Measuring Cortisol in the Classroom with School-Aged Children—A Systematic Review and Recommendations

Abstract

The collection of salivary cortisol has been chosen as one of the least intrusive, easiest to collect, analyze, and store methods of obtaining information on physiological changes. It is, however, not clear what the best practice is when collecting salivary cortisol from children within the school setting. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the feasibility of cortisol collection in schools for future research and to make recommendations for best practice. The review included 25 peer-reviewed articles from seven databases. The hypotheses of the included studies vary, but they all use cortisol as a diurnal, baseline, or acute measure, or to measure the effect of an intervention. Two methods of salivary cortisol collection were preferred by most of the research, i.e., passive drool or cotton Salivettes. The review has concluded that cortisol is a physiological marker that can be successfully measured in school-based research. However, there are discrepancies across studies when evaluating the collection guidelines, protocols, and instructions to participants as well as transparency of the success rate of obtaining all samples. Recommendations are made for future research to address and avoid such discrepancies and improve cross-study comparisons by implementing standard protocol guidelines.

The State of Animal-Assisted Interventions: Addressing the Contemporary Issues That Will Shape the Future

“…On the other hand, over the past fifteen years there has been strong interest in studying the value of including animals in educational settings [161]. Currently, several studies have been initiated investigating the impact of incorporating various species of animals in supporting the cognition, social competence and motor development of the children.…”

A Reflection on the Current Status of Animal-Assisted Therapy in India

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Reading Skills, Social Competence, and Physiological Stress in the First Grade

“…Using salivary cortisol as a stress indicator is an evolving practice in educational and developmental research. Similarly to health research, in the classroom context, higher cortisol levels are predominantly interpreted as a negative physiological implication (Dimolareva et al, 2018;Schonert-Reichl et al, 2015). Developmental studies have shown that higher cortisol levels are related to less effortful control (Blair et al, 2011) and more difficulties in behavioral selfregulation already at preschool age (Lisonbee et al, 2010).…”