Effective Treatment Components of Social Skills Training Programs for Children and Adolescents: A Multilevel Meta-analysis

• In Event: 3-247 - The Social Peer Ecology in Classrooms: The Role of Students, Teachers and School-Based Interventions

Integrative Statement

Social skills training programs aim to improve the social skills and competence of children showing a deficit in this domain. Although previous meta-analyses on social skills programs for children and adolescents have shown small to moderate effects, it is unknown which components of these programs are effective. However, to be able to optimally stimulate positive youth development, it is crucial that program developers and professionals know which treatment components are effective for whom.

Therefore, in the present multilevel meta-analysis we examined which treatment components are associated with higher treatment efficacy in social skills training programs across a variety of outcomes: social skills, prosocial behavior, resilience and self-esteem.
We retrieved a total of 6206 eligible articles going back to January 1, 1990 from PsychINFO, ERIC, Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar. The 95 articles that remained after screening described the effects of (randomized) controlled trials from pretest to posttest of social skills training programs for children and adolescents between six and 18 years of age. The included articles described 905 standardized mean difference effect sizes.

Exercises from 59 corresponding training programs were coded using a taxonomy developed by the authors. All exercises were categorized into 5 main categories: psychoeducation, psychophysical techniques, skill building techniques, cognitive and emotional techniques and booster techniques (e.g. (self-)monitoring and behavior contracting). The main categories of components included various subcategories, which in turn included up to eight treatment elements. This allowed us to code program manuals on the level of specific effective components.

A three-level random-effects model estimated a small overall training effect (d = .302, 95%-CI = .238 to .366 , p < .001). Anti-bullying programs showed the largest training effect (d = .859, 95%-CI = .655 to 1.063 , p < .001) and programs aimed at improving resilience and self-esteem showed the smallest training effect (d = .109, 95%-CI = .038 to .181 , p < .01). More important for the purpose of the study, whether or not programs contained psychoeducation, psychophysical techniques, skill building techniques and cognitive and emotional techniques did not moderate the overall estimated training effect. This means that none of the examined treatment component categories were related to superior training effects. The total amount of exercises focused on a treatment component and the total amount of time spent on a treatment component could not be related to greater training effects either. Finally, length of the program is related to training effects (F(1,839) = 4.463 , p < .05). This result suggests that short programs yield similar results when compared to longer programs.

In general, social skills training programs led to significant, but overall small positive changes in the social-emotional development of children and adolescents. No specific program component produced superior intervention outcomes, which suggests that non-specific intervention elements such as a high-quality working alliance, client motivation, and practitioner conviction may be more important predictors of intervention success. With a sufficiently protocolled intervention strategy, what counts may not be so much what you do, but rather how you do it.

Authors

• Brechtje de Mooij, University of Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Minne Fekkes, TNO Child Health
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ron Scholte, Radboud University Nijmegen
  Non-Presenting Author

• Geertjan Overbeek, University of Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author