Process of change during social skills training with preadolescents and its relation to treatment outcome

Videotaped excerpts of treatment sessions from a recent intervention study were examined to explore the changes occurring during social skills training and their relation to treatment outcome. 27 unpopular preadolescents who showed few conversational skills during pretreatment observations engaged in cooperative activities with 2 socially accepted classmates for 10 half-hour sessions. Half of these triads received coaching in conversational skills, while the others received nonspecific adult support during these activities. The quality of social interactions among triad members was evaluated during the sixth and tenth sessions. Children who received social skills training displayed more conversational skills and received more positive peer support during treatment than children who did not receive coaching. Coached children increased skill performance over time while noncoached children did not change. Furthermore, both conversational skills displayed and positive peer responses received during treatment sessions were positively related to treatment outcome.