Publication bias in research synthesis: sensitivity analysis using a priori weight functions. A cognitive-ecological approach to preventing aggression in urban settings: initial outcomes for high-risk children. Changing the way children "think" about aggression: social-cognitive effects of a preventive intervention. Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) and Elementary School Aged Children’s Aggression: Results from a Cluster Randomized Trial Randomized study of combined universal family and school preventive interventions: patterns of long-term effects on initiation, regular use, and weekly drunkenness. The Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials School-based prevention of depressive symptoms: A randomized controlled study of the effectiveness and specificity of the Penn Resiliency Program. Culturally Grounded Substance Use Prevention: An Evaluation of the keepin' it R.E.A.L. Curriculum Reducing playground bullying and supporting beliefs: an experimental trial of the steps to respect program. Teacher consultation and coaching within mental health practice: classroom and child effects in urban elementary schools. Preventing binge drinking during early adolescence: one- and two-year follow-up of a school-based preventive intervention. The Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday Program: A Preliminary Evaluation of Acceptability and Impact Preventing Youth Violence and Delinquency through a Universal School-Based Prevention Approach Preventing children's posttraumatic stress after disaster with teacher-based intervention: a controlled study. Depression Prevention for Early Adolescent Girls Promoting mental health and preventing substance abuse and violence in elementary students: a randomized control study of the Michigan Model for Health. A cluster randomized controlled trial of child-focused psychiatric consultation and a school systems-focused intervention to reduce aggression. Evaluation of a Group Cognitive-Behavioral Depression Prevention Program for Young Adolescents: A Randomized Effectiveness Trial Substance use outcomes 51/2 years past baseline for partnership-based, family-school preventive interventions.
Publication bias , sometimes known as the " file-drawer problem " or " funnel-plot asymmetry , " is common in empirical research . The authors review the implication s of publication bias for quantitative research synthesis ( meta- analysis ) and describe existing techniques for detecting and correcting it . A new approach is proposed that is suitable for application to meta-analytic data sets that are too small for the application of existing methods . The model estimates parameters relevant to fixed-effects , mixed-effects or r and om-effects meta- analysis contingent on a hypothetical pattern of bias that is fixed independently of the data . The authors illustrate this approach for sensitivity analysis using 3 data sets adapted from a commonly cited reference work on research synthesis ( H. M. Cooper & L. V. Hedges , 1994 ) A multiyear , multi context aggression prevention intervention was provided during the early or late elementary school years in an inner-city and an urban poor community . Sixteen schools were r and omly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions : ( a ) no-treatment control , ( b ) general enhancement classroom program , ( c ) general enhancement plus small-group peer-skills training , or ( d ) general enhancement plus small-group peer-skills training plus family intervention . This article reports on results for the high-risk sub sample of 1,500 children . Results from hierarchical linear modeling indicate that comprehensive interventions , if provided in early grade s , can be effective for children in schools in setting s with re sources adequate to support learning and development , but some unintended effects can occur in schools in the most distressed communities when delivered too late in development The study reports social-cognitive outcomes of interventions in a cluster-r and omized school-based aggression prevention trial in low and moderate re source urban communities . Targeted social cognitions were aggressive responses , aggressive/prosocial fantasy , and normative beliefs supporting aggression . Participants were 1,484 early elementary school-age children selected for aggression above school medians . Schools received no treatment , curriculum plus teacher consultation ( Level A ) , or Level A plus small-group training ( Level B ) over 2 years . The Level A condition changed the social cognitions supporting aggression in the desired direction but only in the moderate re source communities . The small-group component did not appear to add to the effect of the Level A condition . Findings suggest that early prevention can modify children 's social cognitions in moderate re source communities This study reports on aggressive outcomes from a cluster r and omized trial of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies ( PATHS ) curriculum .  Fourteen elementary schools were r and omly assigned to intervention or control condition and third grade students were followed through the fifth grade .  