Educational resilience : a systematic review of positive psychology interventions in middle childhood

Abstract

Problem statement - Positive mental health has become increasingly significant, as mental illness became the leading cause of disability around the world. This necessitates earlier pro-active interventions to promote positive mental health and minimize the possibility of mental disease. Building the necessary psychosocial, emotional and resilience skills especially during middle childhood has proven to significantly reduce depression and increase psychosocial wellbeing (Reivich, Gillham, Chaplin & Seligman, 2013). A gap was identified in the literature. The researchers could not find a single source combining conclusions from various studies across multiple disciplines, explicitly focusing on positive psychology interventions (PPIs) that contribute to educational resilience (ER) in middle childhood. Study aim - This study aimed to explore and identify literature findings of existing PPIs that contribute to fostering ER in middle childhood. Additionally, the findings were evaluated against the backdrop of Kümpfer’s (1999) resilience model, revised by Hassim (2016), and discussed against the organismic integration theory (OIT), a sub-theory of the self-determination theory (SDT) (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Study design and method - The researchers made use of the Setting, Perspective, Intervention, Comparison, and Evaluation (SPICE) acronym to define the inclusion and exclusion criteria of electronic sources, throughout the review process. The preliminary selection yielded 803 sources. After eliminating two duplicates, a further 641 sources were excluded based on titles and abstracts, containing age ranges outside of middle childhood, and clinical aspects defined in the exclusion criteria. Furthermore, 148 articles were excluded for containing both the aforesaid

inclusion - and exclusion criteria with inseparable data, and focusing on positive psychology (PP) scales validity and reliability unrelated to this study’s objectives. The researchers critically appraised 12 eligible sources for possible biases and excluded two. One study purposefully selected participants exhibiting predetermined characteristics, while the other study did not contain pre- and post-intervention measurements. Data from the 10 remaining studies included in this systematic review were extracted into data tables. Thematic synthesis was applied to identify prominent themes stemming from the data. Results and discussion - Results from this systematic review (SR) indicated that PPIs constructively contribute to the development of ER constituents in middle childhood. Prolonged exposure to such interventions has furthermore lead to sustainable enhancements of a learner’s internal protective resilience repertoire. Learners need exposure to adversities in a supportive, positive environment, wherein they can fundamentally develop positive and constructive self-regulation and cognitive, emotional, social and behavioral skills. Partaking in PPIs containing amongst other gratitude, mindfulness, critical and innovative thinking, and social and emotional learning enhancement aspects, demonstrated significant enhancement on ER cultivation in middle childhood. The internal protective areas displaying the most prominent enhancement through PPI participation was the emotional, cognitive and behavioral domains, followed by motivation. A confident link exists between middle childhood motivational developmental aspects and the OIT – when a learner’s ability and need for autonomous, self-regulated behavior increases, providing an excellent opportunity to cultivate internal motivation. Conclusion and recommendations - Middle childhood learners undergo remarkable developmental strides in the complex development of meta-cognition in the association of continuous integration and regulation of internal and external stimuli, signifying an ideal opportunity to foster positive ER repertoires

in learners. ER increases in accordance with learners’ ability to effectively influence and manage their environment, implying that PPIs contribute to equipping learners with fundamental ER skills. This SR accentuates the need to study ER development in middle childhood in tandem with additional developmental aspects to encompassing a holistic approach.