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Health Hazards of Homework

March 18, 2014 | Julie Greicius Pediatrics .

A new study by the Stanford Graduate School of Education and colleagues found that students in high-performing schools who did excessive hours of homework “experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives.”

Those health problems ranged from stress, headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems, to psycho-social effects like dropping activities, not seeing friends or family, and not pursuing hobbies they enjoy.

In the Stanford Report story about the research, Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of the study published in the Journal of Experimental Education , says, “Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good.”

The study was based on survey data from a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in California communities in which median household income exceeded $90,000. Of the students surveyed, homework volume averaged about 3.1 hours each night.

“It is time to re-evaluate how the school environment is preparing our high school student for today’s workplace,” says Neville Golden, MD , chief of adolescent medicine at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and a professor at the School of Medicine. “This landmark study shows that excessive homework is counterproductive, leading to sleep deprivation, school stress and other health problems. Parents can best support their children in these demanding academic environments by advocating for them through direct communication with teachers and school administrators about homework load.”

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A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter. "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education . The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework. Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year. Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night. "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote. Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school. Their study found that too much homework is associated with: • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor. • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems. • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy. A balancing act The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills. Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up. "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences.. Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said. "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope. High-performing paradox In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities." Student perspectives The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe. The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in.

It's no secret that kids hate homework. And as students grapple with an ongoing pandemic that has had a wide range of mental health impacts, is it time schools start listening to their pleas about workloads?

Some teachers are turning to social media to take a stand against homework.

Tiktok user @misguided.teacher says he doesn't assign it because the "whole premise of homework is flawed."

For starters, he says, he can't grade work on "even playing fields" when students' home environments can be vastly different.

"Even students who go home to a peaceful house, do they really want to spend their time on busy work? Because typically that's what a lot of homework is, it's busy work," he says in the video that has garnered 1.6 million likes. "You only get one year to be 7, you only got one year to be 10, you only get one year to be 16, 18."

Mental health experts agree heavy workloads have the potential do more harm than good for students, especially when taking into account the impacts of the pandemic. But they also say the answer may not be to eliminate homework altogether.

Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold , says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health."

"More than half of students say that homework is their primary source of stress, and we know what stress can do on our bodies," she says, adding that staying up late to finish assignments also leads to disrupted sleep and exhaustion.

Cynthia Catchings, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist at Talkspace , says heavy workloads can also cause serious mental health problems in the long run, like anxiety and depression.

And for all the distress homework can cause, it's not as useful as many may think, says Dr. Nicholas Kardaras, a psychologist and CEO of Omega Recovery treatment center.

"The research shows that there's really limited benefit of homework for elementary age students, that really the school work should be contained in the classroom," he says.

For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night.

"Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's taking away time from their friends, from their families, their extracurricular activities. And these are all very important things for a person's mental and emotional health."

Catchings, who also taught third to 12th graders for 12 years, says she's seen the positive effects of a no-homework policy while working with students abroad.

"Not having homework was something that I always admired from the French students (and) the French schools, because that was helping the students to really have the time off and really disconnect from school," she says.

The answer may not be to eliminate homework completely but to be more mindful of the type of work students take home, suggests Kang, who was a high school teacher for 10 years.

"I don't think (we) should scrap homework; I think we should scrap meaningless, purposeless busy work-type homework. That's something that needs to be scrapped entirely," she says, encouraging teachers to be thoughtful and consider the amount of time it would take for students to complete assignments.

The pandemic made the conversation around homework more crucial

Mindfulness surrounding homework is especially important in the context of the past two years. Many students will be struggling with mental health issues that were brought on or worsened by the pandemic , making heavy workloads even harder to balance.

"COVID was just a disaster in terms of the lack of structure. Everything just deteriorated," Kardaras says, pointing to an increase in cognitive issues and decrease in attention spans among students. "School acts as an anchor for a lot of children, as a stabilizing force, and that disappeared."

But even if students transition back to the structure of in-person classes, Kardaras suspects students may still struggle after two school years of shifted schedules and disrupted sleeping habits.

"We've seen adults struggling to go back to in-person work environments from remote work environments. That effect is amplified with children because children have less resources to be able to cope with those transitions than adults do," he explains.

'Get organized' ahead of back-to-school

In order to make the transition back to in-person school easier, Kang encourages students to "get good sleep, exercise regularly (and) eat a healthy diet."

To help manage workloads, she suggests students "get organized."

"There's so much mental clutter up there when you're disorganized. ... Sitting down and planning out their study schedules can really help manage their time," she says.

Breaking up assignments can also make things easier to tackle.

"I know that heavy workloads can be stressful, but if you sit down and you break down that studying into smaller chunks, they're much more manageable."

If workloads are still too much, Kang encourages students to advocate for themselves.

"They should tell their teachers when a homework assignment just took too much time or if it was too difficult for them to do on their own," she says. "It's good to speak up and ask those questions. Respectfully, of course, because these are your teachers. But still, I think sometimes teachers themselves need this feedback from their students."

More: Some teachers let their students sleep in class. Here's what mental health experts say.

More: Some parents are slipping young kids in for the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors discourage the move as 'risky'

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Stanford research shows pitfalls of homework

A Stanford researcher found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance and even alienation from society. More than two hours of homework a night may be counterproductive, according to the study.

Education scholar Denise Pope has found that too much homework has negative effects on student well-being and behavioral engagement. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .

The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students’ views on homework.

Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.

Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.

“The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students’ advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being,” Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

Their study found that too much homework is associated with:

• Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

• Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.

• Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

A balancing act

The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as “pointless” or “mindless” in order to keep their grades up.

“This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points,” Pope said.

She said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.

“Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development,” wrote Pope.

High-performing paradox

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. “Young people are spending more time alone,” they wrote, “which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities.”

Student perspectives

The researchers say that while their open-ended or “self-reporting” methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for “typical adolescent complaining” – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

clock This article was published more than 8 years ago

Homework could have an effect on kids’ health. Should schools ban it?

Studies indicate a negative relationship between children's amount of homework and their physical health..

Reformers in the Progressive Era (from the 1890s to 1920s) depicted homework as a “sin” that deprived children of their playtime . Many critics voice similar concerns today.

Yet there are many parents who feel that from early on, children need to do homework if they are to succeed in an increasingly competitive academic culture. School administrators and policy makers have also weighed in, proposing various policies on homework .

So, does homework help or hinder kids?

For the last 10 years, my colleagues and I have been investigating international patterns in homework using databases like the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) . If we step back from the heated debates about homework and look at how homework is used around the world, we find the highest homework loads are associated with countries that have lower incomes and higher social inequality.

Does homework result in academic success?

Let’s first look at the global trends on homework.

Undoubtedly, homework is a global phenomenon ; students from all 59 countries that participated in the 2007 TIMSS reported getting homework. Worldwide, only less than 7 percent of fourth graders said they did no homework.

TIMSS is one of the few data sets that allow us to compare many nations on how much homework is given (and done). And the data show extreme variation.

For example, in some nations, like Algeria, Kuwait and Morocco, more than one in five fourth graders reported high levels of homework. In Japan, less than 3 percent of students indicated they did more than four hours of homework on a normal school night.

TIMSS data can also help to dispel some common stereotypes. For instance, in East Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan – countries that had the top rankings on TIMSS average math achievement – reported rates of heavy homework that were below the international mean.

In the Netherlands, nearly one out of five fourth graders reported doing no homework on an average school night, even though Dutch fourth graders put their country in the top 10 in terms of average math scores in 2007.

[ Here’s how my graduating class ended up with 72 valedictorians ]

Going by TIMSS data, the U.S. is neither “ A Nation at Rest” as some have claimed, nor a nation straining under excessive homework load . Fourth and eighth grade U.S. students fall in the middle of the 59 countries in the TIMSS data set, although only 12 percent of U.S. fourth graders reported high math homework loads compared to an international average of 21 percent.

So, is homework related to high academic success?

At a national level, the answer is clearly no. Worldwide, homework is not associated with high national levels of academic achievement.

The TIMSS can’t be used to determine if homework is actually helping or hurting academic performance overall . But it can help us see how much homework students are doing, and what conditions are associated with higher national levels of homework.

We have typically found that the highest homework loads are associated with countries that have lower incomes and higher levels of social inequality – not hallmarks that most countries would want to emulate.

Impact of homework on kids

TIMSS data also show us how even elementary school kids are being burdened with large amounts of homework.

Almost 10 percent of fourth graders worldwide reported spending multiple hours on homework each night. Globally, one in five fourth graders report 30 minutes or more of homework in math three to four times a week.

These reports of large homework loads should worry parents, teachers and policymakers alike.

Empirical studies have linked excessive homework to sleep disruption , indicating a negative relationship between the amount of homework, perceived stress and physical health.

What constitutes excessive amounts of homework varies by age, and may also be affected by cultural or family expectations. Young adolescents in middle school, or teenagers in high school, can study for longer duration than elementary school children.

But for elementary school students, even 30 minutes of homework a night, if combined with other sources of academic stress, can have a negative impact . Researchers in China have linked homework of two or more hours per night with sleep disruption .

Even though some cultures may normalize long periods of studying for elementary age children, there is no evidence to support that this level of homework has clear academic benefits . Also, when parents and children conflict over homework, and strong negative emotions are created, homework can actually have a negative association with academic achievement.

Should there be “no homework” policies?

Administrators and policymakers have not been reluctant to wade into the debates on homework and to formulate policies . France’s president, Francois Hollande, even proposed that homework be banned because it may have inegaliatarian effects.

However, “zero-tolerance” homework policies for schools, or nations, are likely to create as many problems as they solve because of the wide variation of homework effects. Contrary to what Hollande said, research suggests that homework is not a likely source of social class differences in academic achievement .

Homework, in fact, is an important component of education for students in the middle and upper grades of schooling.

Policymakers and researchers should look more closely at the connection between poverty, inequality and higher levels of homework. Rather than seeing homework as a solution, policymakers should question what facets of their educational system might impel students, teachers and parents to increase homework loads.