Teacher and self-reports of student aggression , conduct problems , delinquency , acting out problems , and social information processing ( SIP ) variables were collected . Linear change for each of the SIP variables was noted with control students demonstrating increased normative beliefs about aggression , increased aggressive social problem solving , increased hostile attribution bias , and increased aggressive interpersonal negotiation strategies over time while PATHS students remained relatively stable . Teachers reported significant curvilinear change in student aggression , conduct problems , and acting out behavior problems ; all favoring PATHS students This study reports findings on a combined family and school-based competency-training intervention from an in-school assessment 2.5 years past baseline , as a follow-up to an earlier study of substance initiation . Increased rates of observed alcohol use and an additional wave of data allowed evaluation of regular alcohol use and weekly drunkenness , with both point-in-time and growth curve analyses . Thirty-six rural schools were r and omly assigned to ( a ) a combined family and school intervention condition , ( b ) a school-only condition , or ( c ) a control condition . The earlier significant outcome on a substance initiation index was replicated , and positive point-in-time results for weekly drunkenness were observed , but there were no statistically significant outcomes for regular alcohol use . Discussion focuses on factors relevant to the mix of significant longitudinal results within a consistent general pattern of positive intervention-control differences Flaws in the design , conduct , analysis , and reporting of r and omised trials can cause the effect of an intervention to be underestimated or overestimated . The Cochrane Collaboration ’s tool for assessing risk of bias aims to make the process clearer and more The authors investigated the effectiveness and specificity of the Penn Resiliency Program ( PRP ; J. E. Gillham , L. H. Jaycox , K. J. Reivich , M. E. P. Seligman , & T. Silver , 1990 ) , a cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program . Children ( N = 697 ) from 3 middle schools were r and omly assigned to PRP , Control ( CON ) , or the Penn Enhancement Program ( PEP ; K. J. Reivich , 1996 ; A. J. Shatté , 1997 ) , an alternate intervention that controls for nonspecific intervention ingredients . Children 's depressive symptoms were assessed through 3 years of follow-up . There was no intervention effect on average levels of depressive symptoms in the full sample . Findings varied by school . In 2 schools , PRP  significantly reduced depressive symptoms across the follow-up relative to both CON and PEP . In the 3rd school , PRP did not prevent depressive symptoms . The authors discuss the findings in relation to previous research on PRP and the dissemination of prevention programs This paper reports on the evaluation of a culturally grounded prevention intervention targeting substance use among urban middle-school students . The curriculum consists of 10 lessons promoting antidrug norms and teaching resistance and other social skills , reinforced by booster activities and a media campaign . Three versions were delivered : Mexican American , combined African American and European American , and Multicultural . Thirty-five middle schools were r and omly assigned to 1 of the 3 versions or the control . Students completed baseline and follow-up question naires over a 2-year period ( total 6,035 respondents ) . Analyses utilizing a generalized estimating equations approach assessed the overall effectiveness of cultural grounding and the cultural matching hypothesis . Support was found for the intervention 's overall effectiveness , with statistically significant effects on gateway drug use as well as norms , attitudes , and resistance strategies but with little support for the cultural matching hypothesis . Specific contrasts found the Mexican American and Multicultural versions impacted the most outcomes Six schools were r and omly assigned to a multilevel bullying intervention or a control condition .  Children in Grade s 3 - 6 ( N=1,023 ) completed pre- and posttest surveys of behaviors and beliefs and were rated by teachers . Observers coded playground behavior of a r and om sub sample ( n=544 ) . Hierarchical analyses of changes in playground behavior revealed declines in bullying and argumentative behavior among intervention-group children relative to control-group children , increases in agreeable interactions , and a trend toward reduced destructive byst and er behavior . Those in the intervention group reported enhanced byst and er responsibility , greater perceived adult responsiveness , and less acceptance of bullying/aggression than those in the control group . Self-reported aggression did not differ between the groups . Implication s for future research on the development and prevention of bullying are discussed OBJECTIVE To examine effects of a teacher consultation and coaching program delivered by school and community mental health professionals on change in observed classroom interactions and child functioning across one school year . METHOD Thirty-six classrooms within 5 urban elementary schools ( 87 % Latino , 11 % Black ) were r and omly assigned to intervention ( training + consultation/coaching ) and control ( training only ) conditions .  