scholarly journals Enhancement and Standardization of a Universal Social-Emotional Health Measure for Students’ Psychological Strengths

Author(s):  
Michael J. Furlong ◽  
Erin Dowdy ◽  
Karen Nylund-Gibson ◽  
Rhea Wagle ◽  
Delwin Carter ◽  
...  

AbstractRobust evidence links students’ positive mental health with academic achievement and provides a compelling rationale for developing and refining strength-based assessments. The Social Emotional Health Survey–Secondary (SEHS-S) assesses adolescents’ social and emotional skills and positive psychological dispositions. Previous studies provide reliability and validity evidence; nonetheless, there is a need for continued refinement and validation across diverse groups. The current study revised and standardized the updated SEHS-S-2020 to validate further its use in secondary schools (Grades 9–12) with a large, diverse adolescent sample. Study participants included 72,740 from 113 California schools (structural validation sample), 10,757 students from 15 randomly selected California schools (criterion validation sample), and 707 students from four additional California schools (test-retest sample). Data analyses examined structural validity, measurement invariance, criterion validity, internal consistency, and response stability. Results supported the SEHS-S-2020 validity across diverse groups of youth in various contexts. The discussion focuses on implications for assessing students’ psychosocial assets and universal school-based screening.

2020 ◽  
pp. 073428292095323
Author(s):  
Tameisha Hinton ◽  
Erin Dowdy ◽  
Michael J. Furlong ◽  
Karen Nylund-Gibson ◽  
Delwin Carter ◽  
...  

Culturally responsive assessment practices include validated measures appropriate for use with diverse populations. Considering the increasing population of Latinx students in US schools, measures need co-validated English and Spanish (Social and Emotional Health Survey (SEHS)) language forms. This study examined the SEHS-Secondary with Latinx students who completed a form in either Spanish or English. With a matched sample of 1404 Latinx students across 113 California schools, the analyses examined the factor structure, measurement invariance, and latent trait factor means of students who completed the SEHS in either Spanish or English. The factor structure was invariant across groups with some latent mean differences observed. Educational practice implications are considered.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-38
Author(s):  
Guna Svence ◽  
Eva Gajdasova ◽  
Ala Petrulyte ◽  
Lūcija Kalnina ◽  
Lāsma Lagzdina ◽  
...  

There were 3 countries which participated in Erasmus+ project „Supporting teachers to face the challenge of distance teaching” (2020-1-LV01-KA226-SCH-094599) during last year. The aim of the project was to develop a well-functioning digital support system for teachers, promoting socio-emotional health and resilience. The main aim of this research was to outline a research problem on teacher well-being factors in three countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, when teachers worked remotely, and to further explore the problem in a focus group in Latvia. The following is a description of the study that was carried out in Latvia on the problems of teachers' social and emotional health factors during distance learning in 2020-2021. The study in Latvia took place in parallel with the study in Slovakia and Lithuania. This article describes the first part of the study in Latvia. One of the tasks of the study was to identify the factors that predicted teachers’ social and emotional health (SEH-T), to determine the relationships between teacher SEH, emotional burnout and teacher engagement in work indicators, and to perform a linguistic and psychometric adaptation of the teacher SEH-T (Social-emotional Health Survey – Teachers, Furlong and Gajdosova, 2019). Latvian teachers from different schools in Latvia participated in this study. Respondents completed three surveys: Teachers SEH-T (Social- emotional Health Survey – Teachers, Furlong and Gajdosova, 2018), Engaged Teachers Scale (ETS; Klassen, Yerdelen & Durksen, 2013) and the K. Maslach Burnout Survey – General Survey (MBI– GS, Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996; Caune, 2004). The results showed that the translation of teachers' SEH-T survey into Latvian language had good internal coherence of articles, the article discrimination index indicator was statically significant, and the reaction index was within the normal range. Teachers SEH is positively predicted by teacher engagement indicators. Demographic and emotional burnout rates do not predict teachers' SEH-T scores. The results showed that there were statistically significant positive correlations between teacher SEH-T, teacher engagement, and emotional burnout rates. There were statistically significant negative correlations between teachers' SEH-T indicators, teacher involvement and emotional burnout indicators. Keywords: Teachers SEH, work engagement, emotional burnout


Author(s):  
Megan Owens ◽  
Laurie Browne

Camp programs hire counselors to fulfill multiple responsibilities and to role model positive behaviors for campers. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is a skill set that develops over time and through engagement with an array of individuals and opportunities that support social and emotional health across the lifespan. The social design of an overnight summer camp may be an ideal setting for nurturing SEL through camper-counselor relationships. The purpose of this study was to explore how counselors understood and modeled SEL with their campers and to what extent the campers recognized and interpreted those behaviors. Evidence suggests that counselors intended to role model SEL; however, they were inconsistent in how they modeled SEL during interactions with campers. Counselors’ own SEL may need more explicit support and training to more effectively role model SEL for campers.


