Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Key to Mental Health Promotion Jean Hughes, RN, PhD Professor, School of Nursing, Dalhousie University Lead Researcher – SEAK Project [email protected] SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010 1
Dec 21, 2015
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
1
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL):
Key to Mental Health Promotion
Jean Hughes, RN, PhD
Professor, School of Nursing, Dalhousie University
Lead Researcher – SEAK Project
2 Social and Emotional Learning …Key Life Skills
SEL includes the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to: understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, make responsible decisions. Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
3 SEL Competencies
Self-awareness Self-management Social awareness Relationship skills Responsible decision making
CASEL
4 SEL Skills Assist Mental Health Promotion:
Enhance capacity to take control
Foster individual resilience
Foster individual protective factors
5 Why are SEL skills so important?
Neuropsychological models argue that children’s neurological functioning affects:
the regulation of Strong emotions Social function Cognitive function Behavioural function
Riggs et al., 2006
6 Why are SEL skills so important?
Research shows that environmental stress during childhood & adolescence has substantial effects on the operation of the neuroendocrine system and that these effects are likely to have long term impact on both cognitive and social-emotional functioning
Shankoff, et al., 2009 in Bradshaw, et al., 2012
7 Why are SEL skills so important? Fortunately brain function and its behavioral outcomes
are malleable during these developmental stages.
Therefore interventions can assist when focused on: THE ENVIRONMENT - Strengthen children’s social–
ecologies (responsive parenting, caring & welcoming schools)
SEL SKILLS - support children’s development of Social & emotional regulation & coping abilities
Bradshaw, et al., 2012
8Do SEL interventions work… What does the evidence say?
Meta-analysis: 213 school-based, universal SEL
programs 270,034 students - kindergarten through
high school.
Durlak, et Al., 2011
9 Results:
Compared to controls, SEL participants demonstrated significant improvement in: social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, academic performance that reflected an 11-
percentile-point gain in achievement.
Durlak, et al., 2011
10 Key Findings
Classroom Teachers Only when school staff conduct the
intervention does academic performance improve significantly.
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
11 Key Findings
Program Implementation Quality The benefits of effective SEL programs are
reduced when schools do not adopt evidence-based programs do not implement these programs with fidelity.
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
12 Key Findings
Maximize the SEL and academic outcomes by combining:
support to school personnel who deliver evidence-based SEL programming
sound educational policy
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
13Best Evidence re SEL Programs…
Positive change in students’ developmental health and well-being are best achieved from programs that are:
Focused on social, cognitive and emotional processes
School based
Multi YearConduct Problem Prevention Research. (2010); Jones, et al., 2011
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
14 Best Evidence re SEL Programs…
Universal (whole school approach) builds common language (culture) generalizes competence – to other
courses, outside classroom/school
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
15 Best Evidence re SEL Programs Cont’d.
Provide: a manualized curriculum opportunities for practice Teacher/staff training
On-going mentoring/support
School Principal – program champion
17 What type of policy is critical to sustain SEL?
Policies at many different levels (federal, provincial and local) play a key role in determining the priority that schools give to SEL in teacher preparation – B. Ed. Programs in the curriculum in assessing students’ learning of the basic
SEL competencies.
18 What type of policy is critical to sustain SEL?
Provincial learning standards a primary driver of curriculum and assessment.
Provinces are increasingly including SEL in their standards… but need to ensure: evidence-based programs implementation fidelity.
20 One SEL Program: PATHSPromoting Alternative THinking Strategies
Highly Ranked Evidence-Based SEL Program
Blueprints Project of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado Model Program – highest possible rating Only violence-prevention curriculum for
elementary-age children to achieve this rating
21
PATHS
National Dropout Prevention Center/Network Model Program – highest possible rating
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Select Program – highest possible rating
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Best Practices Program
22 PATHS
PATHS is rooted in developmental neuroscience showing that:
Children experience intense emotions before having the cognitive skills to verbalize and control emotions.
