Academic stress program

Implementation evaluation of a universal cognitive-behavioural academic stress program in Australian high schools

Project Members - Macquarie University

Viviana Wuthrich – Professor, Psychology viviana.wuthrich@mq.edu.au

Louise Ellis - Research Fellow louise.ellis@mq.edu

Jessica Belcher – Postdoctoral Research Fellow jessica.belcher@mq.edu.au

Tess Jagiello – Research Assistant tess.jagiello@mq.edu.au

Darby Salter – Postgraduate student darby.salter@students.mq.edu.au

Project contacts

Viviana Wuthrich

Louise Ellis

Jessica Belcher

Project Description

This program of work aims to evaluate the universal delivery of a cognitive-behavioural therapy program for managing academic stress using implementation science frameworks in high school students.

Background

The Study Without Stress (SWOS) program uses CBT strategies to explicitly target the maintaining factors of academic stress through psychoeducation, goal-setting, thought challenging, timetabling, behavioural strategies, relaxation, and exam preparation skills. The SWOS program is designed to help students in the later years of high school manage the stresses associated with high-stakes testing and increased workload, ideally before stress reaches a severe level. The effectiveness of the SWOS program has recently been established in randomised controlled trials. Implementation difficulties in school programs are not uncommon and effect sizes tend to be smaller when led by teachers relative to mental-health professionals, suggesting that more attention is needed towards improving implementation by schools. Before the SWOS program can be rolled out across Australian high schools as a universal program, therefore, it is important to undertake an implementation evaluation of the SWOS program.

Benefits

This program of work will evaluate the implementation success of a universal, cognitive-behavioural program for academic stress in high school students. With the results, SWOS will be refined to enhance its implementation success and re-evaluated as it is delivered in more diverse high schools across the state and country, potentially becoming a normal part of the schools’ curriculum.

Publications

Please refer back at a later time

Other publications of interest

Lowe, C., & Wuthrich, V.M., (in press, accepted 20^th November 2020). Randomised controlled trial of Study Without Stress: a cognitive behavioural therapy program to reduce stress in students in the final year of high school, Child Psychiatry & Human Development.

Wuthrich, V.M., Jagiello, T., & Azzi, V. (2020). Academic Stress in the Final Years of School: A systematic literature review, Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 51:986–1015. DOI: 10.1007/s10578-020-00981-y

Ellis, L., Wiles, L., Lingam, R., Arnolda, G., Hibbert, P., & Braithwaite, J. (2020). Children with anxiety and depression may be at greater risk due to gaps in care. Emerging Minds, June, 2020. https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/children-with-anxiety-and-depression-may-be-at-greater-risk-due-to-gaps-in-care/