Abstract

Many childhood and adolescent behavioral and emotional disorders have developmental precursors and manifest a continuum of symptoms along different pathways. The multifinality of childhood disorders indicates that early intervention is particularly more important in curtailing the onset of various symptoms for children who are at risk. Given the characteristics of childhood behavioral and emotional disorder and considering the context of the Korean children and adolescent mental health needs, this study reviewed empirically proven school-based prevention programs for childhood emotional and behavioral problems in the US. Characteristics of effective school based programs on the primary, secondary, and tertiary level were identified. Direct teaching of problem-solving skills and content specific knowledge using concrete and interactive behavioral methods were common across all levels of intervention. Individual treatment and multisystemic components including parents, teachers and peers were added with increase in the severity of problems. Specificity of the targeted behavior, developmentally appropriate timing of the intervention, as well as duration of treatment and extent of follow up were important ingredients of effective prevention program. It was concluded that a better use of the existing school-based mental health resources can be achieved through universal, primary prevention programs school-wide and secondary prevention programs targeted at children at risk. Future inquiry should evaluate ways to modify these proven programs to improve the current state of the school based mental health services for Korean children and adolescents with behavior and emotional problems.