Author(s):  
Vasiliki Stasinou ◽  
Chryse Hatzichristou ◽  
Aikaterini Lampropoulou ◽  
Panayiotis Lianos

Children’s and adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment has been studied in relation to various factors at an individual and system level aiming at identifying the variables that contribute, as protective factors, to the promotion of their social and emotional health and covitality. This study examined the link between covitality, which describes the co-occurrence of basic positive psychology constructs, and the perceptions of Greek junior high school students regarding school climate. The sample consisted of 745 adolescent students (mean age 14.4 years) from randomly selected junior high schools in the broader area of Athens, Greece. The Social-Emotional Health Survey–Secondary (SEHS-S), CHKS Supplemental School Climate Module, students’ academic performance, and a questionnaire of socio-demographic data were used. Findings indicated the existence of statistically significant relations between adolescents’ perceptions of social and emotional health and school climate. Furthermore, significant differences were found in relation to school performance and parents’ unemployment. Conditional process analyses showed that several school climate dimensions (i.e. Support for learning, Discipline, and Order, Peer relations, Social-emotional support, Environment) moderated the direct effect of school performance on covitality. Furthermore, father’s unemployment added to the prediction of covitality by school climate. The results provide a better understanding of adolescents’ development and highlight the critical role of positive school climate on students’ psychosocial adjustment providing implications for developing effective interventions in school communities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Furlong ◽  
Jennica Paz ◽  
Delwin Carter ◽  
Erin Dowdy ◽  
Karen Nylund-Gibson

Abstract Heightened by the global Covid-19 pandemic, awareness of the need to monitor youths’ social and emotional health increased. The Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary-2020 (SEHS-S-2020) is a well-tested option for assessing student social emotional health and promoting mental health prevention, intervention, and multitiered systems of support efforts in schools. While a growing body of literature supports the SEHS-S-2020 measure for assessing student covitality, there is less validation evidence specifically for middle school-aged adolescents (Grades 6-8 in the U.S.). The present study aimed to fill this gap in the literature by examining its use for younger adolescents. Study participants included 9,426 students from 32 counties in California located across urban, suburban, and rural communities and 414 students in Grades 6-8 (ages 11-13 years) from two middle schools. Data analyses examined structural validity, internal consistency, measurement invariance, criterion validity, predictive validity, and response stability. Results indicate excellent fit indices for a four-level higher-order measurement model, with strong concurrent and one-year predictive validity coefficients, providing support for using the SEHS-S-2020 measure for use among young adolescents in middle school settings. The discussion focuses on implications for assessing students’ psychosocial assets and universal school-based screening during this crucial developmental transition .


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Zimmerman ◽  
Bobby May ◽  
Katherine Barnes ◽  
Anastasia Arynchyna ◽  
Elizabeth N. Alford ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVEHydrocephalus is a chronic medical condition that has a significant impact on children and their caregivers. The objective of this study was to measure the quality of life (QOL) of children with hydrocephalus, as assessed by both caregivers and patients.METHODSPediatric patients with hydrocephalus and their caregivers were enrolled during routine neurosurgery clinic visits. The Hydrocephalus Outcomes Questionnaire (HOQ), a report of hydrocephalus-related QOL, was administered to both children with hydrocephalus (self-report) and their caregivers (proxy report about the child). Patients with hydrocephalus also completed measures of anxiety, depression, fatigue, traumatic stress, and headache. Caregivers completed a proxy report of child traumatic stress and a measure of caregiver burden. Demographic information was collected from administration of the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (version 2.0) and from the medical record. Child and caregiver HOQ scores were analyzed and correlated with clinical, demographic, and psychological variables.RESULTSThe mean overall HOQ score (parent assessment of child QOL) was 0.68. HOQ Physical Health, Social-Emotional Health, and Cognitive Health subscore averages were 0.69, 0.73, and 0.54, respectively. The mean overall child self-assessment (cHOQ) score was 0.77, with cHOQ Physical Health, Social-Emotional Health, and Cognitive Health subscore means of 0.84, 0.79, and 0.66, respectively. Thirty-nine dyads were analyzed, in which both a child with hydrocephalus and his or her caregiver completed the cHOQ and HOQ. There was a positive correlation between parent and child scores (p < 0.004 for all subscores). Child scores were consistently higher than parent scores. Variables that showed association with caregiver-assessed QOL in at least one domain included child age, etiology of hydrocephalus, and history of endoscopic third ventriculostomy. There was a significant negative relationship (rho −0.48 to −0.60) between child-reported cHOQ score and child-reported measures of posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue. There was a similar significant relationship between caregiver report of child’s QOL (HOQ) and caregiver assessment of the child’s posttraumatic stress symptoms as well as their assessment of burden of care (rho = −0.59 and rho = −0.51, respectively). No relationship between parent-reported HOQ and child-reported psychosocial factors was significant. No clinical or demographic variables were associated with child self-assessed cHOQ.CONCLUSIONSPediatric patients with hydrocephalus consistently rate their own QOL higher than their caregivers do. Psychological factors such as anxiety and posttraumatic stress may be associated with lower QOL. These findings warrant further exploration.


