Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Representation in School Psychology Intervention Research

Abstract

An understanding of the current intervention research is critical to the adoption of evidence-based practices in the delivery of psychological services; however, the generalizability and utility of intervention research for culturally and linguistically diverse youth may be limited by the types of research samples utilized. This study addresses this topic, as it represents a content analysis of research published in school psychology journals from 2005 to 2012. A search of articles from School Psychology Review, School Psychology Quarterly, Journal of School Psychology, Psychology in the Schools, and Journal of Applied School Psychology yielded 1,543 articles, of which 170 were intervention research articles that included children-from early childhood through high school-as target samples. Analyses of these articles focused on the representation of the diversity (e.g., racial/ ethnic group membership, socioeconomic status, and English language learner status) in the intervention samples. Moreover, studies were coded to determine whether comparisons were made across students of different group statuses within the different categories of diversity. Overall results suggest low representation of some diverse groups, as well as minimal comparisons between students of different diversity groups. Implications for practice, research, and training are discussed.

Editorial boards of 45 journals devoted to school and educational psychology: International characteristics and publication patterns

“…methods, theories, or analyses used), including but not limited to scholarship influenced by geographic diversity. Considering the lack of participant diversity represented in many school psychology journals (Villarreal, 2014) as well as the previously described associations between the geographic affiliation of authors and participants (e.g. Begeny et al., 2018b), more research is needed to address underrepresentation.…”

Treatment acceptability of interventions published in six school psychology journals

“…Intervention research articles (i.e. articles that included an independent variable and associated outcome data) with preschool through grade 12 samples were classified as: (a) case studies; (b) experimental/quasi-experimental studies; or (c) single-case studies; see Villarreal and colleagues (2013) for a more thorough discussion of this initial stage of coding.…”

Characteristics of Intervention Research in School Psychology Journals: 2010-2014

“…Periodic journal content analyses serve to illustrate trends and the development of the field, as these analyses provide insight into the types of research questions, design, methodology, and topics receiving the most attention at various time points. In school psychology, researchers have conducted content analyses to examine (a) the types of articles published in school psychology journals (e.g., Bliss, Skinner, Hautau, & Carroll, ; Villarreal, Gonzalez, McCormick, Simek, & Yoon, ), (b) methods and methodological rigor of intervention research (Burns, Klingbeil, Ysseldyke, & Petersen‐Brown, ; Powell, Mihalas, Onwuegbuzie, Suldo, & Daley, ), (c) the most cited articles in the school psychology literature (Price, Floyd, Fagan, & Smithson, ), (d) the theoretical base of school psychology intervention research (Mercer, Idler, & Bartfai, ), (e) the representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in school psychology intervention research (Villarreal, ), and (f) research productivity and scholarly impact of school psychology faculty and training programs (e.g., Carper & Williams, ; Carroll, Skinner, McCleary, von Mizener, & Bliss, ; Kranzler, Grapin, & Daley, ; Laurent & Runia, ).…”