Background: Addressing the challenges within the educational system during the early years of schooling stands as a crucial focus for researchers. Despite the necessity of exploring school-related ...fears and their influencing factors, there remains a scarcity of research in this domain. Aims: The purpose of this research was to investigate the efficacy of storytelling on school phobia and separation anxiety among students in the first- grade of elementary school in Shiraz. Methods: The present research employed a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The study population consisted of all first-grade elementary students in Shiraz during the academic year 2022-2023. Thirty eligible students were randomly assigned to either a control group or an experimental group. After confirming the absence of significant differences between the control and experimental groups, a storytelling intervention program was implemented for the experimental group, utilizing a collection of books by Parirukh and Majid (2015) along with other educational materials. No intervention program was provided to the control group. The Anxiety-Related Disorders Questionnaire developed by Bimamar (1999) was used to measure two subscales: school phobia and separation anxiety, both administered before and after the intervention. Data analysis was conducted using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS version 25. Results: The results of the covariance analysis revealed a significant difference in the mean scores of school phobia and separation anxiety between the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up assessments (p < 0.05) for the experimental group. Specifically, the scores in the experimental group decreased significantly at the post-test and follow-up stages. In contrast, there was no significant change observed in the scores of the control group across these assessments. Conclusion: The findings of the present study demonstrate that storytelling is effective in reducing separation anxiety and fear of school among students. Avoiding school can lead to serious consequences, including harm and social deviance. Students who skip school may be more susceptible to delinquent behaviors and jeopardize their future careers. Storytelling emerges as an accessible and effective intervention to alleviate children's fears and anxieties related to school. Moreover, parents can be trained in storytelling techniques to motivate their children to attend school and engage positively in the educational environment.
Previous research has suggested that social anxiety is associated with victimization and perpetration of (cyber)bullying. The direction and causality of this relationship has not yet been empirically ...supported for both traditional and cyberbullying involvement. This study examined short-term longitudinal associations between feelings of social anxiety and involvement in traditional bullying and cyberbullying among 2128 adolescents aged 10–17 (56.6 % girls). A cross-lagged panel analysis provided evidence for the contribution of social anxiety to later victimization of bullying, both on- and off-line. The possibility of a reciprocal relationship was also examined, although it was not supported. Furthermore, longitudinal bidirectional relationships between social anxiety and the perpetration of bullying were investigated. Only one significant longitudinal association was found: the perpetration of traditional bullying predicted subsequent higher levels of social anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Cyberbullying is a common relational problem having negative repercussions on the academic performance of adolescents. Numerous questions remain to be answered with regard to the relationship between ...cyberbullying and school refusal behavior. This study examines school refusal profiles (measured by School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised) and assesses whether these profiles vary with respect to the level of victimization, aggression, aggression-victimization, and observation of cyberbullying (measured with the Screening of Harassment among Peers). The sample consisted of 1,102 Spanish high school students, aged 12-18 (
= 14.30, SD = 1.71). Latent class analysis revealed three school refusal behavior profiles: non-school refusal behavior, school refusal behavior by negative reinforcements (oriented to the avoidance of social evaluation and negative affectivity in school situations), and school refusal behavior by positive reinforcements (oriented to obtaining the attention of others with significant or tangible reinforcements). The ANOVA found statistically significant differences for all cyberbullying behaviors. Students with school refusal by negative reinforcements had significantly higher mean scores as compared to the other profiles in victimization, aggression, aggression-victimization, and observation behaviors, while the levels of cyberbullying were similar between students without school refusal and students with school refusal behavior by positive reinforcements. These findings underscore the need to consider priority interventions to prevent cyberbullying in children who refuse school for the purpose of avoiding situations of anxiety and negative emotions.
Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing extensive morbidity and mortality and is fueling psychological distress across populations. Early evidence has shown an increase in anxiety, depression and ...sleep problems in the general population.
Although pandemics shatter the functioning of communities and families globally, there is a paucity of studies targeting the effects of pandemics on youth mental health.