2021 ◽  
pp. 014303432198897
Author(s):  
Vítor Alexandre Coelho ◽  
Marta Marchante

This study analyzed how social and emotional competencies evolved according to adolescents’ involvement in bullying, and whether gender influenced social and emotional competencies’ development. Five-hundred-fourteen students ( Mage = 12.71; SD = 1.09) were assessed through self-reports at three different time points for one year. Results showed that students involved in the three analyzed bullying roles displayed a more negative trajectory in all but one social emotional competence analyzed compared to students not involved in bullying. The exception was students who bullied others for responsible decision making. Additionally, gender differences were only found in self-esteem trajectories; boys displayed a more pronounced decrease. In larger classes, students displayed higher levels of self-control, social awareness and responsible decision-making. These results showed that reduced social and emotional competencies were a consequence of bullying involvement for every bullying role analyzed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii466-iii467
Author(s):  
Kendra Koch ◽  
Tatum Fettig ◽  
Meghan Slining

Abstract Addressing family needs for social/emotional support is part of the duty of oncology care teams. This research presents a (2020) scoping review and a (2019) focus group initiated to explore pediatric neuro-oncology parent experience of social/emotional support in conjunction with developing an online peer application to address family needs. Currently, the value of online support is in the forefront of clinical conversation. The focus group queried eight parents whose children were under neuro-oncology treatment in the Northwest USA. Thematic findings include—parents want supportive peers who have (1) a personal and deep understanding of parenting a child with serious illness (they “get it”); (2) particular characteristics and skills that promote and sustain relationships, including—(a) good social skills, (b) ability to engage in “balanced” (cancer/non-cancer) conversations, (c) individual similarities (beliefs, age of children, cancer diagnosis/treatment), (d) logistic commonalities (location, availability), (e) pro-social personal characteristics (i.e. sense of humor, emotional/social flexibility), and an (f) ability to navigate and maintain social/emotional boundaries. Parents also initiated discussion about “the burden of supportive relationships” and supporting families doing “normal” activities without worrying about treatment side effects and contagions. The literature review supports finding (1) above; reveals the paucity of evidence-based supports available to this population; underscores the critical need for practitioners and researchers to develop more evidence-based supports and interventions for families of children experiencing cancer; and supports practitioners’ consistently assessing parent and sibling social and emotional needs and then consistently referring or intervening when needs are identified.


Author(s):  
Melissa Holland ◽  
McKenzie Courtney ◽  
James Vergara ◽  
Danielle McIntyre ◽  
Samantha Nix ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Increasing academic demands, including larger amounts of assigned homework, is correlated with various challenges for children. While homework stress in middle and high school has been studied, research evidence is scant concerning the effects of homework on elementary-aged children. Objective The objective of this study was to understand rater perception of the purpose of homework, the existence of homework policy, and the relationship, if any, between homework and the emotional health, sleep habits, and parent–child relationships for children in grades 3–6. Method Survey research was conducted in the schools examining student (n = 397), parent (n = 442), and teacher (n = 28) perception of homework, including purpose, existing policy, and the childrens’ social and emotional well-being. Results Preliminary findings from teacher, parent, and student surveys suggest the presence of modest impact of homework in the area of emotional health (namely, student report of boredom and frustration), parent–child relationships (with over 25% of the parent and child samples reporting homework always or often interferes with family time and creates a power struggle), and sleep (36.8% of the children surveyed reported they sometimes get less sleep) in grades 3–6. Additionally, findings suggest misperceptions surrounding the existence of homework policies among parents and teachers, the reasons teachers cite assigning homework, and a disconnect between child-reported and teacher reported emotional impact of homework. Conclusions Preliminary findings suggest homework modestly impacts child well-being in various domains in grades 3–6, including sleep, emotional health, and parent/child relationships. School districts, educators, and parents must continue to advocate for evidence-based homework policies that support children’s overall well-being.


2021 ◽  
pp. 153450842098452
Author(s):  
Christopher L. Thomas ◽  
Staci M. Zolkoski ◽  
Sarah M. Sass

Educators and educational support staff are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of systematic efforts to support students’ social and emotional growth. Logically, the success of social-emotional learning programs depends upon the ability of educators to assess student’s ability to process and utilize social-emotional information and use data to guide programmatic revisions. Therefore, the purpose of the current examination was to provide evidence of the structural validity of the Social-Emotional Learning Scale (SELS), a freely available measure of social-emotional learning, within Grades 6 to 12. Students ( N = 289, 48% female, 43.35% male, 61% Caucasian) completed the SELS and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses of the SELS failed to support a multidimensional factor structure identified in prior investigations. The results of an exploratory factor analysis suggest a reduced 16-item version of the SELS captures a unidimensional social-emotional construct. Furthermore, our results provide evidence of the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the reduced-length version of the instrument. Our discussion highlights the implications of the findings to social and emotional learning educational efforts and promoting evidence-based practice.


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