Jagiello Tess, Belcher Jessica, Neelakandan Aswathi, Boyd Kaylee, Wuthrich Viviana M
Lifespan Health & Wellbeing Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2024 Mar 4. doi: 10.1007/s10578-024-01667-5.
The experience of academic stress is common during high school and can have significant negative consequences for students' educational achievement and wellbeing. High school students frequently report heightened levels of school-related distress, particularly as they approach high-stakes assessments. Programs designed to reduce or prevent academic stress are needed, and their delivery in school settings is ideal to improve treatment access. The current review aimed to examine the effectiveness of high school-based programs in reducing or preventing academic stress. A systematic search returned 31 eligible studies across 13 countries. Programs were categorised according to intervention type, format, and facilitator. Results showed that the methodological quality of most studies was poor, and many used an inactive control group. As predicted by theories of academic stress, the strongest evidence was for programs grounded in cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). There was evidence that both universal and targeted approaches can be beneficial. The unique implementation issues for these two formats are discussed. Most programs were delivered by psychologists and were generally effective, but almost all of these were CBT programs. A smaller proportion of programs delivered by teachers were effective. Therefore, future studies should evaluate the implementation success of programs to improve the rate of effective delivery by school staff. Overall, the field will benefit from more randomised controlled trials with comparisons to active control groups, larger sample sizes and longer-term follow-ups.
学业压力的体验在高中阶段很常见，并且可能对学生的学业成绩和幸福感产生重大负面影响。高中生经常报告与学校相关的苦恼程度加剧，尤其是在临近高风险评估时。需要设计旨在减轻或预防学业压力的项目，并且在学校环境中实施这些项目对于改善治疗可及性是理想的。当前的综述旨在研究以高中为基础的项目在减轻或预防学业压力方面的有效性。一项系统检索在13个国家中找到了31项符合条件的研究。项目根据干预类型、形式和促进者进行了分类。结果表明，大多数研究的方法学质量较差，并且许多研究使用了非活性对照组。正如学业压力理论所预测的，最有力的证据是基于认知行为疗法（CBT）的项目。有证据表明，普遍方法和针对性方法都可能有益。讨论了这两种形式独特的实施问题。大多数项目由心理学家实施，并且总体上是有效的，但几乎所有这些都是CBT项目。由教师实施的项目中有效项目的比例较小。因此，未来的研究应该评估项目的实施成功率，以提高学校工作人员有效实施项目的比例。总体而言，该领域将受益于更多与活性对照组进行比较的随机对照试验、更大的样本量和长期随访研究。
