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Summary of Social Skill Training Research

This literature review is currently being conducted to examine the efficacy of social skill training. A data analytic strategy has been adopted to segregate those studies that implemented group designs from those that utilized single case designs and to evaluate the effect sizes associated with each design. In this particular assessment, social skills training was not required to be implemented in isolation, but rather, could be a component of a larger intervention system (i.e, incorporating parent training). Previous reviews of SST have reported that SST procedures abound and typically are not adequately detailed to discern the actual elements of the intervention and its associated effectiveness (Gresham, 1986; Mathur & Rutherford, 1996). As a result, a major undertaking of this review is to assess the overall efficacy of SST and then to further disaggregate the overall effect to determine which features of studies are likely to lead to differential effects.


Inclusion selection criteria used to determine studies eligibility status for this meta-analysis consisted of the following criteria: (1) first and foremost, it was required that the study’s primary purpose needed to focus on the implementation of a SST on a referred population of students with or at-risk for emotional and behavior disorders and to assess the associated effects of the treatment; (2) the study must include school age students (preschool to high school); (3) the outcomes measuring the efficacy of the SST had to permit the calculation of effect size estimates. Studies are excluded from this research if they included a population with autism or mental retardation as their primary diagnosis.

The current review of SST research will be organized according to five domains- total problem behaviors, externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, prosocial behaviors and academic behavior. Thus far, a total of 10 group design and 6 single case design studies have been accumulated. The students from the studies have ranged from kindergarten to high school. Preliminary findings from this investigation have revealed substantially higher effect sizes for the efficacy of social skills training than what was reported by Quinn and colleagues (1999) in an earlier meta-analysis on SST. Factors such as intensity, duration, and setting are currently being examined in relation to the effects reported by included studies.