Affective Interventions for High-Ability Students From 1984-2015: A Review of Published Studies

Abstract

A search of the literature, from 1984 to 2015, revealed that only 17 empirical studies of direct affective intervention with high-ability students exist in the field of gifted education. These selective 17 studies, with the justifiable data published alongside them, were analyzed. Five major findings included. First, there is a need for more empirical studies of the direct affective interventions in the field. Second, there is a call for more studies with similar research interests to examine the previous findings because almost no two studies have a similar research focus. Third, the contents of direct affective interventions need to be clearly defined so that the similar intervention could be replicated. Fourth, boys and girls preferred same-gender group and group leaders. Fifth, a variety of methods were used. It is a positive finding that researchers used a variety of methods to measure the outcomes of the direct affective interventions.