professionals including the attendance officer, a family support worker and health professionals (eight interviews per case) were collected along with case records (for example, attendance data).

Study Results: Child psychological factors included: developing feelings of safety, security and belonging, confidence, self-esteem and value, and aspiration and motivation. However, successful intervention extended beyond child factors to interacting contextual and family variables significant to the effectiveness of the intervention. Developing positive relationships between home and school, and meeting the needs of the families, appeared to be essential in supporting the young people’s success, and in both cases, there was a significant role for professionals and systems. This highlights the importance of contextual influences on the effectiveness of an intervention.

Reference: Nuttall, C. & Woods, K. (2013) Effective intervention for school refusal behaviour, Educational Psychology in Practice, 29:4, 347-366, DOI: 10.1080/02667363.2013.846848

Level of Evidence: Good