A scoping review of the literature exploring and evaluating the emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) intervention

Figures & data

Figure 1. Adapted PRISMA (Moher et al. 2009) flow diagram.

Figure 2. Inclusion criteria flow diagram¹.

Table 1. Participants and perspectives. Numbers in brackets indicate the number of studies included within each cell and numbers in the final row indicate the total number of studies within each column.

	Participants
Whose outcomes/experiences were they asked about?		ELSAs	School staff	Pupils	Parents	EPs
ELSAs		Atkin (2019). Ball (2014).^1Begley (2016). Bland and Macro (2018). Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bradley (2010). Bravery and Harris (2009). Burton (2008). Burton et al (2009).^2 Davies (2020). Derbyshire County Council (2020). Dodds et al (2015). Dunn (2020). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Eldred (2021). Endersby (2021). Fairall (2020). France and Billington (2020). Gaffney et al. (2020). Gloucestershire (no date). Grahamslaw (2010). Haigh (2019). Harris (2020). Hill et al (2013). King (2022). Leighton (2015). Litten (2012). Mann (2014). Mbire-Chigumba (2023). McEwen (2019). Miles (2015). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Osborne and Burton (2014). Osborne (2012). Peters (2020). Rees (2016). Ridley (2017). Robertson (2021). Russo (2022). Stevens (2021). Thomas (2022). Willis & Land (2022). [43]	Burton (2008). Burton etal (2009). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Eldred (2021). Fairall (2020). [6]			Eldred (2021). Fairall (2020). [2]
School staff		Gaffney et al. (2020). Osborne and Burton (2014). Osborne (2012). [3]	Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bravery and Harris (2009). Burton (2008). Burton et al (2009)^2. Derbyshire County Council (2020). Dodds et al (2015). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Eldred (2021). Fairall (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Hill et al (2013). Litten (2012). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Willis & Land (2022). [15]			Fairall (2020). [1]
Primary school pupils		Ball (2014)^1. Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bradley (2010). Burton et al (2009)^2. Butcher et al. (2013). Dunn (2020). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Fairall (2020). Gaffney et al. (2020). Gloucestershire (no date). Grahamslaw (2010). Haigh (2019). Hill et al (2013). Leighton (2015). Litten (2012). Mann & Russell (2011). Mann (2014). McEwen (2019). Miles (2015). Osborne and Burton (2014). Osborne (2012). Stevens (2021). Willis & Land (2022). [24]	Bowerman and Davies (2018). Burton (2008). Burton et al (2009)^2. Burton etal (2010). Derbyshire County Council (2020). Dodds et al (2015). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Fairall (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Haigh (2019). Hill et al (2013). Litten (2012). Mann & Russell (2011). Mann (2014). Willis & Land (2022). [16]	Balampanidou (2019). Barker (2017). Bowerman and Davies (2018). Burton (2008). Burton etal (2010). Cripps et al. (2016). Dunn (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Haigh (2019). Hill et al (2013). Hills (2016). Krause et al. (2020). Mann & Russell (2011). Mann (2014). McEwen (2019). Willis & Land (2022). Wong et al. (2020). [17]	Barker (2017). Burton et al (2009)^2. Haigh (2019). Mann & Russell (2011). Wilding and Claridge (2016). [5]	Fairall (2020). [1]
Secondary school pupils		Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bradley (2010). Burton et al (2009)^2. Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Grahamslaw (2010). King (2022). Mann (2014). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Osborne and Burton (2014). Osborne (2012). Peters (2020). Willis & Land (2022). [13]	Bowerman and Davies (2018). Burton (2008). Burton et al (2009)^2. Burton etal (2010). Derbyshire County Council (2020). Dodds et al (2015). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Grahamslaw (2010). Mann (2014). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Willis & Land (2022). [12]	Begley (2016). Burton (2008). Burton etal (2010). King (2022). Krause et al. (2020). Mann (2014). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Peters (2020). Purcell et al. (2023). Willis & Land (2022). [10]	Burton et al (2009)^2. [1]
Parents		Bradley (2010). Gaffney et al. (2020). Osborne (2012). [3]			Barker (2017). Haigh (2019). Wilding and Claridge (2016). [3]
EPs						Eldred (2021). Fairall (2020). Litten (2012). Osborne (2012). Ridley (2017). Thomas (2022). [6]
No. of studies		45	19	22	5	6

¹Though pupils were part of this study, data was gathered about them from ELSAs. As pupils’ perspectives were not gathered directly they have not been categorised as participants within the tables of the present study.

²Though pupils were part of this study, data was gathered about them from ELSAs, school staff and parents. As pupils’ perspectives were not gathered directly they have not been categorised as participants within the tables of the present study.

Table 2. Participants and topics.

