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Key points
- Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are widely employed in schools.
- Most SEL programs involve CBT techniques, which help students manage difficult emotions and behaviors.
- Two studies of DBT skills training in school settings show both better and worse outcomes for teens.
Social and emotional learning programs (SEL) have become popular in schools in the last decade. These programs help students acquire social, emotional, and behavioral skills that allow them to better succeed in school and in life. Durlak et al. say the goal of such programs is to increase constructive ways for students to grapple with their emotions by way of increasing both self-awareness and empathy for others.
The assumption behind SEL programs is that students who cannot successfully strategize how to manage their emotions are at higher risk for emotional problems such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, and substance abuse, say Dozors et al. It is thought that SEL programs will help prevent mental and emotional illnesses in students.
Many SEL programs successfully employ mindfulness-based cognitive therapy programming rather than focus on mental illness symptoms. Such CBT programs aid students with problem-solving and regulating emotions. The in-school programs use cognitive restructuring to alter unhelpful thinking that is associated with undesired or problematic emotions.
Another treatment, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), was developed as a type of CBT specifically to deal with symptoms of severe emotional dysregulation manifest in self-harm and suicidal thinking. Ashkanasi and Humphrey say DBT teaches skills of mindfulness, problem-solving, exposure, cognitive reappraisal, and distraction techniques. DBT uses the dialectical philosophy of “validation versus change,” says L. D. Peterson. This refers to validation of a person’s emotional states and who they are along with urging change in who they are. The treatment takes place individually and in groups.
Can DBT be used with success in school settings the way CBT is? Two DBT skills programs are school-based. One, DBT STEPS-A, described by Mazza et al. in 2016, teaches DBT skills of emotional regulation, mindfulness, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness to sixth through twelfth graders. It comprises a 30-week program that intensively teaches the skills to individual adolescents. It does not involve family or community.
The second in-school DBT skills program is described by Harvey et al. in 2023, in the DBT-WISE study. The average age of students is 13. The format is an eight-week DBT skills program with a home and parental component. The control group for the study is routine health and physical education classes. No DBT skills are taught in the control group.
At six-month follow-up, teens in the DBT-WISE study showed poorer outcomes and worse parent-child relationships than teens in the control group who did not receive DBT skills instruction. More than 10% of control-group teens had improved emotional regulation. Fewer than 5% of teens in the DBT-WISE group showed any improvement in emotional regulation. Awareness of one’s emotions and overall life quality were worse for the DBT-WISE teenagers. More depression and anxiety showed up in the DBT-WISE teens.
The authors learned that most of the families in the DBT-WISE group did not do the home practice part of the program. Those families that did participate had better outcomes. Perhaps families who discovered they needed the home component did it.
What was taking place? Something about providing DBT-WISE in schools impeded emotional growth. What might have accounted for this?
Ultimately, Harvey et al. concluded that perhaps a more intensive and longer delivery time might help the DBT-WISE program. More parental involvement may also help.
More teen engagement is needed, as can be seen with the DBT STEPS-A program of 30 individual teaching sessions versus eight sessions for the DBT-WISE program. It seems teens need to be sufficiently engaged in the instruction that they “get it” and do not become confused by too minimal instruction.
The hunt is on for ways to streamline teaching and delivery of DBT skills training in school settings without doing harm or sacrificing goals. The DBT-STEPS-A program has found a way to do this.
References
Ashkanasi, N, Humphrey, RH, Current emotion research in organizational behavior, Sage Journals, vol 3, issue 2, 6 April 2011.
Chapman, AL (2006), Dialectical behavior therapy: Current indications and unique elements, Psychiatry; 3(9): 62-68.
Dozois DJA et al .(2009). Changes in self-schema structure in cognitive therapy for major depressive disorder: a randomized clinical trial, J Consult Clin Psychol, 77(6):1078-88.
Durlak JA et al. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions, Child Development, vol. 82, Issue 1; 405-432.
Harvey, LJ, et al. (2023). Investigating the efficacy of a dialectical behavior therapy-based universal intervention on adolescent social and emotional well-being outcomes, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 169, 104408.
Peterson, LD (2015). Dialectical philosophy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Contemporary Guide for Practitioners, John Wiley & Sons.
Sawyer, SM, et al. (2012). Adolescence: a foundation for future health. Lancet, 379:16-40.
Mazza, JJ et al. (2016). DBT skills in schools: Skills training for emotional problem-solving for adolescents (DBT STEPS-A) New York, Guilford Press.
