The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Practitioner Review: School Refusal: Issues of Conceptualisation, Assessment, and Treatment
Abstract
Developments in the assessment and treatment of school refusal have often been hampered by a failure to recognise its essentially heterogeneous nature. This paper provides a review of major conceptual complexities that have helped to undermine developments in clinical practice. In particular, it considers the distinction between school refusal and truancy, and school phobia and separation anxiety. Common approaches to the assessment and treatment of school refusal are outlined. Although behavioural and cognitive behavioural approaches are now widely accepted as central to treatment, it is increasingly recognised that individually tailored programmes, utilising a range of approaches, are most likely to prove successful. An approach focusing upon the functions, rather than the symptoms, of school refusal is advocated as having most promise for assessment and the subsequent formulation of individual prescriptive treatment.
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“The TR youth's preference for more appealing activities outside of school (Elliott, 1999;Havik et al., 2015a;Kearney, 2008c) may well stem from the lack of interest in schoolwork, which is likely associated with the educational difficulties frequently associated with TR.”
From Differentiation between school attendance problems: why and how? (2019) · cites this paper as Elliott, 1999
In the citing paper
“Defiance of school authority has been associated with TR (Elliott, 1999)”
From Differentiation between school attendance problems: why and how? (2019) · cites this paper as Elliott, 1999
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Items 101–120 of 120
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Herbert, M. (2006) · doi:10.1002/9780470713334.ch9
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Herbert, M. (2006) · doi:10.1002/9780470713334.refs
Bell, J., & Winkels, K. (2014) · Encyclopedia of Special Education · doi:10.1002/9781118660584.ese2180
Finberg, M. R. (2008) · Encyclopedia of Special Education · doi:10.1002/9780470373699.speced1853
Finberg, M. R. (2014) · Encyclopedia of Special Education · doi:10.1002/9781118660584.ese2138
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Parent Involvement in Weekly Outpatient Treatment
West, A. E., & Conn, B. M. (2024) · CBT: science into practice · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-74838-7_8
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Examination of school refusal in children with normal hearing and hearing loss
ŞAN, İ., Yağcıoğlu, A. A., & Soyler, D. (2025) · The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology · doi:10.1186/s43163-025-00794-7
An intervention for school refusal behavior : an evaluation of an alternative high school program
Teufel, K. A. (2018) · Scholars Archive - University at Albany (University at Albany, State University of New York) · doi:10.54014/krpr-0ebj
McGahan, J., Fraser, H., Campbell, A., Wright, N., Hearn, J. H., Braithwaite, E., Bowes, L., & Pearson, R. M. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-7129553/v1
YUSUF, N. A. (2025) · Federal University Gusau Faculty of Education Journal · doi:10.64348/zije.202572
Nelson, L. (2013) · UEL Research Repository (University of East London) · doi:10.15123/pub.4000
School-Based Play Therapy for Students With Separation Anxiety
Bowles, V. (2013) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-62396-306-420251017
Wang, Y., Yao, Z., Zhang, Q., Xiong, Y., Huang, X., & Qian, Y. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1859186
The application of prospect theory in reducing the school tardiness of university students
He, Y. (2026) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2026.1886212
School refusal behavior in children and adolescents: a concept analysis
Wang, L., Li, X., Li, X., Lei, M., Hong, L., & Xue, B. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1954084
“…school phobia, school refusal shifted the focus from a presumed fear-based disorder to the observable phenomenon of dif fi culty attending school, while still retaining core features such as emotional distress, parental awareness, and the relative absence of severe antisocial behavior (8, 11, 22).”
InfluentialMcGahan, J., Pearson, R. M., Fraser, H., Campbell, A., Hearn, J. H., Braithwaite, E. C., Bowes, L., Hill, J., Sharp, H., & Wright, N. (2026) · Archives of Women s Mental Health · doi:10.1007/s00737-026-01751-w
“Separation anxiety disorder is established as a strong predictor of school refusal, in both children and adolescents (Elliott., 1999 ; Tekin and Aydın 2022), to such an extent that earlier work used the term as a synonym for school attendance problems (e.g., school phobia/school refusal) (Hanna et…”
Identyfikacja podłoża odmowy uczęszczania do szkoły w opinii dzieci i ich rodziców
Dąbkowska, M. (2007) · Psychiatria i Psychologia Kliniczna
Metadata
- Authors
- Elliott, J. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Sunderland (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Elliott, Julian G.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1999-10
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1001-1012
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W2144495956
- Cited by
- 128
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 12.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Youth Substance Use and School Attendance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › School Health and Nursing Education
- Keywords
- school refusal, truancy, school anxiety, separation anxiety, conceptualization, assessment, treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy, behavioral approach, personalized treatment
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Anxiety Disorders, Behavior Therapy, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Phobic Disorders, Student Dropouts, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
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