THE CONCEPTUAL ELEMENTS OF STRONG INTERVENTIONS IN SCHOOL SETTINGS

A conceptual model of strong school-based interventions is presented. Strong interventions are ecological in nature, naturalistic in scope, contain elements from the research base that are predictive for succes s, and incorporate the constructs of social validity in a practical ma nner. The latter concept relates to the ideas of treatment acceptabili ty and socially important outcomes, and is important for insuring trea tment integrity. While there exists a robust research data base for ef fective school interventions, generalization to regular school setting s without the overriding influence of researcher/consultant is difficu lt. Thus, all of these concepts must be practically utilized if strong interventions are to be applied to school problems. Suggestions and i mplications for school psychology practitioners are discussed.