Joseph A. Durlak

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Joseph A. Durlak is Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at Loyola University Chicago , where he also received his B.Sc. acquired. He received his doctorate in 1972 from Vanderbilt University and researches mainly on the prevention of mental disorders in adolescents.

Focus of work

Durlak takes a cognitive-behavioral perspective. His work focuses on social and emotional learning and community psychology, especially prevention and support programs to promote the social, emotional and health development of children and adolescents. He became known u. a. through his research on the effectiveness of lay help with mental health problems.

Methodically, he works primarily with meta-studies , for which he has compiled an extensive database. On the basis of such a study, Durlak published an article in the Psychological Bulletin in 1979 in which he carried out 42 empirical studies with regard to the efficiency of professional and paraprofessional (i.e. not academically qualified, but sufficiently competent) helpers e.g. B. in the prevention of suicides or the support of people with acute psychological problems. His conclusions struck him as “provocative”: the paraprofessionals achieved better clinical results than the professionals; So professional education and formal training did not seem to be a prerequisite for effective help. Although the study was fiercely attacked by experts because of methodological problems, the results were later frequently confirmed. Professionals show less patience and empathy in advising people at risk of suicide by phone than paraprofessionals or even laypeople. At least the services are equally efficient, and those of the professional institutions are even better if no highly specialized training is required.

In another large meta-study ( The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning , 2011) Durlak and colleagues pointed out the effectiveness of highly structured school and university programs ( Sequenced training, Active learning, Focused on skill developemtn, Explicit goals - SAFE ) as support the social and emotional skills of the students, which also serve to reduce stress and aggression.

Publications

  • Durlak, JA, Successful Prevention Programs for Children and Adolescents , 1997, ISBN 0306456451 .
  • Durlak, JA, et al., The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, Special Issue: Raising Healthy Children, 82 (2011), 1, pp. 405-432.
  • Ewell Foster, CJ, Garber, J., & Durlak, JA, Current and past maternal depression, maternal interaction behaviors, and children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36 (2008), pp. 527-537.
  • Durlak, JA, & Dupre, EP, Implementation matters: A review of research on the influence of implementation on progam outcomes and the factors affecting the implementation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41 (2008), pp. 327-350.
  • Durlak, YES, Prevention. In: T. Gutkin & C. Reynolds (Eds.), Handbook of school psychology (4th ed.), Pp. 2377-2418. New York: Wiley 2008.
  • Durlak, JA, Taylor, RD, Kawashima, K., Pachan, MP, DuPre, EP, Celio, CI, Berger, SR, Dymnicki, AB, & Weissberg, RP, Effects of positive youth development programs on school, family, and community systems. American Journal of Community Psychology, 40 (2007), 269-286.
  • Durlak, JA, Domitrovich, CE, Weissberg, RP, Gullotta, TP (eds.): Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning. Research and Practice. Guilford Press 2015.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JA Durlak: Comparative effectiveness of paraprofessional and professional helpers. In: Psychological Bulletin, 86 (1979), pp. 80-92.
  2. ^ For example, through another secondary study by MT Nietzel and DG Fisher: Effectiveness of professional and paraprofessional helpers: A comment on Durlak. Psychological Bulletin, 89, pp. 555-565 (1981).
  3. ↑ Brian L. Mishara, Marc Daigle, Cécile Bardon u. a .: Comparison of the Effects of Telephone Suicide Prevention Help by Volunteers and Professional Paid Staff: Results from Studies in the USA and Quebec, Canada. In: Suicide Life Threat Behav. 46 (2016), pp. 577-587.


personal data
SURNAME Durlak, Joseph A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1945