The Effectiveness Of Solution-focused Brief Therapy For School-aged Children's Psychological,Behavioral,and Academic Outcomes

Background: School-aged students,including college students,are experiencing a critical life developmental stage in which major biological,psychosocial,and social developments are occurring.This large age-defined population directly and indirectly impacts individuals' peers,family,community.It is of critical importance to focus on students' multi-dimensional health development.Besides prevention,effective social and school-based interventions,especially professional social work mental health interventions,are critical to preventing,solving,and addressing common challenges among school-aged students.This study first synthesized empirically-supported psychosocial interventions,including cognitive behavioral therapy,problem therapy,motivational interviewing,and solution-focused brief therapy.After reviewing solution-focused brief therapy(SFBT),we realize the significance of systematically reviewing and meta-analyzing SFBT interventions for school-aged students.Methods: Following the Cochrane guideline of conducting a systematic review and Meta-analysis,we focused on doing a thorough review targeting students' social,psychological,behavioral,and academic outcomes as being intervened by SFBT.Based on a pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria,we searched CNKI,professional websites,and contacted field experts for literature search.After screening,it resulted in 36 eligible articles for data analysis.We first used an intercept-only meta-regression analysis to estimate an overall treatment effect.Second,we conducted subgroup analysis and moderator analysis using robust variance estimation in meta-regression.We also conducted study quality rating and assessment of publication bias.Results: meta-regression analysis based on included studies identified an overall treatment effect of d = 0.149,p < 0.001.In addition to subgroup analysis,moderatoranalysis found that peer reviewed article,graduate student thesis,and randomized controlled trial significantly moderates treatment effect.Discussion: results of this systematic review and Meta-analysis supported the effectiveness of Chinese SFBT intervention for school-aged children's outcomes as investigated in this study.Study results show that SFBT is an effective school-based intervention,and family therapist as well as other mental health providers can use SFBT across school settings.Based on Cohen's criteria,we identified a moderate treatment effect which also suggests clinical significance.