Facilitators and barriers to the provision of therapeutic interventions by school psychologists

Abstract

There is growing concern internationally about the prevalence of mental health problems among school-aged children and their access to specialist services. School psychologists (SPs) may be one group of professionals well-positioned to support the well-being of children and young people, due to their position as applied psychologists working within educational settings and their capability to deliver therapeutic interventions. This research considers findings from a large scale, United Kingdom (UK)-wide survey of the views of SPs (N = 455) about facilitators and barriers to the provision of therapeutic interventions to children and young people. Principal Components Analyses of ranked questionnaire responses yielded three components: The role of the SP; training and practice; and support and psychology service context. Quantitative findings were then triangulated, using qualitative responses from the survey. Greater direction and clarification of the role of the SP as a provider of therapeutic interventions is recommended, particularly given the diverse roles undertaken by SPs and competing demands, particularly from assessment activities.

Parent-reported Mental Health Problems and Mental Health Services Use in South Australian School-aged Children

“…Findings of the present study support the need of school mental health services and school-based intervention. Making use of school services provides access and may circumvent possible costs involved with pursuing other specialised professional services; however, it is not without challenge in terms of resources [51] , [52] . In addition, school-based promotion and intervention may be more beneficial for children who may not necessarily meet criteria for a clinical diagnosis but have a higher risk of missing out on specialised treatment.…”

A grounded theory of educational psychologists’ mental health casework in schools: connection, direction and reconstruction through consultation

“…Despite this, and the profession's long track record in offering support around SEBD (Miller, 1996) recent policies and initiatives overlook the EP role (DfE, 2014), side-lined it to a single reference (DfE, 2014) or replaced it with an unprotected title, "school psychologists" (DfE, 2016). This underrepresentation has been seen, too, in teaching professionals', parents' and young people's lack of awareness that mental health support forms part of educational psychology practice (Atkinson et al, 2014).…”

“…EPs contribute to mental health promotion in schools at various levels (Atkinson et al, 2014;Fallon, 2017). Whilst literature has examined EP practice in delivery of therapeutic interventions (Simpson & Atkinson, 2019) there is limited evidence in relation to EP routine mental health casework in schools, other than that relating to the use of generic consultation skills in supporting adults to manage challenging behaviour (Hayes & Stringer, 2016;Nolan & Moreland, 2014;Nugent et al, 2014;Osborne & Alfano, 2011).…”

Transition services for students with intellectual disabilities: School psychologists’ perceptions

“…When examining school psychologists’ lack of involvement in transition services for students with ID, perhaps we should consider the old adage of “ more knowledge equals more action .” The idea that knowledge directly impact behavior is seen across many educational disciplines (Ajzen, Joyce, Sheikh, & Cote, ). In studies including educators, mental health clinicians and medical personnel, professionals’ attitudes (e.g., personal interest, job/role interpretation) and knowledge (e.g., training and supervision) were identified as key barriers to service delivery (Atkinson, Squires, Bragg, Muscutt, & Wasilewski, ; Lillenstein et al, ; Suldo, Friedrich, & Michalowski, ). Training efforts geared specifically toward increasing content knowledge for professionals have been shown to positively impact changes in practice and outcomes for students (Ajzen et al, ; Cantrell, & Hughes, ; Doren, Flannery, Lombardi, & Kato, ; Neuman, & Cunningham, ; Sailors & Price, ).…”