Sample A: Cover Page of Thesis, Project, or Dissertation Proposal

Denham and Burton‘s (1996) social-emotional intervention for at-risk 4-year-olds
focused on building teacher-child relationships, teaching children to understand and
regulate their emotions, and teaching children interpersonal cognitive problem solving
skills. Teachers were encouraged to study each child‘s developmental history in order to
individualize intervention techniques in implementing each program component. To
achieve ecological validity, the experimental design included the participation of both at-
risk and non-risk children; and program implementation integrated program activities into
group and individual formats. Over 32 weeks of the school year, preschool teachers
conducted an activity related to each program component 4 days per week (i.e., emotion
understanding activities for 2 days, interpersonal cognitive problem solving activities for
2 days) for up to 20 minutes. Teachers were also instructed to engage children in
emotional discussions following children‘s emotional displayed throughout the school
day. Teachers assigned to the intervention condition received a total of four days of
training.
Denham and Burton (1996) included both teacher-reported ratings and direct
observations of children‘s behaviors in assessing intervention effects. Results from both
measures revealed that participation in the intervention was associated with increased
social-emotional competence as determined by both teachers‘ ratings and direct
observations of children‘s classroom behaviors. Compared to non-participants, children
who participated in the intervention demonstrated decreased anger, hostility, and sadness,
and demonstrated increased peer skills and productive involvement in classroom
activities. Two specific findings lend further support to intervention efficacy. Implicating
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