At the classroom level, in setting homework, teachers need to communicate with their peers and with parents to assure that the homework assigned overall for a grade is not burdensome, and that it is indeed having a positive effect.

Perhaps, teachers can opt for a more individualized approach to homework. If teachers are careful in selecting their assignments – weighing the student’s age, family situation and need for skill development – then homework can be tailored in ways that improve the chance of maximum positive impact for any given student.

I strongly suspect that when teachers face conditions such as pressure to meet arbitrary achievement goals, lack of planning time or little autonomy over curriculum, homework becomes an easy option to make up what could not be covered in class.

Whatever the reason, the fact is a significant percentage of elementary school children around the world are struggling with large homework loads. That alone could have long-term negative consequences for their academic success.

This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article .

Barriers Associated with the Implementation of Homework in Youth Mental Health Treatment and Potential Mobile Health Solutions

Brian e. bunnell.

1 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

2 Biomedical Informatics Center, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

Lynne S. Nemeth

3 Department of Nursing, College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

Leslie A. Lenert

Nikolaos kazantzis.

4 Cognitive Behavior Therapy Research Unit and School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

Esther Deblinger

5 Child Abuse Research Education & Service (CARES) Institute, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Stratford, New Jersey, USA

Kristen A. Higgins

Kenneth j. ruggiero.

6 Technology Applications Center for Healthful Lifestyles, College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA

Author Contributions

Associated Data

Background:.

Homework, or between-session practice of skills learned during therapy, is integral to effective youth mental health TREATMENTS. However, homework is often under-utilized by providers and patients due to many barriers, which might be mitigated via m Health solutions.

Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with nationally certified trainers in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT; n =21) and youth TF-CBT patients ages 8–17 ( n =15) and their caregivers ( n =12) to examine barriers to the successful implementation of homework in youth mental health treatment and potential m Health solutions to those barriers.

The results indicated that many providers struggle to consistently develop, assign, and assess homework exercises with their patients. Patients are often difficult to engage and either avoid or have difficulty remembering to practice exercises, especially given their busy/chaotic home lives. Trainers and families had positive views and useful suggestions for m Health solutions to these barriers in terms of functionality (e.g., reminders, tracking, pre-made homework exercises, rewards) and user interface (e.g., easy navigation, clear instructions, engaging activities).

Conclusions:

This study adds to the literature on homework barriers and potential m Health solutions to those barriers, which is largely based on recommendations from experts in the field. The results aligned well with this literature, providing additional support for existing recommendations, particularly as they relate to treatment with youth and caregivers.

Introduction

Homework, or between-session practice of skills learned during therapy, is one of the most integral, yet underutilized components of high-quality, evidence-based mental health care ( Kazantzis & Deane, 1999 ). Homework activities (e.g., self-monitoring, relaxation, exposure, parent behavior management) are assigned by providers in-session and completed by patients between sessions with the goal of “practicing” therapeutic skills in the environment where they will be most needed ( Kazantzis, Deane, Ronan, & L’Abate, 2005 ). There are numerous benefits to the implementation of homework during mental health treatment ( Kazantzis et al., 2016 ; Kazantzis, Deane, & Ronan, 2004 ). Homework enables the generalization of skills and behaviors learned during therapy, facilitates treatment processes, provides continuity between sessions, allows providers to better grasp patients’ learning, and strengthens that learning, leading to improved maintenance of treatment gains ( Hudson & Kendall, 2002 ; Scheel, Hanson, & Razzhavaikina, 2004 ). Meta-analytic and systematic reviews have shown that homework use by providers and adherence by patients predict increased treatment engagement, decreased treatment dropout, and medium-to-large effects on improvements in clinical outcomes for use (Cohen’s d =.48–.77) and adherence ( d =.45–.54) ( Hudson & Kendall, 2002 ; Kazantzis, Deane, & Ronan, 2000 ; Kazantzis & Lampropoulos, 2002 ; Kazantzis, Whittington, & Dattilio, 2010 ; Mausbach, Moore, Roesch, Cardenas, & Patterson, 2010 ; Scheel et al., 2004 ; Sukhodolsky, Kassinove, & Gorman, 2004 ). Simply put, 68% vs . 32% of patients can be expected to improve when therapy involves homework ( Kazantzis et al., 2010 ).

Despite its many benefits, homework is implemented with variable effectiveness in mental health treatment. Only 68% of general mental health providers and ~55% of family providers report using homework “often” to “almost always” ( Dattilio, Kazantzis, Shinkfield, & Carr, 2011 ; Kazantzis, Lampropoulos, & Deane, 2005 ). Further, providers report using homework in an average of 57% of sessions, although this rate is higher for CBT practitioners (66%) vs . non-CBT practitioners (48%). Moreover, only 25% of providers report using expert recommended systematic procedures for recommending homework (i.e., specifying frequency, duration, and location; writing down homework assignments for patients) ( Kazantzis & Deane, 1999 ). A national survey revealed that 93% or general mental health providers estimate rates of patient adherence to homework to be low to moderate ( Kazantzis, Lampropoulos, et al., 2005 ), and research studies report low to moderate rates of youth/caregiver adherence during treatment (i.e., ~39–63%; ( Berkovits, O’Brien, Carter, & Eyberg, 2010 ; Clarke et al., 1992 ; Danko, Brown, Van Schoick, & Budd, 2016 ; Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Gaynor, Lawrence, & Nelson-Gray, 2006 ; Helbig & Fehm, 2004 ; Lyon & Budd, 2010 ; Simons et al., 2012 ).

Numerous barriers to the successful implementation of homework during mental health treatment have largely been suggested by experts in the field, rather than specifically measured ( Dattilio et al., 2011 ), and have generally been classified as occurring on the provider-, patient-, task-, and environmental-level ( Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ). Provider-level barriers can relate to the therapeutic relationship and the degree to which a collaborative approach is used, provider beliefs about homework and the patient’s adherence, and providers’ ability to effectively design homework tasks ( Callan et al., 2012 ; Coon, Rabinowitz, Thompson, & Gallagher-Thompson, 2005 ; Friedberg & Mcclure, 2005 ; Garland & Scott, 2002 ; Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ). Patient-level barriers can include patient avoidance and symptomatology, negative beliefs toward the task, not understanding the rationale or how to do the task, forgetting, and beliefs about their ability to complete homework tasks. ( Bru, Solholm, & Idsoe, 2013 ; Callan et al., 2012 ; Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Friedberg & Mcclure, 2005 ; Garland & Scott, 2002 ; Hudson & Kendall, 2005 ; Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ; Leahy, 2002 ). Relatedly, core beliefs central to the patients’ psychopathology can be activated during homework–thereby triggering withdrawal and avoidance patterns ( Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ). Task-level barriers include poor match between tasks and therapy goals, tasks that are perceived as vague or unclear, tasks that are perceived as too difficult or demanding in terms of time or effort, tasks being viewed as boring, and general aversiveness of the idea of completing homework ( Bru et al., 2013 ; Callan et al., 2012 ; Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Friedberg & Mcclure, 2005 ; Garland & Scott, 2002 ; Hudson & Kendall, 2005 ). Environmental factors have been noted to include practical obstacles, lack of family/caregiver support, dysfunctional home environments, lack of time due to busy schedules, and lack of reward or reinforcement ( Callan et al., 2012 ; Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Hudson & Kendall, 2005 ).

The advancement and ubiquitousness of technologies such as m Health resources (e.g., mobile- and web-based apps) provide a tremendous opportunity to overcome barriers to homework use and adherence and resultantly, improve the quality of mental health treatment. m Health solutions to improve access and quality of care, have been widely investigated, are effective in facilitating behavior change, practical, desired by patients and providers, and available at low cost ( Amstadter, Broman-Fulks, Zinzow, Ruggiero, & Cercone, 2009 ; Boschen & Casey, 2008 ; Donker et al., 2013 ; Ehrenreich, Righter, Rocke, Dixon, & Himelhoch, 2011 ; Hanson et al., 2014 ; Heron & Smyth, 2010 ; Krebs & Duncan, 2015 ; Luxton, McCann, Bush, Mishkind, & Reger, 2011 ; Ruggiero, Saunders, Davidson, Cook, & Hanson, 2017 ). Existing m Health resources include features that can support homework implementation (e.g., voice and SMS reminders and feedback, self-monitoring and assessment, and modules and activities that can be used to facilitate between-session practice; Bakker, Kazantzis, Rickwood, & Rickard, 2016 ; Tang & Kreindler, 2017 ), but these resources were not designed with the express intention of addressing barriers to homework implementation, particularly for youth and family patient populations.

The extant literature on barriers to homework implementation is limited in that it is largely based on expert recommendations. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to explore provider, youth, and caregiver patient perspectives on barriers to the successful implementation of homework during youth mental health treatment. Further, m Health solutions to those barriers have not been explored, especially for youth and family patients. Thus, the second and third aims of this study were to obtain suggestions for m Health solutions to homework barriers and explore perceptions on the benefits and challenges associated with those m Health solutions.

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained prior to enrolling any participants in the study. The approach for this study was based on the constructivist grounded theory, which acknowledges the researcher’s prior knowledge and influence in the process and supports and guides conceptual framework development to understand interrelations between constructs ( Charmaz, 2006 ). This qualitative study used a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews in a sample of nationally certified trainers in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT; Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2017 ), youth who had engaged in TF-CBT, and their caregivers. The initial goal was to conduct interviews with 15–20 interviewees in each group to achieve theoretical saturation (i.e., no new information was derived), consistent with a prior study by members of the research team which used similar semi-structured interviews with national TF-CBT trainers ( Hanson et al., 2014 ), and recommendations by Morse (2000) given the relatively narrow scope and clear nature of the study. Interviews were conducted until interviewers and the study lead determined that no new pertinent information was being obtained.

Participants

National trainers..

