A systematic review of school refusal

Considering the problems associated with school attendance, school refusal is an adjustment problem that tends to become increasingly prevalent. The present study identifies the patterns reported in the literature on school refusal and outlines the structure and sub-components of school refusal. Therefore, the systematic review method was selected as the research method for this study. The data sources of this study consist of 40 research articles that fell within the purview of WoS and were either included or excluded according to predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Using MAXQDA 2020, both content and descriptive analyses were conducted in synthesizing the data sources. As a result of the analysis, the study year, method, data collection tool, data collection procedure, data analysis, and sample were examined as descriptive characteristics. Analyzing the content characteristics, five themes were identified: risk factors for school refusal, school refusal symptoms, school refusal protective factors, approaches, and techniques for intervention in school refusal, and consequences of school refusal. The findings are provided by discussing the related literature.