KooLKIDS

Empowering children to live well with themselves and others

Research

Overview

The development of the KooLKIDS programs (Intensive and Whole of Class) has been enabled by ongoing federal funding from the Australian Research Council, which commenced in 2006. The main aim of the research has been to develop and evaluate technologically innovative emotion regulation programs to empower children to live well with themselves and others by knowing their strengths and their emotions and by learning empathy and friendship skills. There have been a number of phases to the research which are outlined briefly below:

Phase 1: Development of the KooLKIDS Intensive Program

The KooLKIDS Intensive program was developed for children with challenging behaviours aged 8 to 11 years using an integrated framework as a prevention/treatment program to provide an alternative approach to school suspension. This age group was targeted due to evidence from the Cambridge study (Farrington & West, 1990) suggesting some forms of antisocial behaviour found in adulthood are stable traits that can be traced back to childhood. In other words, someone who displays antisocial behaviours as a child often continues to show such behaviours as an adult. KooLKIDS aims to intervene early in development to avert the life-long course of antisocial behaviour. KooLKIDS is based on theoretical and empirical research relating to the contextual and psychosocial determinants of the development of antisocial behaviour in young children (e.g., Cole, 2004) and evidence-based CBT, self-regulation, and social skills interventions for children and adolescents with conduct problems (e.g., Larson & Lochman, 2011).

In this first phase, a preliminary empirical evaluation of the KooLKIDS Intensive program was conducted. Trained facilitators delivered the 13-session program (5 whole of class and 8 individual sessions) to a sample of 49 primary school-aged children (7–11 years) with early onset antisocial behaviour (42 boys, seven girls suspended from school or at risk for suspension) and their peers. Analyses showed significant postintervention reductions on many outcome variables, including teacher and child self-rated aggression and antisocial traits. Significant improvements were also found on measures of emotional intensity and peer acceptance. Acceptability and feasibility data were promising. For more information, see Carroll, O'Connor, Houghton, Hattie, Lynn, & Donovan (2017).

Phase 2: Refinement of the KooLKIDS Intensive Program

In the second phase, the KooLKIDS Intensive Program was refined based on the feedback from Phase 1. For example facilitators commented that there was “too little time to deliver the entire content and literacy level requirements were too high in some program materials”. These changes have been incorporated into a revised version of the program. A further evaluation study was then conducted. Employing a multiple baseline design, 13 males (aged 9 to 10 years old) with a history of school suspensions were sequentially introduced to the KooLKIDS Intensive program. Teacher and child self-report data revealed significant reductions for the group in proactive and reactive aggression, and antisocial traits. Significant changes in the desired direction were also found on measures of emotion regulation. It was concluded that the KooLKIDS Intensive Program offers potential for treating children with challenging behaviour and preventing progression towards more serious antisocial behaviour. For more information, see Houghton, Carroll, Zadow, O'Connor, Hattie, & Lynn (2017).

Phase 3: Development of the KooLKIDS Whole of Class Program

Overall feedback from the evaluation studies of the KooLKIDS Intensive Program suggested that there was a need within the school community for a universal program that addressed emotional regulation skills for all students. As such, work commenced on the development of the KooLKIDS Whole of Class Program. The program consists of 13 whole of class sessions and utilizes a multi-media approach to maximize student engagement. The KooLKIDS program aligns with the Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority's (ACARA) personal and social capabilities of the national curriculum and is designed specifically for children in Grades 4 to 6. The KooLKIDS Whole of Class program is delivered by trained classroom teachers across a school term or semester.

A large evaluation trial over a two year period was conducted to investigate the impact of the KooLKIDS Whole of Class program on participating students' behavioural, emotional and social competence. Specifically, the study sought to determine whether student's social and emotional competence (namely self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making) and prosocial behaviours improved as a result of completing the KooKIDS program and whether there were any broader benefits in terms of educational outcomes for children. Students in Grades 4, 5 and 6 took part in the study, as well as their classroom teachers and parents. The study included 36 class groups, with 52.6% of participating students in Grade 4, 33.8% in Grade 5 and 13.4% in Grade 6. Data were collected on a total of 912 students. The age of the students ranged from 8 to 12 years, with a mean age of 9.64 years (SD = .787). Over half of the students were female (56.6%). This study utilized an independent groups wait-list control design, whereby schools that received the intervention (KoolKIDS condition) were compared to a control group of schools that did not receive the intervention until after the study (Waitlist-control condition). Participating teachers, students and parents in both conditions completed questionnaire measures at two time points. The intervention condition was assessed before and after completing the KooLKIDS program. The control condition was assessed before and after an approximate 12 week waiting period (of no intervention), after which time, they received the KooLKIDS program.