	Participants
Main topics		ELSAs	School staff	Primary school pupils	Secondary school pupils	Parents	EPs
ELSA intervention		Ball (2014).^3 Begley (2016). Bland and Macro (2018). Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bradley (2010). Bravery and Harris (2009). Burton (2008). Burton et al. (2009).^4 Butcher et al. (2013). Davies (2020). Dunn (2020). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Eldred (2021). Endersby (2021). Fairall (2020). Gaffney et al. (2020). Gloucestershire (no date). Grahamslaw (2010). Haigh (2019). Harris (2020). Hill et al (2013). King (2022). Leighton (2015). Litten (2012). Mann (2014). Mann and Russell (2011). Mbire-Chigumba (2023). McEwen (2019). Miles (2015). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Osborne and Burton (2014). Osborne (2012). Peters (2020). Rees (2016). Russo (2022). Stevens (2021). Thomas (2022). Willis & Land (2022). [39]	Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bravery and Harris (2009). Burton (2008). Burton et al. (2009)^4. Burton etal. (2010). Derbyshire County Council (2020). Dodds et al (2015). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Eldred (2021). Fairall (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Haigh (2019). Hill et al (2013) Litten (2012). Mann (2014). Mann and Russell (2011). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Willis & Land (2022). [19]	Balampanidou (2019). Barker (2017). Bowerman and Davies (2018). Burton (2008). Burton etal. (2010). Cripps et al. (2016). Dunn (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Haigh (2019). Hill et al (2013). Hills (2016). Krause et al. (2020). Mann (2014). Mann and Russell (2011). McEwen (2019). Wong et al. (2020). Willis & Land (2022). [17]	Begley (2016). Burton (2008). Burton etal. (2010). King (2022). Krause et al. (2020). Mann (2014). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Peters (2020). Purcell et al. (2023). Willis & Land (2022). [10]	Barker (2017). Burton et al (2009)^4. Haigh (2019). Mann and Russell (2011). Wilding and Claridge (2016). [5]	Fairall (2020). Litten (2012). Thomas (2022). [3]
ELSA training		Bland and Macro (2018). Bradley (2010). Bravery and Harris (2009). Burton (2008). Derbyshire County Council (2020). Dodds et al (2015). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Eldred (2021). Gaffney, et al. (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Harris (2020). Leighton (2015). Mann (2014). Rees (2016). Thomas (2022). [16]	Dodds et al (2015). [1]				Eldred (2021). Thomas (2022). [2]
ELSA supervision		Atkin (2019). Burton (2008). Davies (2020). Derbyshire County Council (2020). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Eldred (2021). France and Billington (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Leighton (2015). Osborne and Burton (2014). Osborne (2012). Ridley (2017). Russo (2022). Thomas (2022). [16]	Dodds et al (2015). Eldred (2021). [2]				Eldred (2021). Fairall (2020). Osborne (2012). Ridley (2017). Thomas (2022). [5]
The widerschool and contextualimplementation		Atkin (2019). Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bravery and Harris (2009). Endersby (2021). Fairall (2020). Gaffney et al. (2020). Leighton (2015). Mbire-Chigumba (2023). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Osborne and Burton (2014). Osborne (2012). Robertson (2021). Stevens (2021). Thomas (2022). [14]	Bowerman and Davies (2018). Bravery and Harris (2009). Dodds et al (2015). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Fairall (2020). Grahamslaw (2010). Hill et al (2013). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). [9]		Nicholson-Roberts (2019). [1]		Fairall (2020). Thomas (2022). [2]

³Though pupils were part of this study, data was gathered about them from ELSAs. As pupils’ perspectives were not gathered directly they have not been categorised as participants within the tables of the present study.

⁴Though pupils were part of this study, data was gathered about them from ELSAs, school staff and parents. As pupils’ perspectives were not gathered directly they have not been categorised as participants within the tables of the present study.

Table 3. Purpose and design

Design
		Quantitative - mainly evaluative	Quantitative - mainly exploratory	Qualitative - mainly evaluative	Qualitative - mainly exploratory	Mixed methods - mainly evaluative	Mixed methods - mainly exploratory
Purpose	Exploring experiences of the ELSA process				Balampanidou (2019). Barker (2017). Begley (2016). Eldred (2021). Endersby (2021). France & Billington (2020). McEwen (2019). Miles (2015). Nicholson-Roberts (2019). Peters (2020). Ridley (2017). [11]		Atkin (2019). Bradley (2010). Fairall (2020). Mbire-Chigumba (2023). Russo (2022). Thomas (2022). [6]
	Evaluating the impact of ELSA programme (including the intervention, training and supervision)	Burton et al (2010).[1]				Bowerman & Davies (2018). Burton et al (2009). Butcher et al (2013). Derbyshire County Council (2020). Edwards (2015). Edwards (2016). Grahamslaw (2010). King (2022). Mann & Russell (2011). Willis & Land (2022). [10]	Hills (2016). [1]
	Both exploring experiences and evaluating impact			Bland & Macro (2018). Krause et al. (2020). Purcell et al. (2023) [3]	Cripps et al. (2016). Gaffney et al. (2020). Hill et al (2013). Leighton (2015). Litten (2012). Robertson (2021). Stevens (2021). Wilding & Claridge (2016). Wong et al. (2020). [9]	Ball (2014). Bravery & Harris (2009). Burton (2008). Davis (2020). Dodds et al (2015). Dunn (2020). Haigh (2019). Harris (2020). Mann (2014). Osborne (2012). Rees (2016). [11]	Osborne & Burton (2014). [1]

Key: published research, doctoral theses/ student studies, evaluation reports

Figure 3. Data from Table 1: Participants and perspectives presented as a stacked bar graph.

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