Twenty-one national trainers in TF-CBT were interviewed. National trainers are mental health providers who completed a 15-month TF-CBT Train-the-Trainer program led by the TF-CBT developers. Trainers work extensively with numerous community mental health providers to problem-solve common barriers to clinical practice and thus, provide a unique perspective on the barriers to successful homework implementation and possible m Health solutions to those barriers. An e-mail invitation was sent to a list of approved TF-CBT trainers. Twenty-four trainers responded to this e-mail, 22 of whom agreed to participate in an interview, one of whom was unreachable after initial scheduling. Interviews were completed with a total of 21 trainers, who received a $25 gift card in compensation for their time.

Trainers had been treating children for an average of 23.29 years ( SD =8.80) and had been training providers for an average of 14.95 years ( SD =8.98). In the year prior to the interview, they led an average of 17 provider trainings ( SD =21.67) and trained roughly 345 providers ( SD =339.90). All trainers were licensed, and the majority were Clinical Psychologists (47.6%) and Social Workers (33.3%). The average age of trainers was 47.48 years ( SD =13.63) and the majority were female (71.4%), white (95.2%), and non-Hispanic/Latino (85.7%; see Table 1 ).

Trainer Demographics

Twelve families were interviewed for this study. Families were included if they had one or more youth between the ages of 8 and 17 years-of-age and a caregiver who had engaged in at least four sessions for TF-CBT. These criteria were chosen because TF-CBT is typically recommended for youth between the ages of 8 and 17 years-of-age and it was estimated that four sessions would have likely allowed for adequate time for patients to have received homework assignments, consistent with the authors’ experience and prior TF-CBT literature ( Deblinger, Pollio, & Dorsey, 2016 ; Scheeringa, Weems, Cohen, Amaya-Jackson, & Guthrie, 2011 ). Families were recruited via advertisements online and at local community mental health clinics, and from a participant pool from a prior study ( Davidson et al., 2019 ). Twenty-nine families initially expressed interest in participating in the study. Six families were ineligible because they had not received TF-CBT and contact was lost with six families after their initial contact. Seventeen families were scheduled for an interview, five of which were unreachable after initially being scheduled, and interviews were completed with 12 families. Written informed consent from caregivers and assent from youth above the age of 15 were obtained in-person for four families and via a telemedicine-based teleconsent platform (i.e., https://musc.doxy.me ) for eight families. Families received a $30 gift card in compensation for their time.

A total of 15 youth who had engaged in TF-CBT, and their caregivers ( n =12; three families had two youth who had received treatment) were interviewed. Six youth were still in treatment at the time of their interview and nine had finished treatment an average of 49 weeks ( SD =42.32) prior to the interview. The average age of youth was 13.20 years ( SD =3.19), roughly half were female (53.3%), the majority were white (80%), and all were non-Hispanic/Latino. The average age of caregivers was 44.83 years ( SD =7.90), 66.7% were female, and all were White and non-Hispanic/Latino. Youth and caregivers rated their comfort with technology, in general, on a 10-point Likert scale (i.e., 1–10) with higher scores representing higher levels of comfort. Youth reported being very comfortable with technology (M=9.62, SD =1.12), as did their caregivers (M=7.83, SD =2.63; see Table 2 ).

Family Demographics

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

TF-CBT is a well-established and widely disseminated mental health treatment ( Cohen et al., 2017 ; Deblinger, Mannarino, Cohen, Runyon, & Steer, 2011 ; Silverman et al., 2008 ; Wethington et al., 2008 ). It is a conjoint youth-caregiver mental health treatment typically conducted over ~12, 90-minute sessions that address nine major treatment components (i.e., P sychoeducation; P arenting Skills; R elaxation Skills; A ffective Expression and Modulation Skills; C ognitive Coping and Processing Skills; T rauma Narration and Processing; I n Vivo Exposure; C onjoint Child Parent Activities; and E nhancing Future Safety and Development). TF-CBT also addresses a broad range of symptom domains including trauma- and stress-related disorders, disruptive behavior disorders/behaviors, depression/depressive symptoms, and anxiety disorders ( Cohen et al., 2017 ). TF-CBT was chosen as a model treatment for this study because of its broad symptom focus, inclusion of treatment components used in a variety of youth mental health treatments, and involvement of youth and their caregivers, offering potential to improve the applicability of the study’s results to a range of youth mental health treatment approaches.

Procedures for Data Collection

Interviews were conducted via telephone for trainers, and either in-person or via telephone for families based on their preference. A postdoctoral fellow and masters-level research assistant conducted the interviews, which were audio-recorded and transcribed using a professional transcription service. Interviews included three major components. The first component included demographic questions. The second included a brief orientation to the goal of the study, which was to develop a new technology-based resource to help providers and patients during the implementation of homework during mental health treatment. The third component included questions that aimed to assess perspectives on barriers to homework implementation, elicit suggestions for m Health solutions to those barriers, and examine perceptions on the benefits and challenges associated with m Health solutions to homework barriers. The average duration of interviews was 41 minutes for trainers and 37 minutes for families. See Supplementary Materials for complete interviews.

Data Analysis

Transcribed interviews were coded using NVivo qualitative analysis software. NVivo was used to identify common themes (nodes) as they related to (1) patient-, provider-, task-, and environmental-barriers to homework implementation, (2) suggestions for m Health solutions to homework barriers, and (3) benefits and challenges associated with m Health homework solutions. Initial and secondary coding passes were conducted to identify and refine theme classifications as they emerged and impose a data-derived hierarchy to the nodes identified. Focused coding was used to refine the coding and ensure that data were coded completely with minimal redundancy ( Miles & Huberman, 1994 ). Themes were initially proposed by the first author and reviewed by an expert in qualitative and mixed methods research (the second author) and an internationally recognized expert in the implementation of homework and related barriers during CBT (the fourth author). Divergent perspectives on theme descriptions ( n =2) and classifications ( n =1) were compared until agreement was reached.

Results are organized by the main topics explored in this study, including: 1) barriers to the successful implementation of homework, coded on provider, patient, task, and environmental levels; 2) potential m Health solutions to those homework barriers; and 3) perceived benefits and challenges of those potential m Health solutions. Results within each of these topics are presented first from the perspectives of trainers and second from the perspectives of families.

Barriers to the Successful Implementation of Homework

Trainer perspectives..

As displayed in Table 3 , trainers identified several barriers to homework implementation on the provider-, patient-, task-, and environmental-level.

Trainer Perspectives on Homework Barriers

Provider-Level Barriers.

Many trainers felt that providers tend to have difficulty engaging patients in assigned tasks, leading some providers to become discouraged by low levels of engagement. As stated by one trainer,

“I think they recognize that [homework assignments] do have value, but in terms of what I feel, a lot of clinicians are not having success with families completing homework, so it’s diminishing the sense of value…something they’ve tried to put into place and they are not feeling there’s any success in it.”

Trainers also noted that many providers do not see homework as an integral part of therapy. One trainer commented,

“I think there are a lot of concrete barriers, but to me probably the biggest barrier will be the–I think that still to this day [providers] like to think that therapy happens in that one hour.”

Other interrelated difficulties faced by providers related to their capacity to effectively and consistently develop, assess, and assign meaningful and patient-centered homework exercises.

As stated by one trainer,

“I see a lot of that just shooting from the hip, kind of off the cuff, ‘let’s do this,’ but yet, it’s not backed by anything concrete or tangible…I think probably one of the biggest pieces again is the failure on the clinician’s part to follow that up and too often review it at the end of the session.”

Another said,

“I think clinicians don’t always appreciate how hard it is to actually do homework that requires you to make some behavioral change.”

Barriers also related to providers’ time and resources for implementing homework, as conveyed by one trainer’s comment,

“I mean, these people…every minute of every day is filled up with doing, billing, writing, charting, going to meetings, getting supervision, and seeing patients, and then they go home exhausted.”

Patient-Level Barriers.

Many trainers stated that, similar to some providers, patients often do not see homework as an important part of therapy. Put by one trainer,

“I think that some [patients] just feel that coming to the session is enough and that should resolve everything, and that you know, doing homework is just kind of an extra thing…I don’t really need to do it to benefit from the therapy.”

Perhaps relatedly, trainers also noted that patients generally forget to do homework assignments, and often forget why, how, when, and where assignments should be done.

Task-Level Barriers.

Task-level barriers noted by trainers included assignments not always aligning with patient values or treatment goals and that the term ‘homework’ being aversive to patients of all ages. One trainer commented,

“I think it has to be something that [patients] see the value in. And again, we go back to that engagement and them trusting you as well as you explaining to them why this could be helpful…If it didn’t help, we need to change it.”

Another trainer laughed while stating,

“when we use the word homework, we might as well just throw a stink bomb in the room.”

Environmental-Level Barriers.

Finally, on the environmental-level, many trainers suggested that patients’ home lives are busy and chaotic, leaving little-to-no time for homework.

Explained by one trainer,

“I think that for parents…they have many other things in their life; work, parenting, partnerships that they are working on, just day to day chores or things that they have to do in terms of their family or other responsibilities. So, [homework] often feels like, I think for families, to add another thing…it just feels like a lot.”

Associated barriers included limited caregiver involvement and reinforcement for completing homework assignments. One trainer commented,

“So, let’s not forget that the parents need to be encouraged and checked on to make sure the kid is doing it. They have to work at it – It’s not going to just happen. So, helping the parents to see that they’re going to need to work to make sure the kids do it, because again, the kids would rather eat ice-cream than do the work. I mean change is hard.”

Another stated,

“I would say, lack of reinforcement for homework, so maybe for getting what you assign for homework and not reviewing it or the kiddo or the family learning pretty quickly, you know, why do it, because there’s not a lot of support around it. You know, if [patients] don’t get reinforced, whether tangibly or verbally, they may not continue that.”

Family Perspectives.

Families identified several barriers to homework implementation on the patient-, task-, and environmental-level which were similar to many of those noted by national trainers (see Table 4 ).

Family Perspectives on Homework Barriers

Families believed that patients often avoid homework as a result of their symptoms. In other words, the patient’s unhelpful coping strategies are being triggered.

One caregiver commented,

“Sometimes people don’t even want to dig into their feelings even to do the assignment either, you know. It stirs up things. You know, when you’re dealing with feelings, sometimes you don’t want to experience that feeling…you shut down. You don’t want to feel that at that time.”

