Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T18:54:28.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Identification of “At-risk” Students for Prevention and Early Intervention Programs in Secondary Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2016

Marilyn A Campbell
Marilyn A Campbell*
Affiliation:
Queensland University of Technology, Australia
*
School of Learning and Professional Studies, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove QLD 4059, Australia. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Recent epidemiological studies in Australia have found that adolescent mental health issues are an important public health problem (Sawyer et al., 2001). These problems are often manifested in the classroom. As many as one in five Australian children aged from 4 to 17 have significant mental health concerns (Zubrick, Silburn, Burton, & Blair, 2000). However, only one in four of these young people receive professional help (Sawyer et al., 2001). To assist in preventing these problems, schools in Australia have been trialling innovative strategies in mental health promotion, prevention and intervention such as the Gatehouse Project and MindMatters. When selected or indicated prevention strategies are employed there is a need for identification of those students either at-risk or who have mild symptoms of a disorder. This process needs to be efficient and effective, using multiple informants and multi-methods. This article reports on the process utilised by two Australian high schools that trialled an identification process for at-risk students for anxiety/depression using indicated prevention programs. The benefits of using teachers, support staff and student self-identification are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , July 2004 , pp. 65 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abidin, R.R., & Robinson, L.L. (2002). Stress, biases, or professionalism: What drives teachers' referral judgments of students with challenging behaviors? Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 10, 204–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asher, S.R. & Coie, J.D. (Eds.). (1990). Peer rejection in childhood. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Barnes, J. (1998). Mental health promotion: A developmental perspective. Psychology, Health and Medicine, 3, 55–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, P.M., Moore, A.F., & Sonderegger, R. (2000). The FRIENDS program for young former-Yugoslavian refugees in Australia: A pilot study. Behaviour Change, 17, 124–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birmaher, B., Ryan, N.D., Williamson, D.E., Brent, D.A., Kaufman, J., Dahl, R.E., et al. (1996). Childhood and adolescent depression: A review of the past 10 years. Part 1. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1427–1439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blascovich, J., & Tomaka, J. (1993). Measures of self-esteem. In Robinson, J.P., Shaver, P.R., & Wrightsman, L.S. (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (pp. 115–160). Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research.Google Scholar
Brent, D.A., Perper, J.A., Moritz, G., Allman, C., Friend, A., Roth, A., et al. (1993). Psychiatric risk factors for adolescent suicide: A case-control study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 521–529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, S.J., & Kutcher, S. (2003). Diagnosis and measurement of anxiety disorder in adolescents: A review of commonly used instruments. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 13, 351–400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burns, J.J., Cottrell, L., Perkins, K., Pack, R., Stanton, B., Hobbs, G., et al. (2004). Depressive symptoms and health risk among rural adolescents. Pediatrics, 113, 1313–1320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, M.A. (2003). An innovative multi-disciplinary approach to identifying at-risk students in primary schools. Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 13, 159–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conoley, J.C., & Conoley, C.W. (1991). Collaboration for child adjustment: Issues for school- and clinic-based psychologists. Journal of Counselling and Clinical Psychology, 59, 821–829.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, T., Wilton, K., & Glynn, T. (1985). Prevalence, school progress and referral of mildly retarded children in regular classes. The Exceptional Child, 32, 5–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, C., Martin, G., Kosky, R., & O'Hanlon, A. (2000). Early intervention in the mental health of young people: A literature review. Australia: The Australian Early Intervention Network for Mental Health in Young People.Google Scholar
Gardiner, J. (1994, November). Differential teacher response to type of behavioural disturbance: The good, the bad and the forgotten. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, University of Newcastle, Australia.Google Scholar
Garrison, C.Z., Addy, C.L., Jackson, K.L., McKeown, R.E., & Waller, J.L. (1991). The CES-D as a screen for depression and other psychiatric disorders in adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30, 636–641.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, R. (1997). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 581–586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, R., Meltzer, H., & Bailey, V. (2003). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A pilot study on the validity of the self-report version. International Review of Psychiatry, 38, 173–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, R., & Scott, S. (1999). Comparing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist: Is small beautiful? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 17–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottlieb, J., Gottlieb, B.W., & Trongone, S. (1991). Parent and teacher referrals for a psy-choeducational evaluation. The Journal of Special Education, 25, 155–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, M.T., Clopton, J.R., & Pope, A.W. (1996). Understanding gender differences in referral of children to mental health services. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 4, 182–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gresham, F.M., MacMillan, D.L., & Bocian, K.M. (1997). Teachers as “tests”: Differential validity of teacher judgments in identifying students at risk for learning disabilities. School Psychology Review, 26, 47–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazier, R.J., & Mellin, E.A. (2004). The developmental origins and treatment needs of female adolescents with depression. Journal of Counseling and Development, 82, 18–25.Google Scholar
