1. Evaluation of The Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program in a Norwegian school setting: Changes in children’s behavior (preliminary results)
Merete Aasheim, Bjørn-Helge Handegård, Sihu Klest, Monica Martinussen & Charlotte Reedtz, Regional Center for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, UiT The Artic University of Norway
BACKGROUND
Absence of behavior problems, emotional self-regulation, social competence, as well as teacher-parent involvement, seem to play a key role in children’s future interpersonal adjustment and academic success (Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Stoolmiller, 2008). Children with behavior problems are likely to receive less academic or social instruction, support, and positive feedback from teachers for appropriate behavior (Arnold et al. 1999).
Studies have demonstrated The Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) program to be effective in improving teacher-student relationships by increasing teacher competencies in supporting children in the classroom, developing children’s prosocial behavior and school readiness, and support parents’ in their school involvement (Hutchings et al., 2013, Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Stoolmiller, 2001, 2004, 2008). Two-thirds of the program (figure 1) is focused on proactive classroom management skills such as ways to promote positive relationship with students and their parents, and strategies that maximize behavior change through a collaborative delivery style (Hutchings, Gardner, & Lane, 2004). The program includes six full day workshops where teachers identify key classroom management strategies through discussions, observations of film vignettes with examples of classroom situations, role-play rehearsal and classroom based practice of new skills between each workshops, including feedback from IY TCM group leaders on verbal and written assignments (Webster-Stratton, 2015).
The IY TCM program has not been tested in a Norwegian school setting before, and therefore it is interesting to evaluate the effectiveness of the program delivered as a universal preventive intervention in a regular Norwegian school setting.
Figure 1. The Teaching Pyramid
AIMS
Table 1. Baseline characteristics of participating students and teachers
The aims of this study are to investigate the effectiveness of the IY TCM program as a universal intervention to prevent and reduce behavioral problems in young schoolchildren, as well as to reduce other risk factors related to children’s mental health in school.
Procedure and participants
The study is a quasi-experimental control group design with pre- and post-measurements. Recruitment of schools occurred through five consecutive years, from fall 2009 to fall Forty-four schools from 30 municipalities, both in urban and rural parts of Norway, were included in the study. A total of 21 schools were included in the IY TCM intervention group, and 23 schools in the comparison group. The baseline sample consisted of 1349 students in 1 – 3 grade. The schools were matched on size and geographic location. Pre assessments were conducted in fall before the first IY TCM session. The IY TCM training were delivered to 1 – 3 grade teachers and staff in after-school services as six full-day sessions from August/September to May/June. Post assessments were conducted three weeks after the last IY TCM session.
Measures
Information from teachers and staff in after-school services was collected through online questionnaires whereas paper questionnaires were used to collect data from parents. To assess change in student’s behavior from pre- to posttest, teachers in 1 – 3 grade filled out the Sutter-Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory-Revised Questionnaire (SESBI-R), the Teacher Report Form Questionnaire (TRF), as well as the Social Skills Rating System Questionnaire (SSRS). Changes in teacher – child interactions from pre- to posttest were examined through The Student – Teacher Relationship Questionnaire (STRS), and changes in school – home involvement were examined through the Teacher Involvement Questionnaire (INVOLVE-T). Teachers’ total response rate at baseline was 89% for questionnaires about students and teacher-parent involvement.
METHODS
Foto: Colourbox
Table 2. Baseline differences between groups at pre test
Figure 2. Group differences in pre-post change
Comparison group IY TCM group
PRE POST
PRE POST
PRE POST
PRE POST
SESBI-R Intensity
SSRS Total
STRS Closeness
Analysis strategy
To account for the hierarchical structure of data, multilevel analysis (MLA) was used to examine group differences from pre- to posttest. The dependent variable in the analysis was the pre-post change score.
Preliminary findings show significant group differences in pre-post change for SESBI-R Intensity, and TRF Attention for the IY TCM group compared to the comparison group. There were no significant group difference in pre-post change for SESBI-R Problem. For SSRS Total score (e.g., change in children’s social and emotional behavior, problem-solving skills and per-related behaviors), the IY TCM group showed a significant group difference in pre- post change compared to the comparison group. There was also a significant group difference in pre-post change for STRS Closeness for the IY TCM group compared to the comparison group. There was no significant group difference in pre-post change for STRS Conflict. Compared to the comparison group, the IY TCM group showed significant differences in pre-post changes for teachers’ bonding and teachers’ involvement with students’ parents, however; this were small group differences and the baseline rates were significantly different between groups for INVOLVE T Bonding and for INVOLVE T Involvement (figure 2).
results
DISCUSSION
This study describes the first use of the IY TCM program in Norway. Teachers in the IY TCM group reported a small decrease in behavior problems from pre- to posttest, compared to teachers in the comparison group who reported a small increase in behavior problems. It is a matter of interpretation to what extend the significant group differences in pre-post change for INVOLVE T Bonding and INVOLVE T Involvement is due to an improvement in the IY TCM teachers' teacher-parent interactions or a regression toward the mean. All cases of significant group differences were small, included pre-post change for SSRS Total and STRS Closeness. However, all pre scores were less favorable at baseline for the IY TCM group, whereas the group scores for both groups were almost equal at posttest.
Even though the preliminary findings are promising there are some limitations. E.g., no objective measures of treatment integrity and fidelity to program dosage was carried out. This was only investigated through leader- and teacher-completed checklists. Furthermore, since the IY TCM schools was already selected through an application to IY, a randomized, controlled trial could not be conducted.
Contact information: Merete Aasheim, phone: ,