The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Evaluating the impact of therapeutic storywriting on childrens’ resilience and emotional and behavioural adjustment

Evaluating the impact of therapeutic storywriting on childrens’ resilience and emotional and behavioural adjustment
Evaluating the impact of therapeutic storywriting on childrens’ resilience and emotional and behavioural adjustment
A range of different intervention programmes exist in schools in the UK to promote the learning and development of children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). Surprisingly, there is little systematic evidence which has evaluated the effectiveness of these programmes at enhancing the protective processes associated with resilience. A systematic review of existing literature was conducted to examine the impact of both universal and targeted school-based intervention programmes on the resilience of children with SEBD. Results suggested that the most effective programmes for increasing the resilience of pupils with SEBD are those that explicitly teach new skills whilst also creating a safe and supportive environment. There was promising evidence suggesting that writing about feelings helps children to address the emotional issues underlying their behaviour (Lieberman et al. as cited in Macklem et al., 2011), however as yet there are very few studies which have evaluated the impact of interventions which use creative methods on the resilience of pupils with SEBD.

The empirical paper evaluated whether Therapeutic Storywriting (TSW, Waters, 2004) can enhance resilience and emotional and behavioural adjustment in primary school pupils experiencing SEBD. Results showed that there was a significant increase in the emotional vocabulary and sense of belonging of pupils in the intervention group (N = 21) compared with those in the WLC group (N = 21). There were no significant differences between groups on measures of emotional literacy, self-concept and emotional and behavioural adjustment, at any time. The results indicate that TSW is an effective intervention for increasing two significant protective factors associated with pupil resilience, when delivered by trained school staff. Implications for future research and educational psychology practice are discussed.
Harris, Laura Elizabeth
78c8ea73-a5cb-429b-a345-6525a9dad154
Harris, Laura Elizabeth
78c8ea73-a5cb-429b-a345-6525a9dad154
Kreppner, Jana
6a5f447e-1cfe-4654-95b4-e6f89b0275d6

Harris, Laura Elizabeth (2013) Evaluating the impact of therapeutic storywriting on childrens’ resilience and emotional and behavioural adjustment. University of Southampton, Psychology, Doctoral Thesis, 169pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

A range of different intervention programmes exist in schools in the UK to promote the learning and development of children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD). Surprisingly, there is little systematic evidence which has evaluated the effectiveness of these programmes at enhancing the protective processes associated with resilience. A systematic review of existing literature was conducted to examine the impact of both universal and targeted school-based intervention programmes on the resilience of children with SEBD. Results suggested that the most effective programmes for increasing the resilience of pupils with SEBD are those that explicitly teach new skills whilst also creating a safe and supportive environment. There was promising evidence suggesting that writing about feelings helps children to address the emotional issues underlying their behaviour (Lieberman et al. as cited in Macklem et al., 2011), however as yet there are very few studies which have evaluated the impact of interventions which use creative methods on the resilience of pupils with SEBD.

The empirical paper evaluated whether Therapeutic Storywriting (TSW, Waters, 2004) can enhance resilience and emotional and behavioural adjustment in primary school pupils experiencing SEBD. Results showed that there was a significant increase in the emotional vocabulary and sense of belonging of pupils in the intervention group (N = 21) compared with those in the WLC group (N = 21). There were no significant differences between groups on measures of emotional literacy, self-concept and emotional and behavioural adjustment, at any time. The results indicate that TSW is an effective intervention for increasing two significant protective factors associated with pupil resilience, when delivered by trained school staff. Implications for future research and educational psychology practice are discussed.

Text
Laura Harris - DEdPsy Thesis - 2013.pdf - Other
Download (1MB)

More information

Published date: June 2013
Organisations: University of Southampton, Psychology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 359840
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/359840
PURE UUID: 0d7157e2-b954-48af-b6c3-5848d70fcc81
ORCID for Jana Kreppner: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3527-9083

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 23 Dec 2013 15:27
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:30

Export record

Contributors

Author: Laura Elizabeth Harris
Thesis advisor: Jana Kreppner ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×