“When you already have a child that has ADHD or behavior problems, it’s hard to get them motivated and to get them to do these exercises at home.”

Families also felt that patients simply forget to complete homework or bring it to their next session. One child stated,

“That’s my problem, she’ll give me homework, we met once a week, basically, and I would forget it because I’ve got a lot going on, and when I come in and she’s like, ‘Did you do your homework,’ I’m like, ‘Oh man’.”

Similar to trainers, families felt that patients often forget why, how, when and where assignments should be done. As stated by one caregiver,

“I think sometimes it can also be just, like maybe not fully understanding what is being asked of them to do. I know the therapist will ask them in the office, ‘do you understand?’ and of course the kids always go, ‘yes I do, can I go home now’?”

With respect to task-level barriers, most families viewed homework assignments as boring. General consensus from families was that patients–particularly youth– would more often than not just rather be doing something more interesting.

On the environmental level, all families noted that the home-life of patients is busy and chaotic, leaving little perceived time for homework. Everyday responsibilities such as schoolwork, employment, household chores, and familial responsibilities often take precedence. One caregiver stated,

“Well I think it sounds good in the office and then you get home and you just get quite busy and it gets pushed aside.”

Another commented,

“But I know what he’s saying…sometimes seven-and-a-half hours at school and then sometimes his therapy would be an hour-and-a-half. And thank goodness, his teacher was so flexible that on days he has therapy he did not have homework [for school], but he was just so emotionally and physically drained. When he got home, all he wanted to do was just rest or play. Because that’s the therapy, it can be just exhausting.”

Families also believed that that there is often a lack of reinforcement for completing homework assignments.

m Health Solutions to Homework Barriers

Trainer suggestions..

Trainers provided several suggestions for m Health solutions to homework barriers ( Table 5 ). Most trainers felt that reminders and schedules to help patients remember to complete homework assignments would be a crucial feature. One trainer suggested, “Maybe some kind of reminder feature, something that would kind of record into their daily calendars that they use, or an alarm, or something like a daily reminder…set to the times they are most likely to do the homework.”

Trainer Suggestions for m Health Solutions to Homework Barriers

Trainers also suggested including reports or activity summaries of homework completion along with behavior and symptom tracking tools. One trainer thoughtfully commented, “If the homework app can somehow help to provide some data on the actual implementation of certain skills during the week that would be very valuable because I think the constructive feedback and the positive feedback that’s offered by therapists about performance of those skills between sessions can be really valuable.”

Trainers suggested including a variety of interactive, fun, and rewarding activities that engage children and caregivers. For example, one trainer stated,

“I think the more interactive you can make it between parent and child and the more of a game you can make it…kids are more likely to do that and to kind of use those skills.” All trainers ( n =21) felt that a text message-based system for reminding patients to complete homework assignments would be beneficial.

Family Suggestions.

Families suggested that the main function of the resource should serve to provide reminders (e.g., text messages or push notifications) for patients to complete homework assignments as well as instructions for how and when they should be completed. Another common suggestion was to include a reward system within the resource to reinforce engagement with homework assignments. Some suggestions for this reward system included coins, experience points, levels, and customizable avatar characters. One child thoughtfully related,

“there could be a digital reward system like stars or gems or something. Then it could be redeemed or something in the therapist’s office. Like I remember it was a while ago, I remember my therapist said if I was able to do something that I was having trouble with, we would have like brownies or something the next visit.”

Families also recommended that the resource include interactive and fun activities. The most common suggestion was to “gamify” homework assignments to make them more fun and interesting to patients. For example, a caregiver noted,

“I think that if you are able to play a game or level up after you did your activity…I don’t think you would have a problem with them doing the activity. They would be so excited to be able to play the game.”

Families providers also recommended reports and activity summaries so that progress could be tracked and reported to providers to be reviewed during the next treatment session ( Table 6 ). All families ( n =12) felt that a text message-based system for reminding patients to complete homework assignments would be beneficial.

Family Suggestions for m Health Solutions to Homework Barriers

Benefits and Challenges of m Health Solutions to Homework Barriers

The majority of trainers responded that an m Health solution to homework barriers would increase provider use of ( n =20; 95.2%) and family adherence to ( n =21; 100%) homework during mental health treatment. The majority of trainers also responded that such a resource would positively affect the therapeutic relationship ( n =15; 71.4%), increase treatment efficiency ( n =18; 85.7%), and improve treatment effectiveness ( n =18; 85.7%). Neutral responses were provided by all trainers who did not respond affirmatively to these questions (i.e., no negative responses were provided). Trainers also commented on the potential clinical utility of an m Health homework resource in that it would help providers with tracking and assigning homework and patients with skill development while promoting high levels of engagement in youth patients. Access, comfort with technology, and convenience were also noted benefits (See Table 7 ). One trainer commented,

Trainer Perspectives on Benefits and Challenges relating to m Health Solutions to Homework Barriers No. of Trainers

“I feel like so many people now enjoy so much more doing things on electronics and so definitely in sessions with kids I’m often recommending having a clinician use apps…sometimes technology is the way to really hook families in and engage them.”

“You know everybody has a phone and if we can have some apps where…I mean it’s so exciting to me what you are talking about. I can’t think of a better idea, I really can’t. I mean people always have their phones on them even if you are really, really poor, people tend to have a phone.”

Challenges identified by trainers centered around confidentiality, access and comfort with technology, and potential negative impacts on the therapeutic process. For example, one trainer stated,

“I do not know if people worry about if somebody else saw the app and wondered, ‘oh you are in therapy, oh what happened to you?’ So, some things around privacy issues and confidentiality, but those will be pretty easy to fix.”

The majority of families believed that the an m Health homework resource would make practicing therapy skills at home more fun or interesting ( n =11; 91.7%), would help families practice skills more often ( n =12; 100%), would positively affect the therapeutic relationship ( n =12; 100%), and would improve treatment effectiveness ( n =11; 91.7%). Neutral responses were provided by all families who did not respond affirmatively to these questions (i.e., no negative responses were provided). Families also suggested that an m Health homework resource would have excellent clinical utility, helping to improve communication between providers and families, make treatment and homework more rewarding, encourage more engagement from youth One caregiver commented,

“I think it would encourage the kids to get [homework] done even before the parents. The kids would want to do it on the phone, they love messing with phones.”

“I think by having the reminders, as well as having something there that’s interactive for the kids and the caregivers both. I think it would be a huge help.”

Similar to trainers, challenges noted by families related to confidentiality and some families not having access to the technology or the internet. Additional family perspectives on benefits and challenges are provided in Table 8 .

Family Perspectives on Benefits and Challenges relating to m Health Solutions to Homework Barriers

The aims of this study were to assess barriers to the successful implementation of homework during youth mental health treatment, obtain suggestions for m Health solutions to those barriers, and explore perceptions on the benefits and challenges associated with m Health solutions to homework barriers through semi-structured qualitative interviews with relevant stakeholders. National trainers in TF-CBT provided a unique perspective on the common challenges met by mental health providers and their patients as well as potential solutions to those challenges, particularly given their extensive experience problem-solving common clinical challenges with community mental health providers. Interviews with youth TF-CBT patients and their caregivers provided important perspectives from those most affected by homework barriers in mental health treatment.

Perspectives on Barriers to the Successful Implementation of Homework

Trainer and family perspectives on the various barriers to the successful implementation of homework during mental health treatment aligned well with the heuristic proposed by Kazantzis and Shinkfield (2007) , which classifies barriers as occurring on the provider-, patient-, task-, and environmental-levels. Most of the provider-level barriers noted by trainers were consistent with expert recommendations from the research literature, such as providers’ beliefs relating to homework and patient engagement in homework ( Coon et al., 2005 ; Friedberg & Mcclure, 2005 ; Garland & Scott, 2002 ), difficulty designing homework activities and individualizing them to specific patients ( Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ), forgetting about homework and running out of time during the session ( Friedberg & Mcclure, 2005 ), difficulty with consistency and not wanting to put too many demands on patients ( Coon et al., 2005 ), and difficulty effectively assessing patient barriers ( Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ). Experts have proposed a model for practice that directly addresses many of these provider-level barriers by proposing an ideal process for facilitating engagement in homework ( Kazantzis, MacEwan, & Dattilio, 2005 ).

Trainer and family perspectives on the most common patient-level homework barriers were similar and were also consistent with the extant literature. These included patients’ avoidance or symptoms ( Coon et al., 2005 ; Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Friedberg & Mcclure, 2005 ; Garland & Scott, 2002 ; Hudson & Kendall, 2005 ; Leahy, 2002 ), forgetting to complete assignments ( Coon et al., 2005 ; Hudson & Kendall, 2005 ), not understanding when, where, or how to do assignments or the rationale ( Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Friedberg & Mcclure, 2005 ; Garland & Scott, 2002 ), and beliefs about homework tasks and their ability to complete them ( Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ). Interestingly, whereas the most commonly endorsed patient-level barrier by trainers was patients not seeing homework as an integral part of therapy or important, the most commonly endorsed barriers by families included avoidance or symptoms, forgetfulness, and lack of understanding about assignments, reflecting differing views on the more significant barriers faced by patients. This discrepancy in the trainers/providers vs . families’ perspectives regarding between session assignments suggests the importance of therapists’ focusing more time on explaining assignments, discussing potential challenges, emphasizing the benefits of completing assignments in overcoming symptoms/difficulties and ultimately inspiring follow through.

Task-level barriers reported by both trainers and families included assignments not aligning with patient values or treatment goals ( Coon et al., 2005 ; Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Hudson & Kendall, 2005 ). Many trainers reported that the word “homework” is an aversive term to patients, particularly to youth patients. Perhaps relatedly, many families reported that children view homework assignments are boring. Negative associations with homework may be addressed by referring to “homework” as practice assignments, experiments, exercises, or action plans, as recommended by a recent Beck Institute blog post by Drs. Judith Beck and Francine Broder ( Beck & Broder, 2016 ).

