Designing effective interventions for children at‐risk for antisocial behavior: An integrated model of components necessary for making valid inferences

Abstract

Children demonstrating antisocial behavior patterns are at-risk for a host of negative outcomes including school failure, peer and teacher rejection, academic difficulties, and future delinquency. These children are undoubtedly in need of effective and appropriate interventions to address problem areas in both behavioral and academic domains. To ensure that academic and sociobehavioral interventions will be more successful, three main components: (a) social validity, (b) treatment integrity, and (c) generalization and maintenance must be addressed when designing the interventions. The purpose of this article is to (a) describe the pertinent characteristics (e.g., definition, application, and assessment issues) of each of these components as they relate to school-based interventions, and (b) introduce an integrated model that illustrates the interrelatedness of these essential intervention components. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.In an effort to understand how to better serve children with learning and behavior problems, the research and teaching communities have been participating in school-based intervention research. The primary focus has been on identifying effective and efficient strategies to either prevent the development of or ameliorate the effects of a specific problem (Bullis & Walker, 1994). Although strides have been taken to link interventions to assessment results, too often the intervention is missing essential components necessary for making accurate interpretations of the intervention outcomes (Lane, Umbreit, & Beebe-Frankenberger, 1999). If the gap between research and practice is to be bridged, consumers of research must be able to affirm that the treatment outcomes are, in fact, attributable to the intervention. Too often, studies report only the research design and the reliability of the dependent variables. Yet, additional information is necessary (e.g., the accuracy with which the independent variable, namely the intervention, is implemented) to confidently conclude that the results are due to the intervention and not other extraneous factors. The purpose of this article is to introduce an integrated model of components necessary for making valid inferences from intervention research. Specifically, the necessity of components such as social validity, treatment integrity, and generalization and maintenance will be discussed.Although these intervention components serve as a core foundation for all intervention research, this article will specifically apply this model to research conducted with children at-risk for antisocial behavior. We find this focus particularly important given that (a) without effective intervention, these children and youth are likely to experience numerous longterm, negative consequences (e.g., academic failure, drop-out, criminality, substance abuse, and welfare services) which result in tremendous costs to society and the individual students themselves (Lane, 1999;Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey, 1995), and (b) there are a substantial number of children who constitute this...

A Preliminary Evaluation of Mindfields: A Self-Regulatory Cognitive Behavioural Program for School-Aged Adolescent Offenders

“…Lane, Beebe-Frankenberger, Lambros, and Pierson (2001) reported that interventions utilising self-monitoring records or a task analysis checklist improve treatment integrity. Feedback from facilitators is also provided via fortnightly supervision sessions, where implementation issues, process issues, and practical guidelines to overcome difficulties are discussed.…”

PAVEd for Success: An Evaluation of a Comprehensive Preliteracy Program for Four-Year-Old Children

“…Research on treatment integrity has identified substantial variability in selfreport and direct observation methods (Lane, Beebe-Frankenberger, Lambros, & Pierson, 2001;Roe & Vukelich, 2001). Within the context of a complex intervention, there are strengths and limitations of either approach.…”

Risco psicossocial e psicopatologia em adolescentes com percurso delinquente

“…(...)" (Reforma do Direito de Menores, 1999, pp. 300-305). identificados, nomeadamente, o uso de drogas, uma história familiar de comportamentos de alto-risco, a falência da supervisão parental, expectativas parentais negativas em relação ao adolescente, castigos inconsistentes ou excessivamente severos, conflitos familiares, violência doméstica, a falta de investimento escolar, o insucesso escolar, a imaturidade emocional (baixo auto-controlo, agressividade e impulsividade), os pares anti-sociais e os comportamentos disruptivos com início na infância (e.g., Bender & Losel, 1997;Born, Chevalier, & Humblet, 1997;Lane, Beebe-Frankenberger, Lambros, & Pierson, 2001).…”