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Evidence summaries

Group Treatment of Children and Adolescent

Group treatment of children and adolescents for a variety of problems has the potential to significant improvement compared with wait-list or placebo controls. Level of evidence: "A"

A systematic review 1 including 56 studies was abstracted in DARE. The interventions included preventative programmes, psychotherapy, counselling, guidance and training groups, taking place in schools (74%) or elsewhere.

Of the eight content outcome measures, six produced effect sizes that were significantly different from zero: disruptive behaviour, anxiety/fear, adjustment to divorce, social skills/adjustment, self-concept/self-esteem, and locus of control. The overall effect size from 49 studies comparing group treatment to wait-list or placebo control group was 0.61, SD 0.52, p<0.001). Studies in school setting (effect size = 0.53) were less effective than studies in clinical settings (effect size = 1.13).

References

  • Hoag MJ, Burlingame GM. Evaluating the effectiveness of child and adolescent group treatment: a meta-analytic review. J Clin Child Psychol 1997 Sep;26(3):234-46. [PubMed] [DARE]

Primary/Secondary Keywords