School refusal behavior, functional assessment, youths. Child and parent versions of the scale are available. The school refusal assessment scalerevised srasr, developed by christopher kearney and wendy silverman, is a psychological assessment tool designed to evaluate school refusal disorder symptoms in children and identify their reasons for avoiding school. Functional assessment of school attendance problems. Kearney and albano 2007 suggested that in cases of school refusal behavior. Is it school refusal, school avoidance, school phobia, school anxiety or what. Introduction very few measures have been designed specifically for youths with school refusal behavior, but one that has garnered much interest is the school refusal assessment scale and its revision srassrasr kearney, 2002. Versions are available for children and parents, who complete their respective scales separately see related resources. Find out whats causing your childs school refusal with the school refusal assessment scale sras what is it. Confirmatory factor analysis of the school refusal assessment scale revised. School refusal is not truancy, but both are serious behavioural problems that can have detrimental consequences.
Kearney is a distinguished professor of clinical child psychology at unlv and an expert in the assessment and treatment of youths with school refusal behavior and related anxiety conditions. The school refusal assessment scalerevised srasr, developed by christopher kearney and wendy silverman, is a psychological assessment tool. These function scores are each divided by 6 the number of scores in each set. The following scales were considered specific measures to assess school refusal behavior. According to kearney and albano 2000, there are several advantages of a functional model. School refusal behavior, functional as sessment, youths. Kearney s research has focused mainly on the classification, assessment, and treatment of school refusal behavior and internalizing disorders in children and adolescents. A revision of the school refusal assessment scale srasr, a measure designed to help clinicians identify the primary function of a childs school refusal behavior, was examined. School refusal behavior can contribute to a childs academic, social, and psychological problems, impact a childs chances for future educational, financial, and personal success, and significantly affect family functioning. School avoidance from the point of view of child and.
Measures the school refusal assessment scale revised for children srasrc. The relationship between the functions of school refusal. School refusal assessment scalerevised oxford clinical. The treatment was assigned in accordance with a set assessment strategy designed to identify the primary reasons why a particular child refuses to attend school. School refusal assessment scalerevised c children sometimes have di. How often does your child have bad feelings about school for example, scared, nervous, or sad when heshe thinks about school on saturday and sunday. And fortunately, there is help and support for all of your childs needs.
Chris kearney who is a leading school refusal researcher from the university of nevada, las vegas and dr. In a previous article, the characteristics and functional assessment of school refusal behavior were outlined kearney. Advantages include its theoretical basis, its coverage of all youths who miss school and its amenability to specific recommendations. As such, the term represents an umbrella construct for many historical ones that have been used to describe youths with problematic absenteeism, including truancy, psychoneurotic truancy, school phobia, separation anxiety, and anxiety. First, it is important to know what school refusal is not. Results indicated child and parent versions of the scale to be reliable across time and. A revision of the school refusal assessment scale srasr, a measure designed to help clinicians. Case study of the assessment and treatment of a youth with. The primary aim was to determine the family environments most strongly associated with each function of school refusal behavior in an ethnically diverse, communitybased sample of. One method for quickly assessing the role of these functions is the school refusal assessment scalerevised. The school refusal assessment scale revised for children srasrc.
Your childs therapist might use the school refusal assessment scalerevised srasr to evaluate the situation. This functional model can help clinicians weigh multiple symptoms and, ultimately, generate a clear focus on the factors that are maintaining the. The school refusal assessment scalerevised wikipedia. Descriptive functional assessment of school refusal behavior. Many children and teenagers refuse to attend school or have anxietyrelated difficulties remaining in classes for an entire day. For the assessment of these four profiles, kearney and silverman designed the school refusal assessment scale sras. Empirical treatment involves a collaborative approach of cognitive and behavioural therapies involving the child, parents, and school. Confirmatory analyses of the school refusal assessment scalerevised. School refusal can have a negative impact on multiple areas of functioning. The present investigation examined the psychometric properties and clinical utility of the sras in a multiethnic sample. Journal of psychopathology and behavioral assessment, 28, 9144. School refusal assessment scale revised srasr psychtools. Scoring and interpretation of the school refusal assessment scale srasr. School refusal in children and adolescents american.
Pdf measuring the function of school refusal behavior. The scale was created to overcome shortcomings from previous classification systems including an over reliance on clinical judgement rather than empirical evidence leading to a lack of rater reliability, issues with validity and lack of utility in. How often does your child have bad feelings about going to school because heshe is afraid of something related to school for example. This selfreport inventory, which is also available in parent response form, consists of. The current study examined the relationship between the functions of school refusal behavior and family environment characteristics in a community sample of youth. Confirmatory factor analysis of the school refusal. This scale, designed by kearney, measures the function of a childs school refusal and provides reliable data about his or her behaviors. Recent studies indicate problems with the wording of eight items added to the sras to form the srasr. German version of the school refusal assessment scale, sras. Functional profiles of school refusal behavior and their.
The school refusal assessment scale was developed by christopher kearney and wendy silverman, several research studies support the srasr as a reliable and. Kearney and silverman 1993 developed the school refusal assessment scale sras to assess the function of and to prescribe treatment for school refusal behavior. Kearney, 2002 is the only measurement tool specifically designed for the assessment of children and adolescents who are experiencing srb. School refusal assessment scale chapter 6 17 the number one factor increasing the likelihood of success with children who. Kearney, first developed this tool in 1993 and revised it in 2002. A truant child is one that has no feelings of fear associated with going to school. Dec 26, 2016 the school refusal assessment scale revised for children srasrc. Some children feel badly at school, some have trouble with other people, some just want to be with their family, and others like to do things that are more fun outside of school. School refusal in children and adolescents american family.
