One-to-one counselling and school attendance in the UK: a single group pre-post study
dc.contributor.author | Saxton, J | |
dc.contributor.author | Toth, K | |
dc.contributor.author | Ukoumunne, OC | |
dc.contributor.author | Wilkinson, H | |
dc.contributor.author | White, J | |
dc.contributor.author | Golden, S | |
dc.contributor.author | Ford, T | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2024-07-29T12:35:28Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2024-07-29 | |
dc.date.updated | 2024-07-28T22:27:22Z | |
dc.description.abstract | Objective: Absence rates remain high in UK schools, with negative implications for attainment, life chances, and inequality. Reasons for non-attendance are complex, but include psychosocial factors. Few UK-based studies have evaluated psychosocial interventions for school attendance outcomes, or its moderators. This pre-post evaluation examined the potential influence of school-based one-to one counselling on school attendance, and possible moderators. Design & setting: Secondary analysis of routine data, collected by a national mental health provider in primary and secondary schools. Participants: 7405 pupils aged 4-19 years, with complete school attendance records at Time1 (pre counselling term) and Time2 (the term when counselling ended). Intervention: All participants received school-based one-to-one counselling with a trained counsellor between August 2016 and December 2019. Outcomes: percentage of school sessions attended (continuous) and persistent absence (binary; attending ≤90% of sessions) in a term. Potential moderators included socio-demographics, mental health, and school engagement/enjoyment. Results: Median Time1 attendance was 96%. 23·6% of participants were persistently absent. The intervention was not associated with improved percentage attendance (0·028%, 95%CI -0·160-0·216) but was associated with 18·5% reduced odds of persistent absence (OR=0·815, 95%CI 0·729-0·911). We identified five moderators of change in attendance (interaction terms p<0.05): age-group (improvements for 4-9s; worsening for 15-19s), and improvement for some ethnicities, and lower parent/carer education. Mental health and school engagement/enjoyment co-varied with attendance in expected directions. Conclusions: One-to-one counselling may improve school attendance among persistently absent pupils, particularly at younger ages. Improving mental health and pupil engagement/enjoyment are potential intervention targets. Our hypotheses require confirmation with controlled designs. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Place2Be | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Published online 29 July 2024 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1136/archdischild-2023-326458 | |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | NIHR203312 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/136917 | |
dc.identifier | ORCID: 0000-0002-0551-9157 (Ukoumunne, Obi) | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | BMJ Publishing Group | en_GB |
dc.rights | © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
dc.title | One-to-one counselling and school attendance in the UK: a single group pre-post study | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2024-07-29T12:35:28Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0003-9888 | |
dc.description | This is the final version. Available on open access from BMJ Publishing Group via the DOI in this record | en_GB |
dc.identifier.eissn | 1468-2044 | |
dc.identifier.journal | Archives of Disease in Childhood | en_GB |
dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en_GB |
dcterms.dateAccepted | 2024-07-16 | |
dcterms.dateSubmitted | 2023-10-12 | |
rioxxterms.version | VoR | en_GB |
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate | 2024-07-16 | |
rioxxterms.type | Journal Article/Review | en_GB |
refterms.dateFCD | 2024-07-28T22:27:23Z | |
refterms.versionFCD | AM | |
refterms.dateFOA | 2024-08-14T12:16:47Z | |
refterms.panel | A | en_GB |
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's licence is described as © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/