Trauma informed occupational therapy school practice with adolescents with social emotional and behavioural difficulties: findings of standardised measures

Abstract

Introduction: Although non-standardized qualitative and quantitative reports from 39 Irish students aged 12 to 14 years, with complex social and emotional needs and their 13 teachers had established benefits of ‘Movement Matters’, an occupational therapy designed participatory curriculum for learning self-regulation in mainstream schools (National Behaviour Support Service, 2015a), standardized measures were required for quality assurance by the Irish Government funded service. Objective: The relevance of findings of standardized attitude measurements on the impacts of an occupation focused intervention with a discrete school population in areas of social disadvantage are discussed. Method: Findings of the ‘Pupil Attitude to Self and School’ (PASS) (Granada Learning, 2021) and ‘Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire’ (SDQ) (Youth in Mind, 2021), both well-established standardized measures of attitude and behaviours completed (pre and post intervention) by teachers, parents and students are presented. Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the standardized pre and post intervention measures. However, findings indicate a disparity between how these students in complex environments experience school in comparison to large UK study populations. Conclusion: This paper discusses the use of these standardized measures for capturing impacts of an occupation focused intervention in a school environment. It calls for an increased appreciation on outcomes measurement related to the intervention’s aim of providing experiences of meaningful participation and well-being. Further collaborative research on outcome measurement of participation of students in complex mainstream school environments is required.