ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1613712
This article is part of the Research TopicAddressing emotionally based school avoidance: causes, consequences, and interventionsView all 5 articles
School-Based Support for Emotion-Related Attendance Challenges: Effectiveness -of @School when Implemented with Neurodiverse Adolescents, Their Parents, and School Staff
Provisionally accepted
- 1Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
- 2De Berkenschutse, Heeze, Netherlands
- 3University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
- 4Youz, Parnassia Group Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, Netherlands
- 5Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
- 6Excellence in Attendance Support, Haarlem, Netherlands
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Emotion-related school attendance challenges (ER-SAC) among neurodiverse adolescents are a growing concern due to their impact on both academic and social-emotional development. Despite the prevalence of ER-SAC, few school-based interventions specifically addressing this challenge have been evaluated in real-world settings. The current effectiveness study examined outcomes of the @School intervention, a modular, developmentally sensitive cognitive behavioral intervention that had previously only been evaluated in a research context. In this study, it was delivered by schoolbased psychologists in a specialized educational setting. Nineteen neurodiverse adolescents aged 12-17 years, all experiencing ER-SAC, participated in the study along with their parents. @School comprises individualized modules for adolescents and parents, as well as structured collaboration with school staff. Outcomes were assessed at pre-, post-, and five-month follow-up, and included adolescents' school attendance, anxiety, school-related fear, depression, and self-efficacy, together with parent self-efficacy. Results revealed significant improvements in school attendance, adolescent anxiety (reported by both adolescents and parents), adolescent depression (reported by parents), and school-related fear. No significant changes were observed in adolescent or parent self-efficacy. Posthoc analyses indicated significant reductions in social anxiety symptoms, although these reductions did not predict school attendance outcomes. Findings support the effectiveness of the @School intervention, delivered in a real-world setting, for improving school attendance and reducing emotional distress among neurodiverse adolescents. The results also highlight the value of schoolbased interventions that integrate support across multiple levels -addressing the needs of adolescents, their parents, and the school environment -to respond to the complex emotional and contextual factors contributing to ER-SAC.School attendance challenges problems (SACCPs) are a significant and growing concern rising challenge worldwide. They are particularly prevalent among neurodiverse adolescents (Adams,
Keywords: Emotion-related school attendance challenges, school refusal, neurodiversity, School-based intervention, cognitive behavioral therapy, School attendance, Anxiety, Depression
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Karel, Defourny, Keppens, Graczyk, Sauter and Heyne. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Evelyne Karel, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
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