Finally, environment-level barriers noted by trainers and families included the home lives of patients being busy and chaotic – leaving little time to complete homework assignments; a lack of caregiver involvement in the case of youth; and a lack of reward or reinforcement for completing homework assignments, all of which have been previously noted ( Bru et al., 2013 ; Coon et al., 2005 ; Dattilio et al., 2011 ; Kazantzis & Shinkfield, 2007 ). In sum, trainer and family perspectives on barriers to the successful implementation of homework were largely consistent with those suggested by experts. Further, there was a general agreement between trainers and families with respect to those barriers. It is important to note the interrelatedness of several barriers within various levels. For example, patients not understanding the importance of homework or seeing it as an integral part of therapy could very much reflect a mismatch in alliance, tasks needed to achieve therapy goals, or a poor therapist rationale and opportunity for client feedback and discussion. Further, a patient’s understanding of the rationale for homework might be dependent on the provider’s skill in its explanation.

Trainers and families provided numerous suggestions for m Health solutions to homework barriers. These functionality and content suggestions included: reminders and schedules to overcome barriers to forgetting; behavior and symptom tracking and reports or activity summaries to assist providers in assessing homework completion; a variety of homework activities to choose from to help providers struggling with developing activities; resources for caregivers to improve caregiver support; and an integrated reward system to make completing homework rewarding and reinforcing for patients. Other suggested features related more to user interface and user experience. For example, interviewees felt that the m Health resource should allow easy navigation to relevant resources; include clear instructions via video, text, and audio to help patients understand and remember how to do assignments; include interactive and fun activities to help make the assignments less boring and less like “homework;” and be patient-centered and developmentally appropriate. Trainers and families also felt that a text message-based system for reminding patients to complete homework assignments would be beneficial, indicating that this approach would provide a good alternative to a purely app-based resource.

As outlined in recent reviews, there are several studies on m Health resources that include the functionality and content features suggested in this study and can also be used to facilitate homework implementation ( Bakker et al., 2016 ; Tang & Kreindler, 2017 ). For example, a number of m Health resources can be used for self-monitoring and symptom tracking, and many have engaging activities that can be used to support between-session learning and skill development in the areas of relaxation, cognitive therapy, imaginal exposure, and parent behavioral management ( Bunnell et al., 2019 ; Jungbluth & Shirk, 2013 ; Kristjánsdóttir et al., 2013 ; Newman, Przeworski, Consoli, & Barr Taylor, 2014 ; Reger et al., 2013 ; Shapiro et al., 2010 ; Whiteside, Ale, Vickers Douglas, Tiede, & Dammann, 2014 ). SMS- and app-based reminders and feedback on progress can also be used to encourage continued engagement in skills practice ( Aguilera & Muñoz, 2011 ; Harrison et al., 2011 ; Reger et al., 2013 ; Wiederhold, Boyd, Sulea, Gaggioli, & Riva, 2014 ). However, as stated previously, most of these resources were not designed with the express intention of addressing barriers to homework implementation, particularly for youth and family patient populations, leaving room for future work in this area.

Trainers and families expressed very positive views on m Health solutions to homework barriers. Trainers felt that m Health would increase provider use and family adherence to homework, positively affect the therapeutic relationship, and increase treatment efficiency and effectiveness. Families felt that it would make practicing therapy skills at home more fun or interesting, help families practice skills more often, positively affect the therapeutic relationship, and improve treatment effectiveness. A potential benefit commonly noted by trainers and families was a high likelihood that youth would engage with the resource given their generally strong interest in technology, and that this would help to reinforce the practice of skills learned during therapy. A particular benefit noted was increased access to helpful resources between-sessions. Trainers and families expressed concerns about issues relating to confidentiality. While they did not view this as a fatal flaw of the resource, they suggested implementing appropriate safeguards to protect patient privacy and clearly explaining data protection to encourage use.

Limitations

There are several limitations to this study. Regarding generalizability of results, the selection of trainers and families interviewed was based on experience with TF-CBT, a specific treatment protocol for childhood trauma. Although interview questions were kept general during interviews, referring to mental health treatment rather than solely to TF-CBT, the views expressed by interviewees may relate more to TF-CBT than other child mental health treatments. However, a strength of this research is that TF-CBT has a broad symptom focus (e.g., PTSD, anxiety, depression, anger, disruptive behavior) and includes treatment components used in numerous youth mental health treatments (e.g., psychoeducation, relaxation, cognitive coping, affective modulation, exposure), which suggests that results would be applicable to a range of child mental health treatments. Additionally, national trainers in TF-CBT have consistent exposure to working closely with community mental health providers and regularly help them to problem-solve common barriers in clinical practice. This added insight into difficulties experienced by numerous mental health providers rather than asking individual providers about their experience. This is a strength of this study but also a potential limitation as not directly measured, thus an assumption. The views of trainers may not be completely representative of the every-day challenges to homework implementation experienced by community mental health providers. Given the small samples size and lack of diversity, the results should be interpreted with caution as they may not reflect the experiences or views of therapists and patients who utilize homework across different treatment approaches, therapy settings, and populations.

With respect to interview questions and results, they tended to focus on barriers and challenges and provided less of an opportunity for trainers and family members to share factors that may have led to successes with homework assignments. Such information could also importantly support the development and presentation of m health solutions by therapists. Relatedly, families were asked about barriers faced by youth and caregivers, and not by providers, which would have provided interesting data on family perspectives on providers’ limitations. Although comfort with technology in general was assessed in youth and caregivers, it was not specified as comfort with m Health, and ratings were not collected from trainers. As such, a potential limitation of this study is that participants’ comfort specifically with mHealth was unknown. Furthermore, this study focused specifically on m Health without a comparison to other low-tech solutions, which might have resulted in inflated levels of interest in m health solutions to homework barriers. A final limitation is that interviews were coded by the first author, and there is potential for variability in coding that was not accounted for (i.e., the same themes might have been classified in different ways). Despite this limitation, themes were reviewed and by an internationally recognized expert in the implementation of homework and related barriers during CBT (the fourth author) and compared until agreement was reached, supporting the derived themes.

Conclusions

This study provides important new information on barriers to the successful implementation of homework during youth mental health treatment, based on perspectives of providers, youth, and caregivers with that treatment experience. This study adds to the literature on these barriers, which has been based largely on recommendations from experts in the field. The results of this study aligned well with this literature, providing additional support for these recommendations. Valuable insights on potential m Health solutions to these homework barriers were also provided. These data are being used to inform the development of an m Health resource that aims to address homework barriers in hopes of improving provider use and patient adherence to homework during youth mental health treatment, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of care received by patients in community mental health settings.

Supplementary Material

10608_2020_10090_moesm1_esm, acknowledgments.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Funding. Dr. Bunnell was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant numbers F32 MH108250 and K23 MH118482).

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

Conflict of Interest. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals

Statement of Human Rights.

Ethics approval. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board at the Medical University of South Carolina (Pro00047774) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Statement on the Welfare of Animals

Ethical approval. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Student Opinion

Should We Get Rid of Homework?

Some educators are pushing to get rid of homework. Would that be a good thing?

By Jeremy Engle and Michael Gonchar

Do you like doing homework? Do you think it has benefited you educationally?

Has homework ever helped you practice a difficult skill — in math, for example — until you mastered it? Has it helped you learn new concepts in history or science? Has it helped to teach you life skills, such as independence and responsibility? Or, have you had a more negative experience with homework? Does it stress you out, numb your brain from busywork or actually make you fall behind in your classes?

Should we get rid of homework?

In “ The Movement to End Homework Is Wrong, ” published in July, the Times Opinion writer Jay Caspian Kang argues that homework may be imperfect, but it still serves an important purpose in school. The essay begins:

Do students really need to do their homework? As a parent and a former teacher, I have been pondering this question for quite a long time. The teacher side of me can acknowledge that there were assignments I gave out to my students that probably had little to no academic value. But I also imagine that some of my students never would have done their basic reading if they hadn’t been trained to complete expected assignments, which would have made the task of teaching an English class nearly impossible. As a parent, I would rather my daughter not get stuck doing the sort of pointless homework I would occasionally assign, but I also think there’s a lot of value in saying, “Hey, a lot of work you’re going to end up doing in your life is pointless, so why not just get used to it?” I certainly am not the only person wondering about the value of homework. Recently, the sociologist Jessica McCrory Calarco and the mathematics education scholars Ilana Horn and Grace Chen published a paper, “ You Need to Be More Responsible: The Myth of Meritocracy and Teachers’ Accounts of Homework Inequalities .” They argued that while there’s some evidence that homework might help students learn, it also exacerbates inequalities and reinforces what they call the “meritocratic” narrative that says kids who do well in school do so because of “individual competence, effort and responsibility.” The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students. Calarco, Horn and Chen write, “Research has highlighted inequalities in students’ homework production and linked those inequalities to differences in students’ home lives and in the support students’ families can provide.”

Mr. Kang argues:

But there’s a defense of homework that doesn’t really have much to do with class mobility, equality or any sense of reinforcing the notion of meritocracy. It’s one that became quite clear to me when I was a teacher: Kids need to learn how to practice things. Homework, in many cases, is the only ritualized thing they have to do every day. Even if we could perfectly equalize opportunity in school and empower all students not to be encumbered by the weight of their socioeconomic status or ethnicity, I’m not sure what good it would do if the kids didn’t know how to do something relentlessly, over and over again, until they perfected it. Most teachers know that type of progress is very difficult to achieve inside the classroom, regardless of a student’s background, which is why, I imagine, Calarco, Horn and Chen found that most teachers weren’t thinking in a structural inequalities frame. Holistic ideas of education, in which learning is emphasized and students can explore concepts and ideas, are largely for the types of kids who don’t need to worry about class mobility. A defense of rote practice through homework might seem revanchist at this moment, but if we truly believe that schools should teach children lessons that fall outside the meritocracy, I can’t think of one that matters more than the simple satisfaction of mastering something that you were once bad at. That takes homework and the acknowledgment that sometimes a student can get a question wrong and, with proper instruction, eventually get it right.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

Should we get rid of homework? Why, or why not?

