Date of Award

8-2024

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

School

Psychology

Committee Chair

Dr. Emily DeFouw

Committee Chair School

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Dr. Crystal N. Taylor

Committee Member 2 School

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Dr. Zachary Labrot

Committee Member 3 School

Psychology

Abstract

Children from lower-income and diverse families are at a higher risk for social-emotional and academic difficulties. Implementation of early childhood interventions plays a crucial role in the healthy development of children’s social-emotional development. Merrell’s Strong Kids (Merrell et al., 2009), a commonly used SEL class-wide intervention, facilitates learning of the five core SEL components through weekly lessons and has been shown to have long-term improvements on children’s internalizing symptoms, social and emotional knowledge, student-teacher relationships, prosocial behaviors, and is well received by teachers. The current study examined the efficacy of Strong Kids implemented as a one-on-one intervention, rather than a class-wide or group intervention, for at-risk preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start programs. A single-case design was used, which included 3 children from a rural Head Start center in the southeast of the U.S. Additionally, systematic direct observations were used to measure behavior change. Results demonstrated that Strong Kids, implemented at the individual level, successfully increased children’s pro-social behaviors and decreased engagement in negative social behavior.

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