Pulham, R., Fox, S., & Glorney, E. (2022)

Existing research highlights the causes and consequences of young people who have educational difficulties, either in not attending school or being at risk of school exclusion. Much research has made attempts to explore effective interventions in increasing school engagement, with some evidentiary support but limited empirically supported interventions. Multisystemic therapy (MST) is an evidence-based family and community intervention, that has three ultimate outcomes: a young person living at home, having no new criminal charges and being in education, employment, or training. This study aimed to explore how MST addresses educational concerns from the perspective of multiple stakeholders. A qualitative design using a constructivist version of Grounded Theory was used. Theoretical sampling was conducted to recruit 14 participants (caregivers, educationalists and MST professionals). Data was collected using semi-structured interviews across three MST sites in England. Six categories and 13 subcategories emerged including: understanding the factors contributing to the educational problem; building and aligning the system; working on the home relationships; flexibility of the MST model; increasing responsibility; and the legacy of MST. Analysis supported model fidelity with mapping onto theoretical underpinnings of MST and alignment with over half of the MST principles. Analysis emphasised a number of novel findings inclusive of the MST process of deconstructing blame, the parallel process of working with the home environment and building and aligning the system, and with aspects of the legacy of MST.