A review of the evidence on enhancing psychosocial skills development in children and young people

Barry, Margaret M; Dowling, K (2015) A Review of the Evidence on Enhancing Psychosocial Skills Development in Children and Young People. HPRC, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://doi.org/10.13025/S8001V

Abstract

Summary Background: This report synthesizes the findings from international evidence reviews on the effectiveness of psychosocial skills development programmes for children and young people. A rapid review of the effectiveness of interventions related to parenting, preschool, school and community-based programmes that aim to enhance social and emotional skills development was conducted. Methods: Searching a range of electronic databases, 30 reviews published in the last ten years were identified, which provided evidence on a range of programmes employing RCTs and quasi-experimental study designs. The search process produced over 5000 articles, 26 of which were included in the review. This included three reviews of reviews, five Cochrane reviews and 16 systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Findings: Of the 26 reviews that were included, 11 relate to parenting programmes, 3 to preschool interventions, 6 to school-based programmes and 6 out-of-school interventions. Collectively, the review findings show that there is good quality evidence that both universal and targeted social and emotional skills-based interventions can lead to a range of positive outcomes for young people across emotional, social, educational, health and behavioural domains and reduce the risk for mental health problems, violence and aggressive behaviour, risky health behaviours and substance misuse. Employing the typology of actions to reduce health inequalities proposed by 7(2005), the review findings support a number of well-evidenced interventions across different levels.

Publisher

HPRC, National University of Ireland, Galway

Rights

CC BY-NC-ND

cbn

Collections

Health Promotion (Reports)