Research-Based

Research-Based

These resources can aid standardized recruitment and assessment of youth with attendance problems. This includes standardized assessment of factors affecting absence and attendance (e.g., family factors and school factors). Here we also provide access to theories of absence/attendance, and in due course we wish to provide access to data which have been made publicly available. These data can be re-examined through new perspectives which are forthcoming. If you are looking for resources in a language other than English, please check the ‘My Country’ menu.

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2015

SCHOOL AVOIDANCE ALLIANCE

In The United States, Jayne Demsky witnessed that many schools carry vast assumptions and misinterpretations of school refusal, its underlying causes, and the distress the kids and families face as they live these scenarios day after day. After seven years of running her school refusal website for parents, Jayne realized that to affect change, she needs to include educating educators and their schools by promoting school refusal awareness, sharing facts and best practices to help get kids back to school. Having schools understand School Avoidance will help improve their empathy, support, and assistance. Jayne just launched SchoolAvoidane.Org, the School Avoidance Alliance, to accelerate this information flow to help students, families, and schools more effectively. She is dedicated to changing misconceptions about this condition and promoting evidence-based solutions for school refusal. For more information, you can reach her at jayne@schoolrefusalhope.org, or www.SchoolAvoidance.Org or @SchoolAvoidance on Twitter.

COPING WITH SCHOOL REFUSAL

A webpage with information for parents about 'coping with school refusal'. 

CYBERBULLYING

Top Tips for Preventing Cyberbullying.

DEFINE FINE

Parent Peer Support for School Attendance Difficulties

SCHOOL REFUSAL FAMILIES

A website called focused on school refusal, prepared by a person conducting research in this area

SCHOOL PHOBIA / SCHOOL REFUSAL AUSTRALIA

A parent-created website offering peer support for Australian families with children & teens experiencing school refusal (or as we call it, school can't)

TIS BETTER TO HAVE FEARED AND FLED, THAN NEVER TO HAVE FEARED AT ALL

A blogg about school refusal

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CHILD REFUSES TO GO TO SCHOOL

A podcast, based on an interview with Dr. Jonathan Dalton, Director of the Center for Anxiety and Behavioral Change.

  • The SNACK (School Non-Attendance ChecKlist) is a newly developed checklist to support screening for types of absenteeism: school refusal, truancy, school withdrawal, and school exclusion. It includes items assessing absences often regarded as legitimate (e.g., a doctor’s appointment). The instrument is presented in the following article: Heyne, D., Gren Landell, M., Melvin, G., & Gentle-Genitty, C. (2018). Differentiation between school attendance problems: Why and how? Cognitive and Behavioral Practice

    The SNACK is being translated into other languages. Please contact the person in your country to find out more about its availability:
    Denmark: Mikael Thastum (mikael@psy.au.dk) ‎
    France: Marie Gallé-Tessonneau (marie.galle-tessonneau@hotmail.fr)
    Germany: Volker Reissner (volker.reissner@uni-due.de)
    Netherlands: David Heyne (heyne@fsw.leidenuniv.nl)

  • The SEQ-SS (Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for School Situations) is a self-report questionnaire developed to assess children’s and adolescents’ cognitions focused on situations associated with school attendance. Cognitions signaling low self-efficacy may play a role in the development and/or maintenance of a school attendance problem. In turn, changes toward increased self-efficacy may be associated with the amelioration of a school attendance problem. Reliable and valid assessment of the self-efficacy beliefs of young people can further our knowledge about the development and maintenance of school attendance problems, and guide the tailoring of interventions to the specific needs of young people who are having difficulty attending school. Systematic assessment of self-efficacy beliefs is also important in treatment outcome research, as we try to understand more about what it is that makes treatment effective. The instrument is presented in the following article: Heyne, D., King, N., Tonge, B. J., Pritchard, M., Young, D., Rollings, S., & Myerson, N. (1998). The Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for School Situations: Development and psychometric evaluation. Behaviour Change15, 31-40. 

    The SEQ-SS has been translated into other languages. Please contact the person in your country to find out more about its availability:
    Denmark: Mikael Thastum (mikael@psy.au.dk) ‎
    Malaysia: Vi Vien Ng ‎(vivng82@gmail.com) ‎
    Netherlands: David Heyne (heyne@fsw.leidenuniv.nl)

  • The ISAP (Inventory of School Attendance Problems) is a 48-item questionnaire which has been developed to assess both the quality and function of a broad range of school attendance problems by asking students with attendance problems to: (1) firstly rate the intensity of symptoms before school or during school time; and (2) then to rate the impact of these symptoms on school attendance. The 13 sub-scales of ISAP assess internalizing and externalizing symptoms (depression, social anxiety, performance anxiety, separation anxiety, agoraphobia / panic, somatic complaints, school aversion/attractive alternatives, aggression) as well as distress due to problems in the school or family context (problems with peers, problems with teachers, problems with parents, problems within the family, dislike of the specific school). The ISAP is available in German, but it is currently being translated into English, Swedish, and Finnish. If you are interested in one of these versions of the ISAP, or a translation into another language, please contact Martin Knollmann: martin.knollmann@lvr.de

  • The SRAS-R (School Refusal Assessment Scale - Revised) was developed to assess the function of ‘school refusal behavior’, and thus it is intended for use with youth displaying various school attendance problems. There are youth and parent versions of the SRAS-R. Four functions are assessed: (1) avoidance of school-related stimuli that provoke a sense of general negative affectivity, (2) escape from aversive social and/or evaluative situations at school, (3) pursuit of attention from significant others, and (4) pursuit of tangible reinforcement outside of the school setting. A therapist guide and parent workbook (Kearney & Albano, 2018) link the four functions with corresponding cognitive-behavioral treatment recommendations (for ordering information: https://ckearney.faculty.unlv.edu/books-and-ordering-information/). The SRAS-R is described in the following article: Kearney, C.A. (2002). Identifying the function of school refusal behavior: A revision of the School Refusal Assessment ScaleJournal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment24, 235-245. It is available in numerous other languages. Please contact the author of the SRAS-R, Chris Kearney, to find out about its availability in your country: chris.kearney@unlv.edu

  • The Adapted SRAS-R is a variation on the original SRAS-R (School Refusal Assessment Scale - Revised) in which 8 items have been simplified (items 17 to 24). There are youth and parent versions of the Adapted SRAS-R. The instrument is described in the following article: Heyne, Vreeke, Maric, Boelens, & Van Widenfelt (2017). Functional assessment of school attendance problems: An adapted version of the School Refusal Assessment Scale–Revised. version of the School Refusal Assessment Scale–Revised. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders25, 178-192. It is available in numerous languages. Please contact the author of the Adapted SRAS-R, David Heyne, to find out about its availability in your country: heyne@fsw.leidenuniv.nl