Classroom and child outcomes ( n = 364 ; 43 % girls ) were assessed in the fall and spring . RESULTS R and om effects regression models showed main effects of intervention on teacher-student relationship closeness , academic self-concept , and peer victimization . Results of multiple regression models showed levels of observed teacher emotional support in the fall moderated intervention impact on emotional support at the end of the school year . CONCLUSIONS Results suggest teacher consultation and coaching can be integrated within existing mental health activities in urban schools and impact classroom effectiveness and child adaptation across multiple domains The authors examined the effectiveness of a school-based prevention program on reducing binge drinking in a sample of minority , inner-city , middle-school students . Rates of binge drinking were compared among youth who received the program beginning in the 7th grade ( n = 1,713 ) and a control group ( n = 1,328 ) that did not . The prevention program had protective effects in terms of binge drinking at the 1-year ( 8th grade ) and 2-year ( 9th grade ) follow-up assessment s. The proportion of binge drinkers was over 50 % lower in the intervention group relative to the control group at the follow-up assessment s. There were also several significant program effects on proximal drinking variables , including drinking knowledge , pro-drinking attitudes , and peer drinking norms . These findings indicate that a school-based drug abuse prevention approach previously found to be effective among White youth significantly reduced binge drinking among urban minority youth Abstract . Despite recent research suggesting that relationally aggressive behaviors occur frequently and may lead to physically aggressive actions within urban school setting s , there has been little prior research to develop and evaluate relational aggression prevention efforts within the urban schools . The current article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of the Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday ( PRAISE ) Program . PRAISE is a 20-session classroom-based universal prevention program , design ed to be appropriate and responsive to the needs of youth within the urban school context . Results suggest strong acceptability for the program and feasibility of implementation . Further , the program was especially beneficial for girls . For instance , girls in classrooms r and omly assigned to the PRAISE Program demonstrated higher levels of knowledge for social information processing and anger management techniques and lower levels of relational aggression following treatment as compared to similar girls r and omly assigned to a no-treatment control condition . Further , relationally aggressive girls exhibited similar benefits from the program ( greater knowledge and lower levels of relational aggression ) plus lower levels of overt aggression following treatment as compared to relationally aggressive girls within the control classrooms . In contrast , the program was not associated with improvements for boys across most measures . The significance and implication s of the findings for research and practice are discussed Violence is an important public health problem among adolescents in the United States . Substance use and violence tend to co-occur among adolescents and appear to have similar etiologies . The present study examined the extent to which a comprehensive prevention approach targeting an array of individual-level risk and protective factors and previously found effective in preventing tobacco , alcohol , and illicit drug use is capable of decreasing violence and delinquency .  Schools ( N=41 ) were r and omly assigned to intervention and control conditions .  Participants in the 20 intervention schools received the Life Skills Training prevention program including material focusing on violence and the media , anger management , and conflict resolution skills . Survey data were collected from 4,858 sixth grade students prior to the intervention and three months later after the intervention . Findings showed significant reductions in violence and delinquency for intervention participants relative to controls . Stronger prevention effects were found for students who received at least half of the preventive intervention . These effects include less verbal and physical aggression , fighting , and delinquency . The results of this study indicate that a school-based prevention approach previously found to prevent tobacco , alcohol , and illicit drug use can also prevent violence and delinquency OBJECTIVE The psychological outcomes that the exposure to mass trauma has on children have been amply documented in the past decades . The objective of this study is to describe the effects of a universal , teacher-based preventive intervention implemented with Israeli students before the rocket attacks that occurred during Operation Cast Lead , compared with a nonintervention but exposed control group . METHOD The study sample consisted of 1,488 students study ing in fourth and fifth grade s in a city in southern Israel who were exposed to continuous rocket attacks during Operation Cast Lead .  