An Investigation of the Treatment of Adolescent Social Difficulty in a Community-based Setting

Abstract

This study reports an evaluation of the effectiveness of a communitybased treatment for adolescents with social difficulties. In an earlier study (Jackson and Marzillier, 1982) we described how a therapeutic youth club was set up and subjected to preliminary evaluation. In this study we report on findings from a controlled evaluation in which adolescents with social difficulty were randomly assigned to two conditions, the therapeutic youth club and a waiting list control condition. Change was assessed on a range of measures including self report measures of social problems, a conversation test, social diaries, a self-esteem inventory and parent questionnaires. While the youth club proved to be a success in practical terms, the results of this study failed to demonstrate its superiority to waiting list control procedures. The results suggest that further evaluation of this type of delivery of therapeutic services is necessary.