The Campbell Collaboration is a nonprofit organization that promotes evidence-based policymaking through the production of systematic reviews, summaries and syntheses of policy-relevant evidence. Each post in this series includes excerpts from the Campbell Collaboration’s “Plain Language Summaries” in the subject areas of crime & justice, education, and social welfare.

Self-management interventions for reducing challenging behaviors among school-age students  Authors: Tyler E. Smith, Aaron M. Thompson, Brandy R. Maynard. Published March 7, 2022.  Subject Area: Education 

This review summarizes and analyzes evidence from “75 single-case design studies and four group-design studies … [and] provides support for the use of school-based self-management interventions – including self-assessment, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation practices – for children with challenging behaviors.”

“School-based self-management interventions targeting students with challenging behaviors on average have positive effects across behavioral (i.e., prosocial, on-task, disruptive, following directions) and academic outcomes (i.e., achievement, work completion). Results were found to be most impactful for African-American students, and students receiving special education services.”

Full report available at: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/better-evidence/self-management-interventions-school-student-behaviour.html

Interventions designed to improve financial capability Authors: Julie Birkenmaier, Brandy Maynard, Youngmi Kim. Published March 15, 2022. Subject Area: Social Welfare

This systematic review of 48 reports “assesses the state of research on interventions that combined financial education and a mainstream financial product or service”…[It examines the effect of interventions on] financial behaviours and financial intervention outcomes…Behaviour changes included bank or retirement account opening, asset purchase, savings rate, budgeting and retirement savings rate. Financial outcomes included savings amount, credit score, debt amount, asset value and retirement savings amount.” 

“Financial capability, or the ability to use knowledge to demonstrate desirable behaviours toward financial well-being, requires knowledge, access and ability to use a financial product or service… [The authors found] …no clear evidence that financial capability interventions, which include financial education linked to a mainstream financial product or service, improve financial behaviours or financial outcomes.”

Full report available at: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/better-evidence/improving-financial-capability-financial-behaviour-financial-access.html

Police stops to reduce crime: A systematic review and meta-analysis Authors: Kevin Petersen, David Weisburd, Sydney Fay, Elizabeth Eggins, Lorraine Mazerolle. Published January 10, 2023. Subject Area: Crime and Justice 

This systematic review examines the “effects of police-initiated pedestrian stops on both place-based and person-based outcomes. It synthesizes results from 40 studies across six outcome groupings. Studies were predominately conducted in the USA.” 

The authors conclude that “policing efforts focused on high-volume pedestrian stops are likely to reduce crime but may do so at the cost of negative health outcomes, negative attitudes toward the police, and higher levels of delinquency for individuals subject to the intervention. Given the net-widening effects of pedestrian stops (i.e., low proportions of stops lead to arrests or weapon seizures), these interventions may produce more harm than good. Police agencies should carefully weigh the potential benefits and harms associated with these interventions.” 

Full report available at: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/better-evidence/police-stops-to-reduce-crime-a-systematic-review-and-meta-analysis.html