Evaluating the effectiveness of a school-based counselling service in the UK

ABSTRACT

Despite the growth of school counselling in the UK, very few studies have examined its effectiveness. As part of a wider evaluation of the work of the NSPCC Schools Counselling Project, 219 pupils aged 11–17 years completed the TEEN CORE questionnaire before receiving counselling; 104 of these pupils also completed a questionnaire after counselling and a further 29 also completed a questionnaire three months after the end of counselling. The study found that the mean TEEN CORE score after counselling was significantly lower compared to the mean score before counselling, indicating fewer problems/less distress. Analysis of the data collected after three months (n=29) suggests that this treatment gain was maintained at follow-up. This is evidence to suggest that school counselling is effective, but this paper argues that further research is needed to identify when and for whom it is most effective.

Keywords:

• school counselling
• evaluation
• effectiveness
• outcome

This research was funded by the NSPCC. We would like to thank the schools that were involved in our research, including the pupils that took part and the school staff and NSPCC Schools Teams who supported the data collection process. We are also grateful to Mary Baginsky for her support and advice.

Notes

1. The TEEN CORE is a 14-item questionnaire used to assess global distress in children and young people (aged 11–18 years). It was subsequently replaced by the YP-CORE. Both questionnaires were adapted from the CORE system, developed by the Psychological Therapies Centre at the University of Leeds (NB: the centre closed in March 2008).

2. The TEENCORE was also used with some children aged 9 and 10 years of age at the request of the Schools Teams. However, as the questionnaire was not developed for this age-group this data were not included. We have pre-post data for 12 children aged 9–10 years.