23 PATHS
The PATHS curriculum is centered on the ABCD model of development (affective/behaviour/cognitive/dynamic) arguing that:
affect, vocabulary, and cognition interact to create social and emotional competence
24 PATHSPromoting Alternative THinking Strategies
Elementary school-wide program Kindergarten – Grade 6
Manualized curriculum
Delivered by trained teachers two 20 minute lessons each week all year, every
year
25 Summary of key PATHS research findings
Compared to students from control schools, PATHS students show:
Enhanced Emotional Understanding
Enhanced Pro-social Behaviour better understand social problems and create
effective solutions reduced aggression and disruptiveness
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
26 Summary of key PATHS research findings
Enhanced Cognitive Skills and Academic Performance
effective problem solving, thinking and planning skills, and controlled impulses
academic engagement
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
27 Summary of key PATHS research findings
Enhanced Mental Health diminished internalizing problems such as
anxiety and sadness decreased externalizing problems such as
conduct disorder, Oppositional Deviance Disorder or ODD, hyperactivity, frustration
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
The SEAK Project: PATHS In Canada
Contact: Jean Hughes, RN, PhD, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
[email protected]@dal.ca
Funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
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Socially and Emotional Aware Kids: The SEAK Team
Canadian Mental Health Assoc. Nova Scotia Division
◦Gail Gardiner – Executive Director CMHA NS Division
Dalhousie University
◦ Dr. Jean Hughes – Lead Researcher/ Principal
Investigator
◦ Dr. Sophie Jacques – Associate Researcher
◦ Dr. Noriyeh Rahbari – SEAK Research Coordinator
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Our Project: SEAK
Socially and Emotionally Aware Kids
Vision: Socially and Emotionally Competent Children
in a Healthy Community.
Approach:
Based in Population Health & Health Promotion.
Core Intervention:Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS)
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SEAK – Objectives4 Years
Increase the social and emotional competence of children in project sites identified as having health inequalities .
Strengthen community capacity to integrate mental health promotion.
Increase community capacity for leadership, collaboration and accountability in population health innovation diffusion related to social and emotional learning.
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SEAK – Objectives
Provide evidence to support the innovation and inform policy and service change over the long term.
Advance knowledge on population health innovation diffusion related to social and emotional learning.
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PATHS Intervention Schools Receive the PATHS program (K- grade 6) 5 community sites (approx. 350 students/site)2 sites delivering PATHS (4yrs, 13 yrs)3 new sites – phase in PATHS
Wait-List schoolsWait-listed for 1-2 years and then receive PATHS
interventionAt least100 students/school
Total = 1700+ Students (numbers vary by site)
Project Sites: Nova Scotia, Manitoba and
Alberta
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SEL ◦ During PATHS ◦ Long-term follow up after PATHS (SEL & Risk)
School◦ Climate◦ Discipline◦ Academics, school retention
Health - Obesity (BMI)Parent mental well-being Health service useEconomic Analysis (cost-benefit) of PATHS Quantitative and qualitative measures
Outcome indicators: Chosen to enhance buy-in from key stakeholders
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Curriculum
Needs to be formally integrated into curriculum of Educational authority (provincial, national level)
Focus Build core skills to explore emotions and
relationships & focus on strengths rather than interventions to address specific problems (bullying/ suicide) that focus only on symptoms
Policy/Sustainability Issues Identified by SEAK Project
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Financial Collaborations◦ Government
multiple sectors- education, health, recreation, justice, etc. Focus: cost-effectiveness
◦ Corporate Focus: PATHS builds desired employee skills
◦ Not for Profit, Foundations Focus: citizenship
Scale Up
Policy/Sustainability Issues Identified by SEAK Project
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SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
39 References Bradshaw, et al., Goldweber, A., Fishbein, D., Greenberg, M. (2012).
Infusing developmental neuroscience into school-based prevention interventions: Implications and future directions. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51: S41-S47.
Conduct Problem Prevention Research. (2010). The effects of a multiyear universal social-emotional learning program: The role of student and school characteristics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 78(2): 156-168.
Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) http://www.casel.org/social-and-emotional-learning
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D. & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82: 405–432.
SEL Research Group/ CASEL Update, July 2010
40 References
Jones, S. Brown, J., Aber, J. L. (2011). Two-year impacts of a universal school-based social-emotional and literacy intervention: An experiment in translational developmental research. Child Development, 82(2): 533-554.
Kusche & Greenberg, 1994. The PATHS Curriculum. Seattle, WA: Developmental Research and Programs.
Riggs, N., Greenberg, M., Kusche, C., Pentz, M.A. (2006). The mediational role of neurocognition in the behavioural outcomes of a social-emotional prevention program in elementary school students: Effects of the PATHS curriculum. Prevention Science. 7(1): 91-102.
SEL Research Group (2010). The benefits of school-based social and emotional learning programs: Highlights from a forthcoming CASEL Report. Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago SEL Research Group & The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning.