ABSTRACTSAustralian Journal of Guidance and Counselling
13.1
Volume 13 Number 1 2003Special Issue Mental Health Issues and Schools
Positive Statements, Positive Students, Positive Classrooms
Paul C. Burnett
Centre for Research and Graduate Training, Charles Sturt University, AustraliaThis paper describes the influential role that positive statements made by teachers has on upper primary school students’ mental health as measured by their self-perceptions and their satisfaction with their classroom environment. The notion forwarded is that positive statements, when delivered by teachers under specific conditions, have a positive impact on self-esteem, self-talk, self-concepts and classroom environment. The use of positive statements in the primary classroom has been questioned over the past 20 years and has been criticised by anti-behaviourists and motivationists. It is argued that the use of positive statements in the classroom context has not been appropriately considered within the realm of enhancing students’ self-perceptions, developing positive teacher–student relationships and creating positive learning environments. This paper integrates the findings from a program of research undertaken by the author over the past decade.
School Mental Health Promotion — Theoretical, Conceptual and Practical Issues
Louise Rowling
University of Sydney, AustraliaThe field of school mental health promotion could be considered to be a new field of research and practice; however, this is not the case. Theoretically it is firmly grounded in both health and education bodies of research that have coalesced to advance practice to meet current imperatives. In reviewing these foundations prevailing dilemmas and challenges become evident. These include the ideologies of stakeholders about mental health; decision-making about entry points around risk and protective factors, and/or social context; and ethical and methodological problems in research and evaluation.
Broadening Social Networks for Girls and Particularly for Boys: Outcomes of a Coping Skills Program
Neringa Luscombe Smith, Erica Frydenberg and Charles Poole
University of Melbourne, AustraliaThis study is a report of an evaluation of the effectiveness of a school based coping skills program on a sample of 83 adolescents (14–17 years) recruited from a secondary school in metropolitan Melbourne. All participants completed the Adolescent Coping Scale (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993a) on three occasions: prior to program implementation, 1 week after program completion and 6 months after program completion. The results indicated a significant increase in the coping style, “reference to others”, with males increasing their use of this coping style more than females upon completion of the program. The findings are discussed in terms of the benefits increased use of seeking support from others has on male adolescents and of the importance
of using programs as part of a comprehensive approach to health
promotion within schools.
The Friendly Schools Project: An Empirically Grounded School-based Bullying Prevention Program
Donna Cross, Yolanda Pintabona, Margaret Hall, Greg Hamilton, Erin Erceg and Clare Roberts
Curtin University of Technology, AustraliaThere exists limited empirical evidence of the effectiveness of universal school-based interventions to reduce or prevent children’s bullying. The Friendly Schools project was a 3-year longitudinal randomised control trial designed to determine the efficacy of a universal holistic intervention to prevent or reduce bullying among primary school children. The trial involved 1968 Western Australian children, their parents and their teachers. This paper discusses the components of the Friendly Schools program, and how empirical, theoretical and “promising” mechanisms of change (mediators) were operationalised to develop a whole-of-school approach to reduce bullying. This paper concludes that further research is needed to determine empirically: (a) which mechanisms of change mediate improvements in children’s bullying behaviour and mental health status and (b) the relative contribution of the various components of a whole-of-school approach to bullying prevention and reduction in children.
Prevention and Intervention for Anxiety Disorders
in Children and Adolescents: A Whole School Approach
Marilyn A. Campbell
Queensland University of Technology, AustraliaThis paper explores a whole school approach to the prevention and intervention for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. In addition to having serious consequences for academic, social and family life, anxiety has also been shown to be a precursor to depression, substance abuse and eating disorders. School counsellors are well placed to identify students with anxiety disorders, instigate prevention programs and treat or refer anxious students. Prevention and early intervention for anxiety disorders needs to be coordinated and integrated into the regular curriculum as well as into the life of the classroom and the school. Barriers to schools working well in this area are identified and discussed.
Building Depression Resilience in Adolescents: A 2-year Evaluation of the Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP) in a South West Sydney High School
Pandora Petrovski, Stephen Matthey and Leanne Clarke
South Western Sydney Area Health Service, AustraliaThe Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP), an 11-session depression prevention program, was provided to Year 9 students at a South West Sydney High School. Students were assessed using the Children’s Depression Inventory and the Adolescent Coping Scale. These assessments were conducted prior to the start of the program, the end of the program, at 6 months, at 1 year and again at 2 years. Further, at the 2-year time point, students were asked to complete a questionnaire — Use and Usefulness of RAP Skills Evaluation Form (2 years on) — to help ascertain the “practical effectiveness” of RAP. The results provide some support for the efficacy of RAP as a depression prevention program with high-school students of approximately 15 years of age. A significant main effect was found for time on the CDI, with follow-up comparisons showing that pretreatment scores were significantly higher than scores at any of the other subsequent time points. There were no main effects or interactions for ethnicity or sex. For the measures of coping, no change was evidenced. This was a surprising result as one of the main objectives of RAP was to increase positive coping skills. The Use and Usefulness of Rap Skills Evaluation Form (2 years on) showed that most of the students found the program to be of some use; however, less than half stated they had utilised some of the skills taught in the program. More importantly, of the students who stated they had experienced difficult situations over the last 12 months, 23 (66%) said that they had used skills taught in RAP to help them; however, there was limited support regarding the helpfulness of these skills during the difficult situations. In spite of a number of methodological issues limiting the interpretations of the findings, the current long-term evaluation provides an important contribution to the small body of literature available on the effectiveness of RAP.
