Treatment acceptability of interventions published in six school psychology journals

Abstract

Treatment acceptability (TA) is critical when selecting and implementing an intervention, as TA is associated with treatment outcomes. The significance of TA is reflected in school psychology models for services that state that school psychologists should address TA during development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions. However, the understanding of TA as it pertains to issues relevant to school psychologists is limited by the lack of analyses of the reporting of TA in intervention research. This study addresses this topic, as it represents a content analysis of intervention research published in six peer-reviewed journals in the field of school psychology from 2005–2014; the search yielded 2,343 articles, of which 243 were intervention research articles that included children as target samples. Overall results suggest low assessment or monitoring of TA in school psychology intervention research. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Acceptability assessment of school psychology interventions from 2005 to 2017

“…Assessing for acceptability is one method to determine if a socially important outcome was achieved (Kazdin, ). To better understand if interventions are meeting this indicator, acceptability should be measured in the intervention literature, though past reviews suggest it is infrequently reported (e.g., Villarreal, Ponce, & Gutierrez, ). This issue may be because a standardized approach to the assessment and reporting of acceptability continues to be absent from many applied research journal guidelines (Callahan et al, ; Roach, Wixson, Talapatra, & LaSalle, ) despite recommendations to include acceptability in professional practice and research.…”

The Child’s Voice in Determining Program Acceptability for a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention

“…The majority of children in the current study reported a similar experience of generally feeling better and more relaxed after doing the TRIPLE R program. Positive affect towards an intervention program is a strong indicator of program acceptability (Villarreal et al 2015).…”

“…Despite the potential value of acceptability data and more specifically, qualitative acceptability data, there is a paucity of such research (Villarreal et al 2015). Acceptability data has been positively associated with efficacy data in intervention research (Eckert and Hintze 2000).…”

“…Given the paucity of qualitative research into acceptability for children in school-based mindfulness programs (Villarreal et al 2015), a thematic analysis of childrens' experiences was expected to offer significant insight and add to existing knowledge in the area.…”

“…However, evaluating programs requires more than simply considering the effect on outcomes such as anxiety reduction; a program that is not enjoyable, engaging, and acceptable to participants is unlikely to be as effective as it could otherwise be (Mertens 2015). The paucity of acceptability research regarding school-based mindfulness programs represents a significant gap in the literature (Villarreal et al 2015). The current study seeks to understand the experience and the acceptability of participating in a school-based mindfulness group for anxiety reduction, from the perspective of the children involved, and in the children's own voices.…”