The Impact of a Psychoeducational Prevention Program for Behaviorally At-Risk Students

This study examined the effectiveness of a multicomponent psychoeducational prevention program (EQUIP for Educators) Two aspects were examined: (1) if there was a significant relationship among the three psychometric measures: Social Skills Rating System (SSRS), Children’s Inventory of Anger (ChIA), Sociomoral Reflection and Measure-Short Form (SRM-SF); and (2) if the treatment (EQUIP for Educators) and control groups differed on the SSRS, ChIA, and the SRM-SF, from pretest to posttest, and if these effects were different by levels of achievement. This exploratory study was a first attempt to expand EQUIP for Educators from a treatment-only program to a treatment-and-academic-learning program. Subjects (N = 45) aged 10.1–11. 8 years (M = 10.9) participated in this 10-week study. A quasi-experimental 2 X 2 X 2 repeated measures MANOVA was conducted. A Pearson’s product-moment correlation was conducted to examine the statistical correlation of 3 dependent variables: (1) SSRS; (2) ChIA; (3) SRM-SF. Results of the Pearson r analysis indicated statistically significant correlations between the SSRS, ChIA, and the SRM-SF (p < .05). A statistically significant multivariate effect for the Time X Group interaction was found (p <. 001, ES = .86). Further, a statistically significant multivariate main effect for achievement was found across the dependent variables (p < .001, ES = .56). The univariate 2 X 2 ANOVA for the Time X Group interaction evinced statistically significant results for the social skills (p <. 001, ES = .77), anger management (p < .001, ES = .59) and the sociomoral reasoning (p < .001, ES = .46). EQUIP for Educators treatment was effective in equipping behaviorally at risk students with: (a) skills for managing anger and correcting cognitive distortions; (b) social skills for constructive social behavior; and (c) remediating development delay in moral judgment. Results suggest that EQUIP for Educators had an impact on cognitive distortions, social skills deficiencies, and sociomoral delays. Implications and recommendations for use of multicomponent prevention programs are discussed