Introduction: School refusal is an important public health concern in adolescent psychiatry increasing over the past several years (5% of child and adolescent psychiatry consultations in France). ...Multifamily therapy has developed over 30 years. Its efficacy is validated in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry, including for children at risk of school exclusion. In this study, we aimed to explore the adolescents and their parent's experience of a multifamily therapy treatment of school refusal with a qualitative method. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study is based on an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach. We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews, participants were adolescents ( n = 6) and their parents ( n = 9) who experienced multifamily therapy in an adolescent department in Paris. Data analysis was performed independently by two researchers. Results: For the six families, school was a source of suffering, system paralysis and social exclusion. Families reported painful emotions and separation anxiety. For teenagers, multifamily therapy increased self-confidence and allowed group experience. For parents, it gave support and relieved from feelings of stigmatization and guilt. Parents became more aware of their adolescent's suffering and their insight. They all considered that multifamily therapy improved intra-family communication and expression of emotion. Participants highlighted the benefits of intergenerational interactions, activities, group and guidance from therapists. Discussion: Multifamily therapy uses therapeutic tools from both family therapy (joining, resonance, family competence, and metacommunication) and group therapy (use of media, identity device, and mirror reactions). Parents expect school solutions from multifamily therapy and question how psychiatric treatment can deal with school, school refusal being therefore understood as a social functioning disorder.
The experience of being bullied is widespread among autistic youth. Relatively little empirical work has been done on the relationship between the bullying of these youth and school refusal (SR). ...This study of 67 school-age autistic boys (
M
= 11.7 years, SD = 2.3 years) examined several factors that may contribute to SR. Data regarding boys’ age, generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), major depressive disorder (MDD), key ASD diagnostic criteria, and frequency of being bullied were collected. Results indicated that, while boys displaying emerging SR also had significantly higher GAD and MDD than boys without emerging SR, only the frequency of being bullied made a significant contribution to emerging SR. Implications for prevention and treatment of SR among autistic youth are discussed.
School refusal is more prevalent in children on the autism spectrum than among their peers. The function of school refusal can be explored using the school refusal assessment scale-revised (SRAS-R) ...but its relevance to children on the spectrum has not been investigated. Parents of 121 children (
M
age 11.9 years) on the autism spectrum completed the SRAS-R and provided feedback on it applicability. Confirmatory factor analysis suggests unsuitability of the original four-factor structure proposed for neurotypical students. Only 41.7% of parents considered the questionnaire an adequate method for reporting on school refusal in children on the autism spectrum with the majority (90%) identifying additional questions to evaluate factors associated with school refusal in autism.
BACKGROUNDSchool refusal has an impact on the mental health and on future of young people. This phenomenon cannot only be linked to school dysfunction but must be considered in a larger set of ...processes. Recent studies propose an understanding of school refusal in terms of psychopathology and individual functioning as well as in terms of associated environmental and family factors. SUBJECTS AND METHODSWe conducted a retrospective study on youths admitted in our child psychiatric unit at HUDERF with an anxious school refusal behavior. The medical records of all 442 patients, admitted in the unit between 1996 and 2019, were inspected. It allows the inclusion of 71 patients, aged from 8 to 16 years. RESULTS16% of all patients present an anxious school refusal (ASR). There is a significant difference of sex, in inpatients with anxious school refusal, with 70.42% of male (p<0.0003). Concerning familial and parental characteristics, family separation (56.3%), conflict at home (27%), contact rupture with the father (25.3%) were associated with the onset of the school refusal. Parental psychiatric illness was frequently reported with maternal psychiatric illness (46.5%) and paternal history of psychiatric illness (28.2%). Maltreatment (30.9%) was also frequently observed in our inpatient population of youths with ASR. Concerning school and peers' relationships, we observe relational difficulties with peers (46.5%), bullying (26.7%), academic difficulties (36.6%) or change of school or moving home (19.7%). Mood and adjustment disorder were the most frequent associated diagnosis in our sample. CONCLUSIONWe confirmed that patient with anxious school refusal that need inpatient care were usually male, with more complex psychopathologies in term of comorbidities and familial maltreatment or psychiatric loading. They also have much more peers and school problems.
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