Positive Psychology in School-Based Psychological Intervention: A Study of the Evidence-Base

Abstract

Psychological school-based (SB) interventions are long standing and increasingly influenced by the evolving evidence-base. The current consensus of interventions utilises predominantly cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques. Despite their efficacy, they possess a number of weaknesses and there is an argument to propose the application of positive psychology (PP) to address these shortcomings. This paper reviews the efficacy of PP interventions in schools by evaluating 28 articles from a number of databases, focusing on child, adolescent and school professionals’ populations globally. Included articles focus on SBPP interventions revealing outcomes for mental health or well-being in children and adolescents between the ages of 5 to 16. Articles with a solely educational focus were excluded. Meta-analysis and review articles in SB CBT are also considered as a comparison for the SB PP evidence base. Articles are synthesised according to intervention purpose. The results are varied revealing PP to be effective in improving positive traits and well-being, but a scarcity of data does not support the reliability of these findings for the purpose of introducing large-scale PP SB intervention programmes. Further, discrepancies in certain results are found due to sex differences highlighting the need for extensive research into such inconsistencies. An in-depth description of the context of school-based interventions and a discussion of these findings are provided. Conclusions are made regarding recommendations for future research.