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.
-
Journal articles
- Table 1 titled ‘Identifying Signs and Risk Factors for Emerging School Refusal’ summarizes procedures and instruments that can be used to identify emerging school refusal. The Table is presented in: Ingul, J.M., Havik, T., & Heyne, D. (2018). Emerging school refusal: A school-based framework for identifying early signs and risk factors. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice.
- Ingles, C.J., Gonzálvez-Maciá, C., García-Fernández, J.M., Vincent, M., & Martínez-Monteagudo, M.C. (2015). Current status of research on school refusal. European Journal of Education and Psychology, 8, 37-52.
- Kim, H., & Barthelemy, J.J. (2010). A tool for assessing truancy risk among school children: Predictive and construct validity of the risk indicator survey. Journal of Social Service Research, 37, 50–60.
- Lyon, A.R., & Cotler, S. (2007). Toward reduced bias and increased utility in the assessment of school refusal behavior: The case for diverse samples and evaluations of context. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 551–565.
- Kearney, C.A., Lemos, A., & Silverman, J. (2004). The functional assessment of school refusal behavior. Behavior Analyst Today, 5, 275-283.
- Wren, D. G., & Benson, J. (2004). Measuring test anxiety in children: Scale development and internal construct validation. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 17, 227–240.
- Ollendick, T.H., & King, N.J. (1998). Assessment practices and issues with school-refusing children. Behaviour Change, 15, 16-30.
-
Books and Book Chapters
2022
- Gonzaga et al. (2022). Handbook of stress and academic anxiety: Psychological processes and interventions with students and teachers. Springer.
2021
- Gren Landell, M. (2021). School attendance problems: A research update and where to go. Jerringfonden.
2019
- Gottfried, M.A., & Hutt, E.L. (Eds.) (2019). Absent from school: Understanding and addressing student absenteeism. Harvard Education Press.
- Ulrich, H. E. (2019). The impact of education in South Asia: Perspectives from Sri Lanka to Nepal. Palgrave Macmillan.
2015
- Heyne, D.A., Sauter, F.M., & Maynard, B.R. (2015). Moderators and mediators of treatments for youth with school refusal or truancy. In M. Maric, P.J.M. Prins, & T.H. Ollendick (Eds.), Moderators and mediators of youth treatment outcomes (pp. 230-266). Oxford University Press.
-
Websites
-
Information Sheets
-
Instruments
- 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 Change, 15, 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 Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 24, 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 Disorders, 25, 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
- 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.