Is homework an outdated, ineffective or counterproductive tool for learning? Do you agree with the authors of the paper that homework is harmful and worsens inequalities that exist between students’ home circumstances?

Or do you agree with Mr. Kang that homework still has real educational value?

When you get home after school, how much homework will you do? Do you think the amount is appropriate, too much or too little? Is homework, including the projects and writing assignments you do at home, an important part of your learning experience? Or, in your opinion, is it not a good use of time? Explain.

In these letters to the editor , one reader makes a distinction between elementary school and high school:

Homework’s value is unclear for younger students. But by high school and college, homework is absolutely essential for any student who wishes to excel. There simply isn’t time to digest Dostoyevsky if you only ever read him in class.

What do you think? How much does grade level matter when discussing the value of homework?

Is there a way to make homework more effective?

If you were a teacher, would you assign homework? What kind of assignments would you give and why?

Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column . Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Jeremy Engle joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2018 after spending more than 20 years as a classroom humanities and documentary-making teacher, professional developer and curriculum designer working with students and teachers across the country. More about Jeremy Engle

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How homework can affect your child’s health

When kids get home from school the last thing they want to do is start working on homework. They want to get outside, play with friends or have a snack and relax.

It’s normal for kids to complain about having to do homework, but could your child be overloaded with afterschool work?

A new study says yes.

The study from the Stanford School of Education , published in the Journal of Experimental Education, claims that children in high-performing schools in upper to middle class families suffer from high levels of stress. And these groups are at greater risk for health problems, including a lack of balance in their lives and can even feel alienated from society.

Children in these high-achieving schools often spend an average of more than three hours each night doing homework. Denise Pope, senior lecturer at Stanford and co-author of the study, and her team of researchers studied 4,317 students in 10 of these schools in California.

Researchers did find that students spending a lot of their time on homework had a better level of engagement in school. However, these students were adversely affected by high stress and physical health problems.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” Pope said in a statement.

Too much homework was found to be counterproductive. In a poll, 56 percent of students attributed any stress in their lives to too much homework. Less than 1 percent of students said that homework was not a stressor .

When asked how homework affects them, students reported lack of sleep, headaches, exhaustion and stomach problems. Students reported that due to the necessity of keeping their grades up, homework often came first before spending time with friends, attending after school activities or cultivating hobbies or talents outside of academic work.

Dr. Aaron Traeger , pediatrician with Advocate Medical Group in Normal, Ill., says that with schoolwork kids have to do what they are told.

“Teachers typically do not work together to make certain days more ‘fair’ or an even workload,” he says.

Dr. Traeger says if your kids are being overwhelmed with homework, the following are some things to consider:

Are outside school activities or sports taking up too much time? With too much going on outside of school it can put more stress on the things that ‘have to’ be done.
Is the student procrastinating too much? Usually larger projects have plenty of warning before being due.
Talk with the teacher and see why there is so much homework. Is it because the work is not being completed during the class time?
How are the study and working habits of the student? Working on study skills or working efficiency can make a big difference when the work load gets larger.
Medical reasons – Attention Deficit Disorder, depression, anxiety are all possibilities when a child starts to struggle. Especially if there is a very sudden deterioration of school performance. Speak with your school psychologist and pediatrician.

This is when your child might need thyroid surgery

34 Comments

Thank you Dr. Traeger for the list of things parents need to consider when it comes to homework overload.

thi really helped

homework is too stressful for kids to have I am a student myself and it me 5-6 hours of homework and I’m only in sixth grade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m pretty sure some of your homework is work you did not finish at school, If not, I suggest you talk to your teacher, respectfully. tell him/her that your homework load is too intense and you were wondering if he/she could lighten the load.

I hope this helps!

No, I get that much, but I have like 6 teachers, alone almost no homework together SO MUCH!!!!!!!

very good job

this was so helpful thank you so much!!! my child needs less homework.

i agree with every word

Yes I agree!

Thank you, this was a big help for an argumentative debate project I am working on.

This is very true, I have been experiencing this for over 10 Years now. Homework definitely causes stress, I reckon that all children should only be given one piece of homework twice a week.

This is great! I’ve been arguing for homework since 4th grade and this is a great source of information in my 8th grade debate speech. Thank you so much!

Thank you so much this really helped me with my research for my argumentative essay and lots of good evidence!

I love it! This helped me with my persuasive essay alot! Also, I always knew that homework was boring, but I never knew that all of that stuff could happen! Stomach issues? I never knew homework contibuted to that!

This is true! My teacher kills me in with homework and I’m only in 7th grade

Thanks for the stats! This is really helping us on a project, we too have had some nasty incidents with the amount of homework given.

i heart homework

I like cheese and tiger

This is very helpful. It helped me on a research project, and i can totally agree with what article goes over about homework. I also think that homework should only be what you didn’t finish in class.

thank you it really helped

this doesn’t really happen to me, but it is getting to that point

homework makes me cry

I am an accelerated 6th grade math teacher. I give my students about 3 hours of homework a day, but I tell them that accelerated students have to pace themselves.

I agree with this. I feel like my physical and mental health are both getting destroyed. I am noticing nausea, fatigue, headaches, joint aches, depression, anxiety, stress, irritability, and frustration that I could be using my time to relax or do hat I want to do.

I used this website for a debate project and it was very helpful. I totally agree with this. Teachers give out too much homework. I had 2 high school classes as an 8th grader and it was VERY stressful. I want every single teacher to know that kids havge lives. They don’t spend all night doing homework. We need time with our families and take part in any activities we choose. They don’t get it.

thbis is unaxeptable! i cant beliebe that this is hapening! why do we liev in a soctiety here this is ok????????? HIS IS NOT OK!!!!!! my yuongest duaghter is seven and he is so stresed!!!!! poor girl is gona be sad! i cant wiat til i get certficashons to homescool my egiht child ren cuase i cant deal wiht homwork!!!!!!!!!

thank you for writing this it is very useful- 6th grader

thank you this was very useful

Well done smarty pants

Thank you for the facts.I need them for a debate about Homework and this is quite helpful. I think this great for many people. Thanks again.

I wrote a letter to the school board and superintendent of my school district about this issue. I am only in 8th grade, and some of my personal experiences with homework overload include 3-4+ hours per night working on homework for ELA ALONE, constant headaches, sleep deprivation, cramping and dizziness, and much more. I have also had to drop out of my SCHOOL volleyball team and my select soccer team (my only forms of exercise throughout the week) to keep up with school work. Anxiety is a very new and difficult thing I have to deal with now, and all because of stress from school, home, and decision making. I am typically a 4.0 student, involved in many challenge/AP classes, (and also a perfectionist), but all of these things come at the extent of my physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being/health. This needs to stop. Something needs to be done about this very serious issue/epidemic throughout many states and countries.

4 teachers a day give me 2 pages of homework a day. I dont think they’ll lighten the load for me either so I started a petition for my school to have less homework. Keep in mind that the npta (national parent-teacher association) says the recommended amount of homework is 10 min per grade per day, meaning I(a 7th grader) should be getting a total of 1 hour and 10 min a day. My homework usually well exceeds that and my foreign exchange student who is in 10th has up to 4 hours of homework a night when she should only be having an hour and 40 min of homework. (Granted she’s an overachiever)I feel that teachers should converse with other teachers to assure an even load of work for their students.

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Study: Too Much Homework Can Make Your Child Sick

March 22, 2014 / 6:05 PM PDT / CBS San Francisco

STANFORD (CBS SACRAMENTO) – A new study found that too much homework is bad for children's health. Researchers at Stanford say hitting the books for three or more hours a night won't necessarily make a child perform better in school, but it can make them sick.

"The three hours of homework a night was an average, by the way," Denise Pope, senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and co-author of the study, told CNN. "We have kids in the study who were doing way more."

Researchers analyzed data from over 4,300 students from 10 high-performing public and private high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. The researchers set out to determine the relationship between the amount of homework and the well-being of students. They also wanted to understand how homework can stress out a student.

They were able to determine that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems, and lack of balance in children's lives.

"We found a clear connection between the students' stress and physical impacts – migraines, ulcers and other stomach problems, sleep deprivation and exhaustion, and weight loss," Pope said.

According to the Brookings Institute's 2014 Brown Center Report on American Education, homework hasn't changed much since 1984.

Pope found that in upper-middle-class neighborhoods, homework kept coming up as a tension point. Some parents wanted less but some parents wanted more.

"We realized that we need intervention around homework," Pope said.

The researchers used students' self-reporting on homework because they felt it was important to explore the students firsthand experiences with homework.

The most important factor in childhood stress is family support.

"Parents' first responsibility is to the health of their child," Pope said. "Parents need to be advocates and cheerleaders, not graders and correctors. And you certainly don't want to say to your kid, 'Give me half of the homework!'"

Pope feels that high school students should not have more than 90 minutes of homework a night. She also said there is not a correlation between homework and academic achievement in elementary school.

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Written by Cara Goodwin, Ph.D.

Homework: The Good and The Bad

Young boy sitting at a table doing homework

Homework. A single word that for many brings up memories of childhood stress. Now that you’re a parent, you may be reminded of that feeling every time your child spills their backpack across the table. You also may be questioning how much homework is too much and wondering how you can best help your child with their schoolwork.

Here, Dr. Cara Goodwin of Parenting Translator explains what the research actually says about homework. She outlines specific ways parents can support their kids to maximize the academic benefits and develop lifelong skills in time management and persistence.

In recent years, many parents and educators have raised concerns about homework. Specifically, they have questioned how much it enhances learning and if its benefits outweigh potential costs, such as stress to the family.

So, what does the research say?

Academic benefits vs risks of homework

One of the most important questions when it comes to homework is whether it actually helps kids understand the content better. So does it? Research finds that homework is associated with higher scores on academic standardized tests for middle and high school students, but not for elementary school students (1, 2).

In other words, homework seems to have little impact on learning in elementary school students.

