The Place2Be: Measuring the effectiveness of a primary school-based therapeutic intervention in England and Scotland

Abstract

Aim: There is increasing awareness of the prevalence of mental health disorders in children in the UK, but research on the efficacy of interventions meeting this need is limited. This study assessed whether The Place2Be model of individual and group intervention has a positive influence on children's social and emotional wellbeing. Providing emotional and therapeutic support to school age children in England and Scotland, The Place2Be delivers school-based therapeutic interventions to around 47,000 children in 143 primary schools, two secondary schools and one independent school. Method: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire data was collected from a national sample of primary school children aged 4–11 (N=1,864) both before and after accessing an individual (n =1,645) or group (n =215) intervention. Results: Repeated measures t-tests revealed that children had significantly lower Total Difficulties scores post-intervention than pre-intervention as rated by their class teachers and parents (Teacher-rated: p<0.001, d = 0.39; Parent-rated: p<0.001, d = 0.47). Children also had significantly higher Prosocial scores post-intervention (Teacher-rated: p<0.001, d = 0.25; Parent-rated: p<0.001, d = 0.15). Conclusions: Children's social and emotional behaviour, as perceived by their teachers and parents, was improved following therapeutic intervention with The Place2Be. These findings have important implications for service providers looking to commission projects for the benefit of their local community.

Keywords:

• Children
• counselling
• early-intervention
• effectiveness
• mental health
• primary school-based
• SDQ
• therapy

Acknowledgements

Thank you to all of The Place2Be field staff that took part in and supported the research, to Sarah Leonard (The Place2Be) for inputting all of the data necessary for this study, and to Wei Xu (The Place2Be) who read and commented on all drafts of this article. Thank you also to John Ivens (Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital School) for his ongoing advice and support. We are also grateful to out many funders and supporters, without whom the work would not have been possible.