Why School Counsellors and Psychologists Should Treat Addiction Problems
Nadine Pelling
University of South Australia, AustraliaSchool counsellors and psychologists will encounter students affected by addiction. When this occurs many will simply refer the students to specialist services within the community. Such referrals are not always an appropriate action for many reasons. School counsellors and psychologists have the professional characteristics required to create
a therapeutic alliance and know the behavioural strategies needed for basic addiction treatment. It is suggested that school counsellors and psychologists add some basic knowledge, awareness, and skill relating to addiction to their professional development and, when possible, address the addiction problems of their students directly. Arguments regarding why school counsellors and psychologists should treat addiction problems are given. Moreover, how school counsellors and psychologists can briefly address addiction problems is outlined. Finally, resources on addiction are provided.
“But I’m Not Really Bad”: Using an Idiographic Versus
a Nomothetic Approach to Understand the Reasons for Difficult Behaviour in Children
Vicki Bitsika
Bond University, QueenslandThe number of students who are identified as experiencing behavioural difficulties in the mainstream school setting is growing. However, current efforts by teachers to address these behavioural difficulties are seriously limited because of lack of training in the procedures for assessing and working with difficult behaviour. This paper will argue that the apparent failure of traditional “behaviour modification” in producing positive changes in difficult behaviour lies in its prescriptive application of general strategies to specific student problems. This approach to behaviour change is ineffective because it is not based on an understanding of the reasons for difficult behaviour. The functional assessment framework for investigating and understanding student difficulties will be presented as a more efficient means of changing the behaviour problems that occur in the classroom. At the foundation of this framework is the assumption that meaningful and long-term changes to difficult behaviour can only result from teaching the student to behave differently rather than focusing on the elimination of problem behaviour.
Children of Parents with a Mental Illness — The COPMI Project
Elizabeth Fudge
Australian Infant Child Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Ltd, AustraliaWhen adults experience mental health problems, the effect on their family members can be immense. The impact on the person’s children, both of the parent’s behaviour and of their treatment, can be profound but is frequently overlooked by service providers for a range of reasons. The current national COPMI project has been initiated to promote better mental health outcomes for children of parents with a mental illness, especially by providing information and good practice guidance for services and people in the community who work with these families and their children.
Structured Peer Group Supervision by Email: An Option for School Guidance and Counselling Personnel
Mary McMahon
Queensland University of Technology, AustraliaSupervision is a mechanism for providing support for school counsellors, and peer group supervision has been found to be beneficial. Indeed, supervision is most often conducted in face-to-face interactions. However, advances in technology have opened up new possibilities for supervision via use of the Internet. The present study evaluates a structured peer group supervision program conducted for school counsellors using email. The findings indicate that email can be an effective medium through which to conduct supervision and that the use of a structured peer group supervision process is helpful.
Enhancing Guidance and School Counselling Consultation Services from a Self-system Psychological Perspective
Ian Hay
Griffith University, AustraliaThis paper reviews consultation between school guidance counsellors and teachers and parents from a self-system psychological perspective. From this perspective factors, such as self-serving bias, self-enhancement, self-verification, sense of control, and stress coping strategies all impact on the consultation process. The paper addresses the challenge of understanding and minimising the negative ramifications of the self-system factors and suggests strategies that can help build a positive professional relationship. The paper explores the interactions between the self-system variables and behaviour so that guidance and school counsellors are in a better position to monitor their interactions and work more effectively with a range of consultees.
School Counsellor Use of Curriculum-based Dynamic Assessment
Jeanette Berman and Lorraine Graham
University of New England, AustraliaThis study explored the conditions required for the practical implementation of dynamic assessment in schools. It involved the development and implementation of a curriculum-based dynamic assessment procedure in the area of school mathematics for use by school counsellors. Dynamic assessment has been developed within Vygotskian theories of learning, teaching and assessment. It incorporates a teaching or mediation phase that requires the application of clinical assessment and teaching skills. This paper argues that the competencies needed to conduct a successful dynamic assessment are a blend of professional skills possessed by school counsellors. The assessment procedures used in this study resulted in valid assessment information about students’ cognitive development as well as aspects of their general cognitive, social and emotional functioning. The information gathered through dynamic assessment was particularly useful for informing classroom teaching. The practical problems associated with dynamic assessment identified in the literature were not found to be barriers to the use of these techniques in schools in this study. Instead, dynamic assessment, used to complement conventional assessment instruments, has the potential to enhance the classroom utility of assessments carried out by school counsellors.