He also works with adults with severe developmental disabilities. The functional assessment of school refusal behavior. Confirmatory factor analysis of the school refusal assessment. The school refusal assessment scale is an evidence based assessment tool designed to evaluate school refusal disorder symptoms in children and identify their reasons for avoiding school.
The scale was created to overcome shortcomings from previous classification systems including an over reliance on clinical judgement rather than empirical evidence leading to a lack of rater reliability, issues with validity and lack of. Oct 15, 2003 the school refusal assessment scale table 6, online 23 includes a child, parent, and teacher form and examines school refusal in correlation to negative and positive reinforcers. Moving from assessment to treatment of school refusal. Kearney, 2002a is the validated instrument in this study and it is a scale with good psychometric properties that were presented earlier. School refusal behavior is a pernicious problem that disrupts the lives of many children and families and can lead to damaging short and long term consequences. The srasr is a 24item selfreport measure with a 7point likert scale that assesses the relative influence of four functional conditions of school refusal behavior i.
Parent and child function scores are then summed and divided by 2 to determine the mean function score. The scale was created to overcome shortcomings from previous classification systems including an over reliance on clinical judgement rather than empirical evidence leading to a lack of rater reliability, issues with validity and lack of utility in treatment. School refusal behavior is a pernicious problem that disrupts the lives of many children and families and can lead to damaging short and longterm consequences. Confirmatory factor analysis of the school refusal assessment scalerevised. Silverman 1993 the school refusal assessment scale sras. The srasr is designed to measure the relative strength of the four functional. There is still limited support for the fourfactor model inherent to the sras and its revision srasr. School refusal assessment scale revised c children sometimes have di. Solutions to school refusal for parents and kids mdedge. Although functional assessment of this population generally involves a combination of measures, a quick, descriptive method for determining the primary reason a particular child is missing school is the school refusal assessment scale, now revised kearney, 2002.
How often does your child have bad feelings about going to school because heshe is afraid of something related to school for example, tests, school bus, teacher. Kearney, 2002a assesses school refusal behavior based on the functional model. School refusal is a littleknown condition that affects 2. The school refusal assessment scale sras was developed to identify four factors that might maintain a youths school attendance problem sap, and thus be targeted for treatment. Total scores may be computed by adding the scores of each of four functions on both the parent and child versions.
School refusal assessment scale table 6, online23 includes a child, parent, and teacher form and examines school refusal in correlation to negative and positive rein. Addressed deficiencies of traditional classification approaches to school refusal behavior through the development of the school refusal assessment scale sras. Treatment options for each case are discussed once the initial formal assessment is complete. The scale identifies maintaining variables of school refusal behavior, including dimensions of negative and positive reinforcement. School refusal assessment scale revised echo ontario. Identifying the function of school refusal behavior. Moving f rom assessment to treatment of school refusal b.
Management of school refusal involves ruling out organic causes and assessing contributing factors, such as anxiety and depression. Participants were 30 children and their mothers who were identified as school refusers after an initial. In order to treat school refusal, it is important to have an understanding of the function of a childs school refusal. This article reports on the successful treatment of a 12yearold boy who received prescriptive treatment for multifunction school refusal behavior.
Aug 12, 2017 the school refusal assessment scale sras was first constructed by kearney and silverman 1993 and then revised in 2002 kearney. Kearney has served in editorial positions for the journal of clinical child psychology and behavior. In school refusal behavior in youth, christopher kearney discusses both the historical context and common strategies for treating the problem, offering a cuttingedge, empirically based approach. The instrument school refusal assessment scalerevised srasr. Examine ratings from versions of the school refusal assessment scale the first recommended step toward understanding the functional profile of a particular child with school refusal behavior is to examine ratings from child and parent versions of the school refusal assessment scale revised edition. School refusal assessment scalerevised srasr 36 parental authority questionnaireadapted student version 36. Pdf the functional assessment of school refusal behavior. School refusal assessment scalerevised p oxford clinical.
Avoidance of stimuli that provoke negative affectivity. This selfreport inventory, which is also available in parent response form, consists of 24 questions that measure the frequency with which. Dec 09, 2018 school refusal behavior is not an uncommon issue. The srasr is designed to measure the function of school refusal in children. Changes in the original version of the scale were made to improve psychometric quality and align the measure in accordance with evolutions in the functional model. Wendy silverman from florida international university. The sras is a psychological assessment tool designed to evaluate school refusal disorder symptoms in children and identify their reasons for avoiding school.
School refusal is a littleknown condition that affects 25%. At the international level, the school refusal assessment scale for children revised srasrc. Nov 22, 2009 the school refusal assessment scale revised srasr. The unlv child school refusal and anxiety disorders clinic. The school refusal assessment scale sras was first constructed by kearney and silverman 1993 and then revised in 2002 kearney. The scale identifies maintaining variables of school refusal behavior. Psychometric properties and clinical utility of the school. Current status of research on school refusal sciencedirect.
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