Additionally, a 2012 study found that while homework is related to higher standardized test scores for high schoolers, it is not related to higher grades.

Not surprisingly, homework is more likely to be associated with improved academic performance when students and teachers find the homework to be meaningful or relevant, according to several studies (1, 3, 4). Students tend to find homework to be most engaging when it involves solving real-world problems (5).

The impact of homework may also depend on socioeconomic status. Students from higher income families show improved academic skills with more homework and gain more knowledge from homework, according to research. On the other hand, the academic performance of more disadvantaged children seems to be unaffected by homework (6, 7). This may be because homework provides additional stress for disadvantaged children. They are less likely to get help from their parents on homework and more likely to be punished by teachers for not completing it (8).

Non-academic benefits vs risks of homework

Academic outcomes are only part of the picture. It is important to look at how homework affects kids in ways other than grades and test scores.

Homework appears to have benefits beyond improving academic skills, particularly for younger students. These benefits include building responsibility, time management skills, and persistence (1, 9, 10). In addition, homework may also increase parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling (11, 12, 13, 14).

Yet, studies show that too much homework has drawbacks. It can reduce children’s opportunities for free play, which is essential for the development of language, cognitive, self-regulation, and social-emotional skills (15). It may also interfere with physical activity, and too much homework is associated with an increased risk for being overweight (16, 17).

In addition to homework reducing opportunities for play, it also leads to increased conflicts and stress for families. For example, research finds that children with more hours of homework experience more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives (18).

Clearly, more is not better when it comes to homework.

What is the “right” amount of homework?

Recent reports indicate that elementary school students are assigned three times the recommended amount of homework. Even kindergarten students report an average of 25 minutes of homework per day (19).

Additionally, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that homework has been increasing in recent years for younger students. Specifically, 35% of 9-year-olds reported that they did not do homework the previous night in 1984 versus 22% of 9-years-old in 2012. However, homework levels have stayed relatively stable for 13- and 17-year-olds during this same time period.

Research suggests that homework should not exceed 1.5 to 2.5 hours per night for high school students and no more than 1 hour per night for middle school students (1). Homework for elementary school students should be minimal and assigned with the aim of building self-regulation and independent work skills. A common rule , supported by both the National Education Association (NEA) and National Parent Teacher Association (PTA), is 10-minutes of homework per grade in elementary school. Any more than this and homework may no longer have a positive impact. Importantly, the NEA and the National PTA do not endorse homework for kindergarteners.

How can parents best help with homework?

Most parents feel that they are expected to be involved in their children’s homework (20). Yet, it is often unclear exactly how to be involved in a way that helps your child to successfully complete the assignment without taking over entirely. Most studies find that parental help is important but that it matters more HOW the parent is helping rather than how OFTEN the parent is helping (21).

While this can all feel very overwhelming for parents, there are some simple guidelines you can follow to ease the homework burden and best support your child’s learning.

1. Help only when needed.

Parents should focus on providing general monitoring, guidance and encouragement. Allow children to generate answers on their own and complete their homework as independently as possible . This is important because research shows that allowing children more independence in completing homework benefits their academic skills (22, 23). In addition, too much parent involvement and being controlling with homework is associated with worse academic performance (21, 24, 25).

What does this look like?

Be present when your child is completing homework to help them to understand the directions.
Be available to answer simple questions and to provide praise for their effort and hard work.
Only provide help when your child asks for it and step away whenever possible.

2. Have structure and routines.

Help your child create structure and to develop some routines. This helps children become more independent in completing their homework. Research finds that providing this type of structure and responsiveness is related to improved academic skills (25).

This structure may include:

A regular time and place for homework that is free from distractions.
Have all of the materials they need within arm’s reach.
Teach and encourage kids to create a checklist for their homework tasks each day.

Parents can also help their children to find ways to stay motivated. For example, developing their own reward system or creating a homework schedule with breaks for fun activities.

3. Set specific rules around homework.

Research finds that parents setting rules around homework is related to higher academic performance (26). For example, parents may require that children finish homework before screen time or may require children to stop doing homework and go to sleep at a certain hour.

4. Emphasize learning over outcome.

Encourage your child to persist in challenging assignments and frame difficult assignments as opportunities to grow. Research finds that this attitude is associated with student success (20). Research also indicates that more challenging homework is associated with enhanced school performance (27).

Additionally, help your child to view homework as an opportunity to learn and improve skills. Parents who view homework as a learning opportunity rather than something that they must get “right” or complete successfully to obtain a higher grade are more likely to have children with the same attitudes (28).

5. Stay calm and positive.

Yes, we know this is easier said than done, but it does have a big impact on how kids persevere when things get hard! Research shows that mothers showing positive emotions while helping with homework may improve children’s motivation in homework (29)

6. Praise hard work and effort.

Praise focused on effort is likely to increase motivation (30). In addition, research finds that putting more effort into homework may be associated with enhanced development of conscientiousness in children (31).

7. Communicate with your child’s teacher.

Let your child’s teacher know about any problems your child has with homework and the teachers’ learning goals. Research finds that open communication about homework is associated with improved school performance (32).

List of 7 strategies for parents to help with homework

In summary, research finds that homework provides some academic benefit for middle- and high-school students but is less beneficial for elementary school students. As a parent, how you are involved in your child’s homework really matters. By following these evidence-based tips, you can help your child to maximize the benefits of homework and make the process less painful for all involved!

For more resources, take a look at our recent posts on natural and logical consequences and simple ways to decrease challenging behaviors .

Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C., & Patall, E. A. (2006). Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987–2003. Review of educational research , 76 (1), 1-62.
Muhlenbruck, L., Cooper, H., Nye, B., & Lindsay, J. J. (1999). Homework and achievement: Explaining the different strengths of relation at the elementary and secondary school levels. Social Psychology of Education , 3 (4), 295-317.
Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (2007). Special topic: The case for and against homework. Educational leadership , 64 (6), 74-79.
Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Schnyder, I., & Niggli, A. (2006). Predicting homework effort: support for a domain-specific, multilevel homework model. Journal of educational psychology , 98 (2), 438.
Shernoff, D. J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Schneider, B., & Shernoff, E. S. (2014). Student engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory. In Applications of flow in human development and education (pp. 475-494). Springer, Dordrecht.
Daw, J. (2012). Parental income and the fruits of labor: Variability in homework efficacy in secondary school. Research in social stratification and mobility , 30 (3), 246-264.
Rønning, M. (2011). Who benefits from homework assignments?. Economics of Education Review , 30 (1), 55-64.
Calarco, J. M. (2020). Avoiding us versus them: How schools’ dependence on privileged “Helicopter” parents influences enforcement of rules. American Sociological Review , 85 (2), 223-246.
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Göllner, R., Damian, R. I., Rose, N., Spengler, M., Trautwein, U., Nagengast, B., & Roberts, B. W. (2017). Is doing your homework associated with becoming more conscientious?. Journal of Research in Personality , 71 , 1-12.
Balli, S. J., Demo, D. H., & Wedman, J. F. (1998). Family involvement with children’s homework: An intervention in the middle grades. Family relations , 149-157.
Balli, S. J., Wedman, J. F., & Demo, D. H. (1997). Family involvement with middle-grades homework: Effects of differential prompting. The Journal of Experimental Education , 66 (1), 31-48.
Epstein, J. L., & Dauber, S. L. (1991). School programs and teacher practices of parent involvement in inner-city elementary and middle schools. The elementary school journal , 91 (3), 289-305.
Van Voorhis, F. L. (2003). Interactive homework in middle school: Effects on family involvement and science achievement. The Journal of Educational Research , 96 (6), 323-338.
Yogman, M., Garner, A., Hutchinson, J., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M., & Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (2018). The power of play: A pediatric role in enhancing development in young children. Pediatrics , 142 (3).
Godakanda, I., Abeysena, C., & Lokubalasooriya, A. (2018). Sedentary behavior during leisure time, physical activity and dietary habits as risk factors of overweight among school children aged 14–15 years: case control study. BMC research notes , 11 (1), 1-6.
Hadianfard, A. M., Mozaffari-Khosravi, H., Karandish, M., & Azhdari, M. (2021). Physical activity and sedentary behaviors (screen time and homework) among overweight or obese adolescents: a cross-sectional observational study in Yazd, Iran. BMC pediatrics , 21 (1), 1-10.
Galloway, M., Conner, J., & Pope, D. (2013). Nonacademic effects of homework in privileged, high-performing high schools. The journal of experimental education , 81 (4), 490-510.
Pressman, R. M., Sugarman, D. B., Nemon, M. L., Desjarlais, J., Owens, J. A., & Schettini-Evans, A. (2015). Homework and family stress: With consideration of parents’ self confidence, educational level, and cultural background. The American Journal of Family Therapy , 43 (4), 297-313.
Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Battiato, A. C., Walker, J. M., Reed, R. P., DeJong, J. M., & Jones, K. P. (2001). Parental involvement in homework. Educational psychologist , 36 (3), 195-209.
Moroni, S., Dumont, H., Trautwein, U., Niggli, A., & Baeriswyl, F. (2015). The need to distinguish between quantity and quality in research on parental involvement: The example of parental help with homework. The Journal of Educational Research , 108 (5), 417-431.
Cooper, H., Lindsay, J. J., & Nye, B. (2000). Homework in the home: How student, family, and parenting-style differences relate to the homework process. Contemporary educational psychology , 25 (4), 464-487.
Dumont, H., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Neumann, M., Niggli, A., & Schnyder, I. (2012). Does parental homework involvement mediate the relationship between family background and educational outcomes?. Contemporary Educational Psychology , 37 (1), 55-69.
Barger, M. M., Kim, E. M., Kuncel, N. R., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2019). The relation between parents’ involvement in children’s schooling and children’s adjustment: A meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin , 145 (9), 855.
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What’s the point of homework?

Deputy Dean, School of Education, Western Sydney University

Disclosure statement

Katina Zammit does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Homework hasn’t changed much in the past few decades. Most children are still sent home with about an hour’s worth of homework each day, mostly practising what they were taught in class.

