ArticleTrials2020
Using qualitative research to explore intervention mechanisms: findings from the trial of the Learning Together whole-school health intervention.
Article in Trials, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Community mobilisation approaches to preventing adolescent multiple risk behaviour: a realist review.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- What factors influence implementation of whole-school interventions aiming to promote student commitment to school to prevent substance use and violence? Systematic review and synthesis of process evaluations.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- Locating and testing the healthy context paradox: examples from the INCLUSIVE trial.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Trial
- Effects of a Whole-School Health Intervention on Clustered Adolescent Health Risks: Latent Transition Analysis of Data from the INCLUSIVE Trial.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2022Trial
- Qualitative methods are epidemiologic methods: Revisiting the epidemiologist's toolbox.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- School-Based Interventions for Reducing Disciplinary School Exclusion. An Updated Systematic Review.Campbell systematic reviews · 2025Review
- Public health education using social learning theory: a systematic scoping review.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Optimising a co-production framework for developing public health interventions: application and testing of school-based Research Action Groups.Health research policy and systems · 2023Article
- Article
- Applying mixed methods to pilot feasibility studies to inform intervention trials.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2022Article
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThis study reports on qualitative research conducted within a randomised controlled trial to explore possible intervention mechanisms. It focuses on the 'Learning Together' whole-school intervention delivered in secondary schools in England from 2014 to 2017 aiming to prevent bullying and aggression and improve student health. Intervention schools received staff training in restorative practice, a social and emotional learning curriculum, and an external facilitator and manual to convene and run a student/staff action group tasked with coordinating the intervention, focusing this on local needs.
methodsInformed by realist approaches to evaluation, we analysed qualitative data to explore intervention mechanisms and how these might interact with school contexts to generate outcomes. Qualitative analysis drew on 45 interviews and 21 focus groups across three case-study schools and employed thematic content analysis to explore how intervention resources were taken up and used by local actors, how participants described the intervention mechanisms that then ensued, and how these might have generated beneficial outcomes.
resultsThe thematic content analysis identified three social mechanisms that recurred in participant accounts: (1) building student commitment to the school community, (2) building healthy relationships by modelling and teaching pro-social skills, and (3) de-escalating bullying and aggression and enabling re-integration within the school community.
conclusionsOur analysis provides in-depth exploration of possible mechanisms and the contextual contingencies associated with these, allowing refinement of the initial intervention theory of change.
trial registrationISRCTN registry 10751359 . Registered on 11 March 2014.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.