Hibbert, A., Fogelman, K., & Manor, O. (1990). Occupational outcomes of truancy. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 60, 171–179.Google Scholar
Ialongo, N., Edelsohn, G., Werthamer-Larsson, I., Crockett, I., & Kellam, S. (1995). The significance of self-reported anxious symptoms in first grade children: Prediction to anxious symptoms and adaptive functioning in fifth grade. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 427–437.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kazdin, A.E., & Weisz, J.R. (1998). Identifying and developing empirically supported child and adolescent treatments. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 19–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendall, P.C. (1992). Childhood coping: Avoiding a lifetime of anxiety. Behaviour Change, 9, 229–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, R.C., & Walters, E.E. (1998). Epidemiology of DSM-III-R major depression and minor depression among adolescents and young adults in the national comorbidity survey. Depression and Anxiety, 7, 3–14.3.0.CO;2-F>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kovacs, M., & Devlin, B. (1998). Internalizing disorders in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 17–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kraemer, H.C., Measelle, J.R., Ablow, J.C., Essex, M.J., Boyce, W.T., & Kupfer, D.J. (2003). A new approach to integrating data from multiple informants in psychiatric assessment and research: Mixing and matching contexts and perspectives. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1566–1577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutcher, S.P, & Marton, P. (1996). Treatment of adolescent depression. In Shulman, K., Tohen, M., & Kutcher, S.R. (Eds.), Mood disorders across the life span (pp. 101–126). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Lane, K.L. (2003). Identifying young students at risk for anti-social behavior: The utility of “teachers as tests”. Behavioral Disorders, 28, 360–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewinsohn, P., Rohde, P., Klein, D.N., & Seeley, J.R. (1999). The natural course of adolescent major depressive disorder, 1: Continuity into young adulthood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 56–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, A., & Cohen, D.J. (2000). Adolescent depression: Window of (missed?) opportunity (editorial). American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1549–1551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathai, J., Anderson, P., & Bourne, A. (2002). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a screening measure prior to admission to a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 1, 1–12. Retrieved March 24, 2004, from http://auseinet.flinders.edu.au/journalCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattison, R.E., Gadow, K.D., Sprafkin, J., & Nolan, E.E. (2002). Discriminant validity of a DSM-IV-based teacher checklist: Comparison of regular and special education students. Behavioral Disorders, 27, 304–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McBride, N., Midford, R., & James, R. (1995). Structural and management changes that encourage schools to adopt comprehensive health promotion programs. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 5, 17–23.Google Scholar
Messer, S.C., & Beidel, D.C. (1994). Psychosocial correlates of childhood anxiety disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33, 975–983.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mueller, C., & Orvaschel, H. (1997). The failure of adult interventions with adolescent depression: What does it mean for theory, research and practice? Journal of Affective Disorders, 44, 203–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munoz, R.F, Mrazek, P.J., & Haggerty, R.J. (1996). Institute of Medicine Report on the prevention of mental disorders: Summary and commentary. American Psychologist, 51, 1116–1122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H, Ollendick, T, King, N., & Bogie, N. (2002). Three traditional and three new childhood anxiety questionnaires: Their reliability and validity in a normal adolescent sample. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 753–772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newman, D.L., Moffitt, T.E., Caspi, A., Magdol, L., Silva, P.A., & Stanton, W.R. (1996). Psychiatric disorder in a birth cohort young adults: Prevalence, comorbidity, clinical significance, and new case incidence from ages 11–21. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 552–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owens, L., Slee, P., & Shute, R. (2000). “It hurts a hell of a lot …” The effects of indirect aggression on teenage girls. School Psychology International, 21, 359–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patton, G.C., Bond, L., Butler, H., & Glover, S. (2003). Changing schools, changing health? Design and implementation of the Gatehouse Project. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33, 231–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patton, G.C., Coffey, C., Posterino, M., Carlin, J.B., & Wolfe, R. (2000). Adolescent depressive disorder: A population based study of ICD-10 symptoms. