Abstract
School psychologists are asked to systematically evaluate the effects of their work to ensure quality standards. Given the different types of methods applied to different users of school psychology measuring the effects of school psychological services is a complex task. Thus, the focus of our scoping review was to systematically investigate the state of past research on the measurement of the effects of school psychological services published between 1998 and 2018 in eight major school psychological journals. Of the 5,048 peer-reviewed articles published within this period, 623 were coded by two independent raters as explicitly refering to school psychology or counseling in the school context in their titles or abstracts. However, only 22 included definitions of effects of school psychological services or described outcomes used to evaluate school psychological services based on full text screening. These findings revealed that measurement of the effects of school psychological services has not been a focus of research despite its' relevance in guidelines of school psychological practice.
Highlights
School psychology is an independent and applied field of psychology concerned with providing mental health services to students, their families, teachers, school principals and other school staff (Jimerson et al, 2007; Bundesverband Deutscher Psychologinnen und Psychologen, 2015; American Psychological Association, 2020)
We alert the reader to keep in mind that our findings might be showing an incomplete picture and encourage future research to replicate our study with additional information sources. This scoping review contributes toward a better understanding of how the measurement of effects of school psychological services has been conceptualized by past research in major school psychology journals
The results show very limited research on this topic despite the relevance of evaluation in guidelines of school psychological practices
Summary
School psychology is an independent and applied field of psychology concerned with providing mental health services to students, their families, teachers, school principals and other school staff (Jimerson et al, 2007; Bundesverband Deutscher Psychologinnen und Psychologen, 2015; American Psychological Association, 2020). According to the APA “school psychologists are prepared to intervene at the individual and system level, and develop, implement and evaluate programs to promote positive learning environments for children and youth from diverse backgrounds, and to ensure equal access to effective educational and psychological services that promote health development” (American Psychological Association, 2020). They promote “healthy growth and development of children and youth in a range of contexts” that impact instruction, learning or school behavior by providing services such as “assessment and evaluation of individuals and instructional and organizational environments,” “prevention and intervention programs,” “crisis intervention,” “consultations with teachers, parents, administrators, and other health service providers,” “supervision of psychological services” and “professional development programs” (American Psychological Association, 2020). In this review we use the term “school psychology” in coherence with the above-mentioned definition provided by the International School Psychology Association (2021)
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