A review of educational outcomes in the children's mental health treatment literature

Abstract

We examined the measurement of educational outcomes related to children's mental health treatments. A total of 85 papers describing 88 randomized controlled trials that included at least one educational outcome and one mental health outcome were included in these analyses. Forty-five different measures were identified as the primary educational outcome of interest in these studies. Educational measures reflected academic achievement (64.2%), academic and behavioural skills (20.1%), attendance (11.2%), quality of the learning environment (3.4%) and academic self-efficacy (1.1%). Positive educational outcomes were demonstrated by treatments delivered in school and non-school settings. There was a significant association between improvement on educational and mental health outcomes. Within the literature of children's mental health treatments, few studies (14.86%) measure educational outcomes. Of those that do, there is significant diversity in measurement methods. Nevertheless, these results offer promise that mental health treatments can succeed in improving both mental health symptoms and educational performance.

Keywords::

• education
• mental health
• treatment
• measurement
• children