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 741–747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patton, G.C., Glover, S., Bond, L., Butler, H., Godfrey, C, Di Pietro, G., et al. (2000). The Gatehouse Project: A systematic approach to mental health promotion in secondary schools. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 586–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearcy, M.T., Clopton, J.R., & Pope, A.W. (1993). Influences on teacher referral of children to mental health services: Gender, severity, and internalizing versus externalizing problems, Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 1, 165–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pine, D.S., Cohen, E., Cohen, P., & Brook, J. (1999). Adolescent depressive symptoms as predictors of adult depression: Moodiness or mood disorder? American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 133–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pine, D.S., Cohen, P., Gurley, D., Brook, J., & Ma, Y. (1998). The risk for early-adulthood anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 56–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prosser, J., & McArdle, P. (1996). The changing mental health of children and adolescents: Evidence for a deterioration. Psychological Medicine, 26, 715–725.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Radloff, L.S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, U., Ryan, N.D., Birmaher, B., Dahl, R.E., Williamson, D.E., Kaufman, J., et al. (1995). Unipolar depression in adolescents: Clinical outcomes in adulthood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 566–578.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reinherz, H.Z., Giaconia, R.M., Carmola Hauf, A.M., Wasserman, M.S., & Silverman, A.B. (1999). Major depression in the transition to adulthood: Risks and impairments. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 500–510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reinherz, H. Z., Paradis, A.D., Giaconia, R.M., Stashwick, C.K., & Fitzmaurice, G. (2003). Childhood and adolescent predictors of major depression in the transition to adulthood. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 2141–2147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rey, J.M., Grayson, D., Mojarrad, T., & Walter, G. (2002). Changes in the rate of diagnosis of major depression in adolescents following routine use of depression rating scale. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36, 229–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, R.E. (1980). Reliability of the CES-D scale in different ethnic contexts. Psychiatry Research, 2, 125–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, R.E. (1987). Epidemiological issues in measuring preventive effects. In Munoz, R.F. (Ed.), The prevention of depression: Research and directions (pp. 45–75). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.Google Scholar
Roberts, R.E., Andrews, J.A., Lewinsohn, P.M., & Hops, H. (1990). Assessment of depression in adolescents using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Psychological Assessment, 2, 122–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sawyer, M.G., Arney, F.M., Baghurst, P.A., Clark, J.J., Graetz, R.J., Kosky, R.J., et al. (2001). The mental health of young people in Australia: Key findings from the child and ado-76 lescent component of the national survey of mental health and well-being. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 806–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shinn, M.R., Tindal, G.A., & Spira, D.A. (1987). Special education referrals as an index of teacher tolerance: Are teachers imperfect tests? Exceptional Children, 54, 32–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spence, S.H. (1997). Structure of anxiety symptoms among children: A confirmatory factor-analytic study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 15, 91–113.Google Scholar
Spence, S.H. (1998). A measure of anxiety symptoms among children. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 545–566.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, R. (1982). The identification of the student at risk for failure. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 540–545.3.0.CO;2-X>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stewart, E.R., & McKenry, P.C. (1994). Family processes as mediators of depressive symptomatology among rural adolescents. Family Relations, 43, 38–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, C.C., Frame, C.L., & Forehand, R.L. (1987). Psychosocial impairment associated with anxiety in children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 16, 235–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhulst, F.C., & Koot, H.M. (Eds.). (1995). The epidemiology of child and adolescent psy-chopathology. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wilton, K., Cooper, T., & Glynn, T. (1987). Teacher factors and special class referral decisions. The Exceptional Child, 34, 173–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyn, J., Cahill, , Holdsworth, R., Rowling, L., & Carson, S. (2000). MindMatters, a whole-school approach promoting mental health and wellbeing. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 594–601.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zubrick, S.R., Silburn, P.B., Burton, P., & Blair, E. (2000). Mental health disorders in children and young people: Scope, cause and prevention. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 570–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zubrick, S.R., Silburn, S.R., Vimpami, G., & Williams, A.A. (1999, April). Emergent demand for measurement indicators of social and family functioning. Paper presented at the National Workshop of Indicators of Social and Family Functioning, Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra.Google Scholar