We conducted wide search focusing on previous systematic reviews concerning this topic. We knew there were several reviews on SEL for school-aged children, but our focus was on preschool. We also focused on universal interventions. That is, interventions for all children, typically in a group setting and embedded with usual preschool activities. In contrast to special education or individualized settings. We also wanted to limit our search for studies that used a control group. This was to make sure that the effects of a SEL-intervention were compared to the effects of not receiving that same intervention.
We sifted through almost 5000 articles and finally ended up with two systematic reviews that focused exclusively on universal SEL-interventions in preschool. Unfortunately, we found considerable limitations. A major issue was the heterogeneity in the field, i.e., differences in what was considered SEL and how it was studied. Although SEL can mean different things for different people, synthesizing effects of interventions calls for precision. We can’t say that universal SEL-interventions in preschool are generally effective, because they are too varied to be summarized like that. The interventions can be very different, their targeted groups can vary, the studies and outcomes they used to demonstrate effectiveness can also differ considerably. In short, SEL is a broad term, and some situations, in both research and practice, calls for precision.
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