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Introduction:
Evidence-based programs (EBPs) that address problem behaviors of at-risk children are needed in elementary schools, but there are many barriers to implementing EBPs. Identifying practice elements common to EBPs (e.g., PATHS; Incredible Years) may help address some of the barriers to implementing EBPs. Common elements are practices common to multiple EBPs; researchers in the mental health field (Chorpita & Daleiden, 2009; Garland et al., 2008) have developed methods for identifying common elements and this method was recently applied to early childhood programs (McLeod et al., 2016). Identifying common elements helps create an operational definition of instructional practices commonly found in the literature (McLeod et al., 2016) which can facilitate implementation efforts (Institute of Medicine, 2015). This poster focuses on an effort to distill common practice elements from EBPs and interventions designed to target social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of students with problem behavior in early elementary school classrooms.
Method:
Four databases (ERIC, PsycInfo, EBSCO, Social Science Citations Index) were searched, including results from 2005-2015 to correspond with the National Research Council’s (2005) report on EBPs. To be included, a study needed a model or practice aimed at one or more of nine child outcomes (e.g. social skills, emotion identification) delivered in classrooms with at least one participant between 5-8 years old in grades K-2, and be published in English. Articles were excluded if participants had autism, the intervention was function or medication based, developed to target outcomes for a specific child, or didn’t demonstrate experimental control. Next, practices were coded using the bottom-up procedure (i.e., all practices in a literature base are coded and classified; see Garland et al., 2008).
Results:
One-hundred and twenty-seven articles representing 84 group and 43 single-case design studies were identified; 37 programs were represented in the 84 group design studies. Of these 37 programs, 21 manuals were acquired. In cases where program manuals were not available, original articles (n = 27) were coded. The first stage of coding resulted in 97 teacher-delivered practices (e.g. behavioral momentum, modeling). After redundancies were removed, a second stage of double coding resulted in 38 practices. During a third stage of coding, like items were combined into practice elements (e.g. behavior specific praise and positive feedback were combined), resulting in 25 common practice elements. Finally, six experts (e.g., program developers and experts in behavioral interventions) participated in a Delphi review procedure rating practice elements as necessary, useful but not necessary, and not useful.