Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

The Adventures of Fundi Intervention Based on the Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Patients
Published on: June 12, 2020
A cluster randomized controlled trial of child-focused psychiatric consultation and a school systems-focused
Peter Fonagy1, Stuart W Twemlow, Eric M Vernberg
1Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK. p.fonagy@ucl.ac.uk
Background:
While school-based anti-bullying programs are widely used, there have been few controlled trials of effectiveness. This study compared the effect of manualized School Psychiatric Consultation (SPC), CAPSLE (a systems and mentalization focused whole school intervention), and treatment-as-usual (TAU) in reducing aggression and victimization among elementary school children.
Method:
Participants were 1,345 third to fifth graders in nine elementary schools in a medium-sized Midwestern city who took part in a cluster-level randomized controlled trial with stratified restricted allocation, to assess efficacy after two years of active intervention and effectiveness after one year of minimal input maintenance intervention. Outcome measures included peer and self-reports of bullying, bystanding, and mentalizing behavior and classroom behavioral observations of disruptive and off-task behavior.
Results:
CAPSLE moderated the developmental trend of increasing peer-reported victimization (p < .01), aggression (p < .05), self-reported aggression (p < .05) and aggressive bystanding (p < .05), compared to TAU schools. CAPSLE also moderated a decline in empathy and an increase in the percent of children victimized compared to SPC (p < .01) and TAU conditions (p < .01). Results for self-reported victimization, helpful bystanding, and beliefs in the legitimacy of aggression did not suggest significantly different changes among the study conditions over time. CAPSLE produced a significant decrease in off-task (p < .001) and disruptive classroom behaviors (p < .01), while behavioral change was not observed in SPC and TAU schools. Superiority with respect to TAU for victimization (p < .05), aggression (p < .01), and helpful (p < .05) and aggressive bystanding (p < .01) were maintained in the follow-up year.
Conclusions:
A teacher-implemented school-wide intervention that does not focus on disturbed children substantially reduced aggression and improved classroom behavior.
Related Concept Videos
Community Based Intervention
Foundations of Community Mental Health Programs
Central to the success of community-based interventions is the...
Operant Conditioning Intervention
In operant conditioning, behaviors that are...
Treatment Strategies for Psychological Disorders
Psychological therapies focus on modifying emotions, thoughts, and behaviors through talking, interpreting, listening, rewarding, challenging, and modeling. Clinical psychologists, counselors, and social workers commonly practice psychotherapy. Clinical...
Conduct Disorder
Group Design
Behavior Modification
A real-world application of operant conditioning principles is applied...