The findings indicate that the program can lead to significant teacher-rated improvements in social and emotional competence amongst children aged 8 to 11 years. In addition, the KoolKIDS program produced significant increases in pro-social behaviour amongst the children who participated, and decreases in externalising behaviors along with a broader range of problematic behaviours, with a trend towards a reduction in internalising behaviours. Although there was no impact evident regarding more general learning and achievement outcomes, this is not surprising given such improvements are likely to take a longer period of time to become evident.

References

Carroll, A., O'Connor, E., Houghton, S., Hattie, J., Lynn, S., & Donovan, C. (2017). A preliminary empirical evaluation of KooLKIDS: A school-based program to reduce early onset antisocial behavior in children. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 42 (1), 22-35. DOI 10.3109/13668250.2016.1190004).

Cole, P.M. , Martin, S.E., & Dennis, T.A. (2004). Emotion regulation as a scientific construction: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research. Child Development, 75: 317 – 333.

Farrington, D. P., & West, D. J. (1990). The Cambridge Study in delinquent development: A long-term follow-up of 411 London males. In H. J. Kerner & G. Kaiser (Eds.), Criminality: Personality, behavior, life history (pp. 115-138). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Houghton, S., Carroll, A., Zadow, C., O'Connor, E., Hattie, J., & Lynn, S. (2017). Treating Children with Early Onset Conduct Problems and Callous Unemotional Traits: An Empirical Evaluation of KooLKIDS. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, (Published online 16 March, 2017, DOI 10.1080/13632752.2017.1301646).

Larson, J.,& Lochman, J.E. (2011). Helping schoolchildren cope with anger: A cognitive-behavioral intervention (2nd ed). New York: Guilford Press.

Grants

Emotion Regulation and Academic Performance: Building positive social and emotional wellbeing in children in the primary school years. ARC Special Research Initiative Science of Learning Research Centre Scheme (2013-2017)

Structural Relations of Loners', Loneliness, and Antisocial Behaviour in Children and Adolescents: Building a Conceptual Model for Effective Interventions. ARC Discovery Grant Scheme (2011-2014).

Trajectories of Childhood Antisocial Behaviour: A New Model and Prevention Program for the Early Onset Life Course Persistent Offender. ARC Discovery Grant Scheme (2006-2009).

Publications

Carroll, A., O'Connor, E., Houghton, S., Hattie, J., Lynn, S., & Donovan, C. (2017). A preliminary empirical evaluation of KooLKIDS: A school-based program to reduce early onset antisocial behavior in children. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 42 (1), 22-35. DOI 10.3109/13668250.2016.1190004).

Houghton, S., Carroll, A., Zadow, C., O'Connor, E., Hattie, J., & Lynn, S. (2017). Treating Children with Early Onset Conduct Problems and Callous Unemotional Traits: An Empirical Evaluation of KooLKIDS. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, (Published online 16 March, 2017, DOI 10.1080/13632752.2017.1301646).

Houghton, S., Carroll, A., O'Connor, E., & Crow, J. (2015). Childhood onset conduct disorder: Breaking the cycle of crime and violence early though the implementation of the KooLKIDS school-based interactive intervention program (Chapter 10). In M. Taylor, U. Khan, & J.A. Pooley (Eds.), Crime and violence prevention: Moving beyond hot-stove policing and perpetrator rehabilitation. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-63483-792-7.

O'Connor, E., Carroll, A., Houghton, S., & Donovan, C. (2015). A contemporary review of childhood antisocial behaviour in school settings (Chapter 11). In M. Taylor, U. Khan, & J.A. Pooley (Eds.), Crime and violence prevention: Moving beyond hot-stove policing and perpetrator rehabilitation. New York: Nova Science Publishers. ISBN 978-1-63483-792-7.