(PS9-84) Evaluating the Effects of a Brief, Group-based Social Emotional Learning Program on the Functioning of At-risk Youth

Abstract Text: Research on social emotional learning (SEL) programs with at risk adolescents and young adults is scant resulting in little understanding of whether SEL programs are effective with this population. Related, little is known on how to best deliver SEL content to at-risk youth in group environments outside of the school setting (e.g., residential placements, community-based service programs) where many of these youth receive services. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a group-based SEL program on behavioral and emotional functioning, and knowledge retention following a four week, six session course targeting anger, anxiety, and stress management. The lessons, taught by college students, were derived from Merrell’s Strong Teens – Grades 9-12 curricula (Carrizales-Engelmann et al., 2016), an evidence-based SEL curricula for adolescents, and CBT principles (e.g., cognitive distortions, positive self-talk, behavioral activation, exposure). Lessons combined didactic instruction with participatory activities and reflection assignments. Subjects included five youth participating in a community-based high school credit recovery/GED program. All youth had notable mental health issues targeted by the intervention. The effects of the course were assessed using an ABA design with dependent variables being weekly self- and teacher-reported behavior ratings. Outcomes were determined using visual analysis and calculating non-overlap of all pairs (NAP). NAP represents the percentage of data points demonstrating improvement (i.e., an increase or decrease in the preferred direction) from one phase to another given all pairwise comparisons across the two phases.

Results indicated three subjects responded positively to the SEL program. Comparing phrases (e.g., baseline to intervention) across those three subjects revealed NAP values between .75 and .95 indicating medium to large effects. Not surprising, self-reported ratings had higher NAP values than teacher-reported behavior ratings (.9 compared to .78). Two subjects failed to demonstrate noteworthy improvements. Their NAP values when comparing phases were between .15 and .50 indicating weak effects. Similarly, self-reported ratings had higher NAP values than teacher-reported ratings (.41 compared to .23). In addition to collecting behavioral outcome data, subjects’ also completed brief surveys assessing knowledge about anger, anxiety, and stress management (e.g., understanding cognitive distortions, using coping skills). Again, findings were mixed. Knowledge retention increased for some participants but not others. Moreover, participant perceptions relative to using CBT-based skills also differed across youth. To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the implementation of a community-based SEL program with at-risk youth. Discussion will focus on understanding individual factors that might contribute to positive outcomes, implementing community-based SEL programs with this population, identifying and addressing barriers to success, and discussing how program developers might enhance SEL models in future iterations.