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Helping Families of Youth with School Attendance Problems: A Practical Guide for Mental Health and School-Based Professionals
Abstract
This book is a highly practical guide to efficiently address cases of youth with school attendance problems at different levels of severity and complexity. School attendance problems are a pervasive and difficult dilemma faced by many types of mental health professionals (e.g., psychologists, psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists), school officials (e.g., administrators, guidance counselors, school-based social workers, school psychologists), and others (e.g., pediatricians, probation officers). School attendance problems, even in mild forms, are a significant risk factor for social, behavioral, and academic problems in middle childhood and adolescence as well as psychiatric, economic, and occupational difficulties in adulthood. This book takes a “nuts and bolts” approach that provides very specific and detailed recommendations and guidelines for assessment and intervention across a short period of time (e.g., four weeks). The book focuses less on descriptions of overall programs for absenteeism and more on specific procedures for many different types of cases. Many mental health and school-based professionals cannot logistically implement large-scale programs or even detailed manualized treatment protocols for their clients and schools. Thus, this book is meant to be a very practical guide to address school absenteeism at a relatively fast pace, and within the constraints of most private practices and school settings, while relying on empirically supported techniques. The book also considers developmental levels, with some chapters more applicable to elementary school children and others more suited to middle and high school adolescents.
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In the citing paper
“This lengthy period of study has led to a plethora of terms and approaches to describe this population, which has led simultaneously to a rich literature base but also to considerable splintering across disciplines and thus a lack of consensus with respect to defining, conceptualizing, classifying, assessing, and addressing SA/A”
From Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1) (2019) · cites this paper as Kearney, 2019
In the citing paper
“Some parents are also skilled at securing medical notes or other methods to induce schools to record absences as excused in nature”
From Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1) (2019) · cites this paper as Kearney, 2019
In the citing paper
“Still, researchers commonly examine school attendance problems other than full absenteeism, clinicians and others must initially grapple with the exterior complexity of this population, and the spectrum can be a useful heuristic for understanding the full scope of school attendance and its problems across jurisdictions (Keppens and Spruyt, 2017; Kearney, 2019; Wegmann and Smith, 2019).”
From Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1) (2019) · cites this paper as Kearney, 2019
In the citing paper
“The spectrum allows for peri-attendance phenomena that are often fluid and change for a particular child over a certain time period (Chu et al., 2019; Kearney, 2019; Knollmann et al., 2019).”
From Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1) (2019) · cites this paper as Kearney, 2019
In the citing paper
“The essential aspects of each are similar for this population: Tier 1 approaches focus on enhancing functioning and school-wide attendance and on preventing absenteeism for all students, Tier 2 approaches focus on addressing students with emerging, acute, or mild to moderate school absenteeism, and Tier 3 approaches focus on addressing students with chronic and severe school absenteeism (Kearney,”
From Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1) (2019) · cites this paper as Kearney, 2019
In the citing paper
“A profile of the relative strength of each functional condition is generally recommended during case analysis (Kearney, 2019).”
From Reconciling Contemporary Approaches to School Attendance and School Absenteeism: Toward Promotion and Nimble Response, Global Policy Review and Implementation, and Future Adaptability (Part 1) (2019) · cites this paper as Kearney, 2019
Citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kearney, C. A., & Graczyk, P. A. (2020) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-020-00317-1 · Cited by 157
Self-citationKearney, C. A., Gonzálvez, C., Graczyk, P. A., & Fornander, M. J. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02222 · Cited by 130
“…terms and approaches to describe this population, which has led simultaneously to a rich literature base but also to considerable splintering across disciplines and thus a lack of consensus with respect to defining, conceptualizing, classifying, assessing, and addressing SA/A (Kearney, 2016, 2019).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationKearney, C. A., Dupont, R., Fensken, M., & Gonzálvez, C. (2023) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2023.1253595 · Cited by 71
“…often in conjunction with such disruption, school absenteeism is related to problematic parenting behaviors such as inaction, ineffective response strategies, overprotectiveness, vague commands, aggression, and reinforcement of attention-seeking behavior (Kearney, 2019; Chockalingam et al., 2022).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationKearney, C. A. (2021) · Child & Youth Care Forum · doi:10.1007/s10566-020-09591-0 · Cited by 51
“ior or personality, abrupt decline in quality of academic performance, and elevated test anxiety (Gresham et al. 2013; Kearney 2019).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationA multi-tiered systems of support blueprint for re-opening schools following COVID-19 shutdown
Kearney, C. A., & Childs, J. (2021) · Children and Youth Services Review · doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105919 · Cited by 53
“In all cases, transportation to school should be reliable, safe, and wellunderstood in advance by all parties (Kearney, 2019).”
