Trial reportThe British journal of educational psychology2026
The 'FRIENDS for Life' emotional health programme: Differential impact for those at risk.
Trial report in The British journal of educational psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The 'FRIENDS for Life' emotional health programme: Differential impact for those at risk.The British journal of educational psychology · 2026Trial
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEvidence suggests that FRIENDS, a universal cognitive behavioural programme for schools, can improve children's emotional health, yet debate persists regarding its efficacy with respect to prevention versus treatment, particularly for children at risk of anxiety disorders.
aimTo examine the impact of FRIENDS across different risk categories by assessing: (a) changes in risk status resulting from intervention and (b) treatment effects within specific risk groups. SAMPLE AND
methodsSecondary analysis of data from a cluster randomized trial (ISRCTN13721202) conducted between 2016 and 2018 involving approximately 3000 pupils (aged 9-10) from 79 schools. Self-reported anxiety, depression and worry measures were collected at pre- and post-test. Risk categories were established using baseline anxiety and depression scores.
resultsFRIENDS did not significantly change risk status, neither reducing risk (χ
conclusionWhile FRIENDS did not alter risk status, there appears treatment effects specifically for children within the clinical range for anxiety and depression. Findings provide a more nuanced understanding of who benefits from universal school-based interventions. Findings inform health and education professionals in balancing FRIENDS' treatment effects against factors like availability of alternative services, relative costs and sustainability.
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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.