Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: Impacts on Academic and Emotional Difficulties

ABSTRACT

This randomized control trial study evaluated the effectiveness of the solution-focused approach in addressing academic, motivational, and socioemotional needs of 14 children with reading difficulties. The intervention group received five 40-min solution-focused sessions. The control group received academic homework support. Results showed advantages for the intervention condition in 26 out of 38 measures. The mean eta-squared effect size for intervention was .20 (very) large. For the control group, there were only 10 effects favoring it and the mean was .09, a medium sized effect, both significantly greater than 0 (p < .01). Comparisons of the solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) effect sizes to the mean of the control showed it was significantly larger (p < .001), confirming that SFBT was an efficacious intervention in this sample.

Keywords:

• disabilities
• dyslexia
• reading