The intervention group included about half ( 53.5 % ) of the children who studied in six schools where the teacher-led intervention was implemented 3 months before the traumatic exposure . The control group ( 46.5 % of the sample ) included six schools matched by exposure in which the preventive intervention was not implemented . Children filled out the UCLA-PTSD Reaction Index and the Stress/Mood Scale 3 months after the end of the rocket attacks . RESULTS The intervention group displayed significantly lower symptoms of posttrauma and stress/mood than the control group ( p < .001 ) . Control children had 57 % more detected cases of postraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) than participant children . This difference was significantly more pronounced among boys ( 10.2 % versus 4.4 % ) and less among girls ( 12.5 % versus 10.1 % ) . CONCLUSIONS The teacher-based , resilience-focused intervention is a universal , cost-effective approach to enhance the preparedness of communities of children to mass trauma and to prevent the development of PTSD after exposure Given the dramatic increase in depression that occurs during early adolescence in girls , interventions must address the needs of girls . The authors examined whether a depression prevention program , the Penn Resiliency Program , was more effective for girls in all-girls groups than in co-ed groups . Within co-ed groups , the authors also tested whether there were greater effects for boys than for girls . Participants were 20811-to 14-year-olds . Girls were r and omly assigned to all-girls groups , co-ed groups , or control . Boys were assigned to co-ed groups or control . Students completed question naires on depressive symptoms , hopelessness , and explanatory style before and after the intervention . Girls groups were better than co-ed groups in reducing girls ’ hopelessness and for session attendance rates but were similar to co-ed groups in reducing depressive symptoms .  Co-ed groups decreased depressive symptoms , but this did not differ by gender . Findings support prevention programs and suggest additional benefits of girls groups BACKGROUND In elementary grade s , comprehensive health education curricula mostly have demonstrated effectiveness in addressing singular health issues . The Michigan Model for Health ( MMH ) was implemented and evaluated to determine its impact on multiple health issues , including social and emotional skills , prosocial behavior , and drug use and aggression . METHODS Schools ( N = 52 ) were r and omly assigned to intervention and control conditions . Participants received 24 lessons in grade 4 ( over 12 weeks ) and 28 more lessons in grade 5 ( over 14 weeks ) , including material focusing on social and emotional health , interpersonal communication , social pressure resistance skills , drug use prevention , and conflict resolution skills . The 40-minute lessons were taught by the classroom or health teacher who received curriculum training and provided feedback on implementation fidelity . Self-report survey data were collected from the fourth- grade students ( n = 2512 ) prior to the intervention , immediately after the intervention , and 6 weeks after the intervention , with the same data collection schedule repeated in fifth grade . RESULTS Students who received the curriculum had better interpersonal communication skills , social and emotional skills , and drug refusal skills than the control group students . Intervention students also reported lower intentions to use alcohol and tobacco , less alcohol and tobacco use initiated during the study and in the past 30 days , and reduced levels of aggression . CONCLUSION The effectiveness of the MMH in promoting mental health and preventing drug use and aggression supports the call for integrated strategies that begin in elementary grade s , target multiple risk behaviors , and result in practical and financial benefits to schools BACKGROUND While school-based anti-bullying programs are widely used , there have been few controlled trials of effectiveness . This study compared the effect of manualized School Psychiatric Consultation ( SPC ) , CAPSLE ( a systems and mentalization focused whole school intervention ) , and treatment-as-usual ( TAU ) in reducing aggression and victimization among elementary school children . METHOD Participants were 1,345 third to fifth grade rs in nine elementary schools in a medium-sized Midwestern city who took part in a cluster-level r and omized controlled trial with stratified restricted allocation , to assess efficacy after two years of active intervention and effectiveness after one year of minimal input maintenance intervention . Outcome measures included peer and self-reports of bullying , byst