This study evaluated a short-term Cognitive Behavioural Intervention (CBI) delivered by
school staff to whole classes, designed to promote self-esteem. The research had a
practical purpose, as the intervention had been implemented within multiple schools
without being evaluated. A mixed methods design was employed to assess the impact
of the CBI and to explore why this impact was occurring, to inform future use.
171 pupils in years 5 and 6 from three mainstream schools were criterion-sampled, 108
in the intervention group (4 classes selected by school staff) and 63 in the wait-list
control group (3 classes, matched by school and year). All pupils completed scales
from the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Children’s Automatic Thoughts
(CAT) scale at pre-intervention and post-intervention. One class also completed the
scales for a third, follow-up occasion. Qualitative data were collected through semistructured
interviews with 3 school staff and 6 pupils. In addition, school staff were
observed delivering the intervention to ascertain implementation fidelity.
Results suggest that the CBI had no impact on pupils’ global self-esteem or peer
related self-concept, but it had a negative impact on pupils’ school self-concept. There
were no immediate impacts on Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATs), except for pupils
with below-average academic attainment who showed reductions in NATs at postintervention.
Follow-up data showed positive impacts on NATs, peer and school selfconcept
two months after the intervention, although this lacked a control comparison.
Thematic analyses of the qualitative data revealed factors influencing the impact of the
intervention included its universal design, the involvement of school systems and
individual pupil differences. The study concluded that the intervention has value as a
psycho-educational learning tool, but does not directly improve global self-esteem.
There are implications for the role of educational psychologists in supporting schools to
critically select and implement interventions.

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Citations

Evaluating a universal cognitive behavioural intervention: what is the impact on pupils’ self-esteem?

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