Treatment Integrity of Intervention Studies in Professional School Counseling From 1997 to 2018: A Systematic Review

Treatment integrity (TI) refers to the degree to which an intervention is implemented as intended. We analyzed 67 youth intervention studies published in Professional School Counseling from 1997 to 2018. More than half (55%) of the interventions were operationally defined and 16.4% of the studies monitored TI, but only 6% systematically evaluated TI. Results provide insight into school counseling interventions with implications for practicing school counselors.

Challenges to Social Policies: A Critical Analysis of Youth Intervention Programmes in Botswana

Young people are an important human resource and Botswana is no exception. The critical challenge facing this Southern African country is to raise the rate of economic growth to levels incorporating broad based improvement in the standards of living and well-being of youth. The country faces high levels of poverty, unemployment, and inequality which have seriously affected young people. Significant pockets of poverty remain, especially in rural areas. The living conditions of the vast majority of Batswana are deteriorating rapidly. Unemployment has remained persistent at nearly 20% and the HIV and AIDS epidemic has further exacerbated the situation (Statistics Botswana, 2014). The country has devised many poverty reduction policies since independence, most of which have had little success. Despite economic progress, poverty remains widespread. Based on documentary analysis and the author’s experiential knowledge, this paper examines challenges facing social policies, in particular, youth intervention programmes in Botswana with a view to address the challenges by proposing coherent and effective means that will lead to sustainable development.