BackgroundSelf-citationKearney, C. A., Gonzálvez, C., Graczyk, P. A., & Fornander, M. J. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02605 · Cited by 60
“In addition, many clinical procedures to address school absenteeism at Tier 2 can be adaptively administered by school-based social workers, psychologists, and counselors (Kearney, 2018, 2019).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationKearney, C. A., & Gonzálvez, C. (2022) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2022.977672 · Cited by 54
“In addition, Kearney and colleagues have developed functional-based clinical profiles of school attendance problems based on the relative strength of maintaining factors related to negative and positive reinforcement (e.g., Kearney, 2007, 2019).”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationFornander, M. J., & Kearney, C. A. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03079 · Cited by 44
“Other variables such as family or school environment may thus be better predictors of absenteeism severity (Fornander and Kearney, 2019).”
BackgroundSelf-citationFornander, M. J., & Kearney, C. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02381 · Cited by 34
“As with expressiveness, some families may display increased conflict at a point of urgency when trying to resolve a school attendance problem but later become frustrated and disengaged from the process (Kearney, 2019).”
BackgroundSelf-citationKearney, C. A., & Childs, J. (2022) · Preventing School Failure Alternative Education for Children and Youth · doi:10.1080/1045988x.2022.2124222 · Cited by 45
“…neglects the many multifaceted and dimensional aspects of school absenteeism along a continuum that include tardiness, skipped classes, partial attendance, early departures, morning misbehaviors designed to miss school, school-based distress, and other school attendance problems (Kearney, 2019).”
BackgroundSelf-citationGonzálvez, C., Díaz-Herrero, Á., Sanmartín, R., Vicent, M., Fernández‐Sogorb, A., & García-Fernández, J. M. (2020) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.598915 · Cited by 29
School Refusal Behaviour Profiles and Academic Self-Attributions in Language and Literature
Gonzálvez, C., Giménez-Miralles, M., Vicent, M., Sanmartín, R., Sebastián, M. J. Q., & García-Fernández, J. M. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13137512 · Cited by 20
“In each situation, however, their relative strength differs [7].”
BackgroundLissack, K., & Boyle, C. (2022) · Review of Education · doi:10.1002/rev3.3372 · Cited by 19
Klan, A., Whitley, J., Krause, A., McBrearty, N., Rogers, M. A., & Smith, J. D. (2024) · Educational and Child Psychology · doi:10.53841/bpsecp.2024.41.1.73 · Cited by 8
Fernández‐Sogorb, A., Gonzálvez, C., & Juste, M. R. P. (2023) · Revista de Psicodidáctica · doi:10.1016/j.psicod.2022.11.001 · Cited by 7
Kearney, C. A., Blanco, A. M., & Dugan, R. B. (2025) · The Family Journal · doi:10.1177/10664807251360787 · Cited by 8
“This scale has been used in numerous studies to investigate family patterns speci fi c to SAPs, including the dynamics summarized earlier (e.g., Fornander & Kearney, 2019).”
InfluentialSelf-citationAqeel, M., & Rehna, T. (2020) · International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare · doi:10.1108/ijhrh-06-2020-0041 · Cited by 13
School Attendance Problems in Scotland and Spain: Variations in Recording, Reporting, and Using Data
Giménez-Miralles, M., Gonzálvez, C., Klein, M., et al. (2023) · ORBIS SCHOLAE · doi:10.14712/23363177.2023.11 · Cited by 3
School attendance and absenteeism: Towards next‐generation common measurement
Kearney, C. A., Benoit, L., Gonzálvez, C., Heyne, D. A., Melvin, G. A., O’Toole, C., Gentle-Genitty, C. S., & Keppens, G. (2026) · Review of Education · doi:10.1002/rev3.70146 · Cited by 3
Self-citationMental Health and Discipline in California Community Schools
Phillips, D. (2020)
Familiäre Dynamiken und Herausforderungen bei Schulabsentismus: Perspektiven aus der Sozialen Arbeit
Rau, M. (2026) · Absentismus und Dropout · doi:10.1007/978-3-658-51711-3_9
Fernández‐Sogorb, A., Pérez‐Marco, M., Gonzálvez, C., & Kearney, C. A. (2026) · Child & Youth Care Forum · doi:10.1007/s10566-026-09972-x
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Kearney, C. A.
- Corresponding author
- Kearney, Christopher A.
- Venue
- Oxford University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Published
- 2019-06
- OpenAlex
- W2955797535
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 6.05
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Oxford University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Youth Substance Use and School Attendance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Keywords
- school absenteeism, school attendance problems, family intervention, school-based mental health services, middle childhood, adolescence, school social work, school psychologists
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