Counselling Outcomes Attributable to the Working Alliance
John Barletta and Sally Fuller
Australian Catholic University, AustraliaThere is a multitude of counselling theories that have gained respectability for their theoretical and practical contributions to the profession. Although such theories have been instrumental in developing useful therapies, there remain significant differences in their interventions and techniques. Debates flourish over which school of counselling is better and which contribute to the best positive outcomes. Research has confirmed that there is no significant amount of outcome difference between the varying schools and that there is not one therapy that is superior in contributing to quality outcomes. A critical basic question has resurfaced in recent times; what makes counselling effective? If each school of counselling is done differently and uses different techniques, how then does each work? Part of the explanation comes from the “working alliance.” The working alliance that comprises the bond, goals and tasks that form a trans-theoretical view will be reviewed and explored with a focus on their application to counselling.
Raising a FAS/FAE Child: Helping Carers Cope
Elizabeth Tindle
QUT Counselling Service, AustraliaThis paper will address the growing community problem of caring for children, young people and adults with disabilities stemming from alcohol related birth defects. It will begin with an outline of the problem followed by examples of how parents can produce multiple children damaged in utero by alcohol and/or drug consumption. The process of diagnosing these children and looking at proven strategies for successfully and safely raising them will be discussed. Finally, the importance of the foster parents and their specific needs will be addressed.
Freedom and Control — “Big Me and Little Me”: A Chinese Perspective for Counsellors
Angela Back and Michelle Barker
Griffith University, AustraliaThis paper is based upon a study of issues of self and identity of Chinese students in an Australian high school and uses indigenous concepts mainly drawn from the work of Hong Kong psychologists. Research was initiated because identity appeared to be developing in a different way for Chinese students compared with their Anglo-Australian counterparts. The case study of Chinese Year 12 students provided a framework for understanding and counselling Chinese students. It is this framework that is discussed first. Second, a concept of self — Big Me and Little Me — is presented as a way of conceptualising the tensions of interdependent functioning. Finally, implications for counsellors and general issues emerging in the counselling situation are discussed.
The Lethal Cocktail: Low Self-belief, Low Control, and High Fear of Failure
Andrew J. Martin
University of Western Sydney, AustraliaCluster analysis of school students’ responses to the Student Motivation Scale (Martin, 2001, in press) identified two groups of students separated on the basis of their self-belief, sense of control, and fear of failure. The first group reflects failure avoidance and is represented by a lethal cocktail of low self-belief, low control, and high fear of failure. The second group reflects success orientation and is represented by high self-belief, high control, and low fear of failure. Follow-up analyses to validate these two clusters showed that the failure avoidant students were significantly higher in anxiety and pessimism and significantly lower in achievement. Implications are discussed for intervention and prevention aimed at enhancing students’ self-belief and control and reducing students’ fear of failure. Also discussed is the need to develop goals, incentives, and climates for students that draw them to attain success rather than drive them to avoid failure.
Temperament in Context: The Student Styles Questionnaire as a Measure of Temperament: An Australian Study
Michael Faulkner
La Trobe University, AustraliaThis paper overviews temperament research and its relationship to context. It provides an introduction to the Student Styles Questionnaire as a temperament measure and its educational value. It presents Australian SSQ data, based on a sample of 308 students, aged 9, 11,13 and 15, from a regional city. Both quantitative and qualitative findings are included as a means of illustrating the value of this instrument. Comparisons are made with the United States SSQ normative sample.
Grief and Loss: Perspectives for School Personnel
Cathy O’Connor
Education Queensland, Australia
Elizabeth Templeton
Queensland University of Technology, AustraliaDiscussing death, grief and loss is difficult, however, the impact of loss on students makes dealing with bereavement and grief unavoidable for teachers. To best prepare for helping students, school personnel need to deal with their own feelings about these issues first. Becoming familiar with children’s perceptions of death, the stages and expressions of grief, and effective coping strategies will further enhance the support provided by school personnel to grieving students (Westmoreland, 1996). This paper reviews the literature on grief and loss in order to provide a background from which school personnel may draw in their preparation for assisting students experiencing such circumstances. Clarification of commonly used terms is provided and the nature of grief and loss is explored. Implications for parents, teachers, counsellors and school systems are outlined and a brief overview of recommended strategies is presented.
Debriefing Strategies in Adventure Based Counselling
Andrea Reupert and Darryl Maybery
La Trobe University, Albury-Wodonga Campus, AustraliaThis paper describes an Adventure Based Counselling (ABC) program that aimed to improve sixth grade student behaviour in the classroom. In particular, this paper focuses on the ABC debriefing strategy, as summarised in the “What?” “So What?” and “Now What?” format. This debriefing process was employed with both students and ABC program facilitators. While there is extensive literature concerned with the application of the ABC debrief with the target group, an ABC debrief with the facilitators of the program is lacking in the applied literature. The strategies and sample questions employed in the ABC format, as applied to both groups, are described in detail. The procedure was highly effective for both behavioural intervention with students and for maximising learning of the ABC facilitators.