and ing , and mentalizing behavior and classroom behavioral observations of disruptive and off-task behavior . RESULTS CAPSLE moderated the developmental trend of increasing peer-reported victimization ( p < .01 ) , aggression ( p < .05 ) , self-reported aggression ( p < .05 ) and aggressive byst and ing ( p < .05 ) , compared to TAU schools . CAPSLE also moderated a decline in empathy and an increase in the percent of children victimized compared to SPC ( p < .01 ) and TAU conditions ( p < .01 ) . Results for self-reported victimization , helpful byst and ing , and beliefs in the legitimacy of aggression did not suggest significantly different changes among the study conditions over time . CAPSLE produced a significant decrease in off-task ( p < .001 ) and disruptive classroom behaviors ( p < .01 ) , while behavioral change was not observed in SPC and TAU schools . Superiority with respect to TAU for victimization ( p < .05 ) , aggression ( p < .01 ) , and helpful ( p < .05 ) and aggressive byst and ing ( p < .01 ) were maintained in the follow-up year . CONCLUSIONS A teacher-implemented school-wide intervention that does not focus on disturbed children substantially reduced aggression and improved classroom behavior Depression is a common psychological problem in adolescence . Recent research suggests that group cognitive-behavioral interventions can reduce and prevent symptoms of depression in youth . Few studies have tested the effectiveness of such interventions when delivered by school teachers and counselors ( as opposed to research team staff ) . We evaluated the effectiveness of the Penn Resiliency Program for adolescents ( PRP-A ) , a school-based group intervention that targets cognitive behavioral risk factors for depression . We r and omly assigned 408 middle school students ( ages 10–15 ) to one of three conditions :  PRP-A , PRP-AP ( in which  adolescents participated in PRP-A and parents were invited to attend a parent intervention component ) , or a school-as-usual control . Adolescents completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms , cognitive style , and coping at baseline , immediately after the intervention , and at 6-month follow-up . PRP-A  reduced depression symptoms relative to the school as usual control . Baseline levels of hopelessness moderated intervention effects . Among participants with average and high levels of hopelessness , PRP ( A and AP ) significantly improved depression symptoms , anxiety symptoms , hopelessness , and active coping relative to control . Among participants with low baseline hopelessness , we found no intervention effects . PRP-AP was not more effective than PRP-A alone . We found no intervention effects on clinical levels of depression or anxiety . These findings suggest that cognitive-behavioral interventions can be beneficial when delivered by school teachers and counselors . These interventions may be most helpful to students with elevated hopelessness This article reports  adolescent substance use outcomes of universal family and school preventive interventions 5(1/2 ) years past baseline . Participants were 1677 7th grade students from schools ( N=36 ) r and omly assigned to the school-based Life Skills Training plus the Strengthening Families Program : For Parents and Youth 10 - 14 ( LST+SFP 10 - 14 ) , LST-alone , or a control condition .  Self-reports were collected at baseline , 6 months later following the interventions , then yearly through the 12th grade . Measures included initiation-alcohol , cigarette , marijuana , and drunkenness , along with a Substance Initiation Index (SII)- and measures of more serious use-frequency of alcohol , cigarette , and marijuana use , drunkenness frequency , monthly poly-substance use , and advanced poly-substance use . Analyses ruled out differential attrition . For all substance initiation outcomes , one or both intervention groups showed significant , positive point-in-time differences at 12th grade and /or significant growth trajectory outcomes when compared with the control group . Although no main effects for the more serious substance use outcomes were observed , a higher-risk sub sample demonstrated significant , positive 12th grade point-in-time and /or growth trajectory outcomes for one or both intervention groups on all measures . The observed pattern of results likely reflects a combination of predispositions of the higher-risk sub sample , the timing of the interventions , and baseline differences between experimental conditions favoring the control group
The growing mental health needs of students within schools have result ed in teachers increasing their involvement in the delivery of school-based , psychosocial interventions .
Current research reports mixed findings concerning the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers for mental health outcomes .
This article presents a systematic review and meta- analysis that examined the effectiveness of  school-based psychosocial interventions delivered by teachers on internalizing and externalizing outcomes and the moderating factors that influence treatment effects on these outcomes .