If we look internationally, homework is assigned in every country that participated in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2012.

Across the participating countries, 15-year-old students reported spending almost five hours per week doing homework in 2012. Australian students spent six hours per week on average on homework. Students in Singapore spent seven hours on homework, and in Shanghai, China they did homework for about 14 hours per week on average.

Read more: Aussie students are a year behind students 10 years ago in science, maths and reading

Shanghai and Singapore routinely score higher than Australia in the PISA maths, science and reading tests. But homework could just be one of the factors leading to higher results. In Finland, which also scores higher than Australia, students spent less than three hours on homework per week.

So, what’s the purpose of homework and what does the evidence say about whether it fulfils its purpose?

Why do teachers set homework?

Each school in Australia has its own homework policy developed in consultation with teachers and parents or caregivers, under the guiding principles of state or regional education departments.

For instance, according to the New South Wales homework policy “… tasks should be assigned by teachers with a specific, explicit learning purpose”.

Homework in NSW should also be “purposeful and designed to meet specific learning goals”, and “built on knowledge, skills and understanding developed in class”. But there is limited, if any, guidance on how often homework should be set.

Research based on teacher interviews shows they set homework for a range of reasons. These include to:

establish and improve communication between parents and children about learning

help children be more responsible, confident and disciplined

practise or review material from class

determine children’s understanding of the lesson and/or skills

introduce new material to be presented in class

provide students with opportunities to apply and integrate skills to new situations or interest areas

get students to use their own skills to create work.

So, does homework achieve what teachers intend it to?

Do we know if it ‘works’?

Studies on homework are frequently quite general, and don’t consider specific types of homework tasks. So it isn’t easy to measure how effective homework could be, or to compare studies.

But there are several things we can say.

First, it’s better if every student gets the kind of homework task that benefits them personally, such as one that helps them answer questions they had, or understand a problem they couldn’t quite grasp in class. This promotes students’ confidence and control of their own learning.

Read more: Learning from home is testing students' online search skills. Here are 3 ways to improve them

Giving students repetitive tasks may not have much value . For instance, calculating the answer to 120 similar algorithms, such as adding two different numbers 120 times may make the student think maths is irrelevant and boring. In this case, children are not being encouraged to find solutions but simply applying a formula they learnt in school.

In primary schools, homework that aims to improve children’s confidence and learning discipline can be beneficial. For example, children can be asked to practise giving a presentation on a topic of their interest. This could help build their competence in speaking in front of a class.

Young boy holding a microphone in the living room.

Homework can also highlight equity issues. It can be particularly burdensome for socioeconomically disadvantaged students who may not have a space, the resources or as much time due to family and work commitments. Their parents may also not feel capable of supporting them or have their own work commitments.

According to the PISA studies mentioned earlier, socioeconomically disadvantaged 15 year olds spend nearly three hours less on homework each week than their advantaged peers.

Read more: 'I was astonished at how quickly they made gains': online tutoring helps struggling students catch up

What kind of homework is best?

Homework can be engaging and contribute to learning if it is more than just a sheet of maths or list of spelling words not linked to class learning. From summarising various studies’ findings, “good” homework should be:

personalised to each child rather than the same for all students in the class. This is more likely to make a difference to a child’s learning and performance

achievable, so the child can complete it independently, building skills in managing their time and behaviour

aligned to the learning in the classroom.

If you aren’t happy with the homework your child is given then approach the school. If your child is having difficulty with doing the homework, the teacher needs to know. It shouldn’t be burdensome for you or your children.

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When Is Homework Stressful? Its Effects on Students’ Mental Health

Are you wondering when is homework stressful? Well, homework is a vital constituent in keeping students attentive to the course covered in a class. By applying the lessons, students learned in class, they can gain a mastery of the material by reflecting on it in greater detail and applying what they learned through homework.

However, students get advantages from homework, as it improves soft skills like organisation and time management which are important after high school. However, the additional work usually causes anxiety for both the parents and the child. As their load of homework accumulates, some students may find themselves growing more and more bored.

Students may take assistance online and ask someone to do my online homework . As there are many platforms available for the students such as Chegg, Scholarly Help, and Quizlet offering academic services that can assist students in completing their homework on time.

Negative impact of homework

There are the following reasons why is homework stressful and leads to depression for students and affect their mental health. As they work hard on their assignments for alarmingly long periods, students’ mental health is repeatedly put at risk. Here are some serious arguments against too much homework.

No uniqueness

Homework should be intended to encourage children to express themselves more creatively. Teachers must assign kids intriguing assignments that highlight their uniqueness. similar to writing an essay on a topic they enjoy.

Moreover, the key is encouraging the child instead of criticizing him for writing a poor essay so that he can express himself more creatively.

Lack of sleep

One of the most prevalent adverse effects of schoolwork is lack of sleep. The average student only gets about 5 hours of sleep per night since they stay up late to complete their homework, even though the body needs at least 7 hours of sleep every day. Lack of sleep has an impact on both mental and physical health.

No pleasure

Students learn more effectively while they are having fun. They typically learn things more quickly when their minds are not clouded by fear. However, the fear factor that most teachers introduce into homework causes kids to turn to unethical means of completing their assignments.

Excessive homework

The lack of coordination between teachers in the existing educational system is a concern. As a result, teachers frequently end up assigning children far more work than they can handle. In such circumstances, children turn to cheat on their schoolwork by either copying their friends’ work or using online resources that assist with homework.

Anxiety level

Homework stress can increase anxiety levels and that could hurt the blood pressure norms in young people . Do you know? Around 3.5% of young people in the USA have high blood pressure. So why is homework stressful for children when homework is meant to be enjoyable and something they look forward to doing? It is simple to reject this claim by asserting that schoolwork is never enjoyable, yet with some careful consideration and preparation, homework may become pleasurable.

No time for personal matters

Students that have an excessive amount of homework miss out on personal time. They can’t get enough enjoyment. There is little time left over for hobbies, interpersonal interaction with colleagues, and other activities.

However, many students dislike doing their assignments since they don’t have enough time. As they grow to detest it, they can stop learning. In any case, it has a significant negative impact on their mental health.

Children are no different than everyone else in need of a break. Weekends with no homework should be considered by schools so that kids have time to unwind and prepare for the coming week. Without a break, doing homework all week long might be stressful.

How do parents help kids with homework?

Encouraging children’s well-being and health begins with parents being involved in their children’s lives. By taking part in their homework routine, you can see any issues your child may be having and offer them the necessary support.

Set up a routine

Your student will develop and maintain good study habits if you have a clear and organized homework regimen. If there is still a lot of schoolwork to finish, try putting a time limit. Students must obtain regular, good sleep every single night.

Observe carefully

The student is ultimately responsible for their homework. Because of this, parents should only focus on ensuring that their children are on track with their assignments and leave it to the teacher to determine what skills the students have and have not learned in class.

Listen to your child

One of the nicest things a parent can do for their kids is to ask open-ended questions and listen to their responses. Many kids are reluctant to acknowledge they are struggling with their homework because they fear being labelled as failures or lazy if they do.

However, every parent wants their child to succeed to the best of their ability, but it’s crucial to be prepared to ease the pressure if your child starts to show signs of being overburdened with homework.

Talk to your teachers

Also, make sure to contact the teacher with any problems regarding your homework by phone or email. Additionally, it demonstrates to your student that you and their teacher are working together to further their education.

Homework with friends

If you are still thinking is homework stressful then It’s better to do homework with buddies because it gives them these advantages. Their stress is reduced by collaborating, interacting, and sharing with peers.

Additionally, students are more relaxed when they work on homework with pals. It makes even having too much homework manageable by ensuring they receive the support they require when working on the assignment. Additionally, it improves their communication abilities.

However, doing homework with friends guarantees that one learns how to communicate well and express themselves.

Review homework plan

Create a schedule for finishing schoolwork on time with your child. Every few weeks, review the strategy and make any necessary adjustments. Gratefully, more schools are making an effort to control the quantity of homework assigned to children to lessen the stress this produces.

Bottom line

Finally, be aware that homework-related stress is fairly prevalent and is likely to occasionally affect you or your student. Sometimes all you or your kid needs to calm down and get back on track is a brief moment of comfort. So if you are a student and wondering if is homework stressful then you must go through this blog.

While homework is a crucial component of a student’s education, when kids are overwhelmed by the amount of work they have to perform, the advantages of homework can be lost and grades can suffer. Finding a balance that ensures students understand the material covered in class without becoming overburdened is therefore essential.

Zuella Montemayor did her degree in psychology at the University of Toronto. She is interested in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.

Psychreg is a digital media company and not a clinical company. Our content does not constitute a medical or psychological consultation. See a certified medical or mental health professional for diagnosis.

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The Dangers of Homework and How to Manage Stress

In my latest slate post I talked about the threats that come from homework and how to manage it, but most recently I’ve been trying to start up study groups to help manage people’s stress. These study groups will be in groups of seven students that are already familiar with each other so they are not afraid to ask for help which has been a problem in the past. So this will help encourage students to ask for assistance as this is one good way to eliminate stress. It will also help with time management which is also another tool to fight stress, especially if it’s long term. As you will need to meet once, maybe even two times a week for an hour to study for a test or help one of your peers with their homework. I chose to do my You & The World Project on the stress of homework because it’s something I have experienced in the past, as of many others as well. It’s also a really untalked about subject it’s often overshadowed by many other serious problems. Probably because most don’t know the dangers of it, as I myself didn’t know what it could do until I did research on it. It can cause various mental health problems like, anxiety, and depppresion. It’s one of the silent killers, so I brought more attention to it and came up with a way to combat it, the study group. Which has seemed to work so far for me, as I have studied with my friends to help test it, and was proven successful. I will likely pitch my idea to the princable, hoping to form this club. I will be have using a google slide show to help sponsor idea. I feel like this project has a lot of value that just hasn’t been uncovered yet, as it can benefit many people, not just myself and the students. But the teachers and the families of stressed young ones, as it can bring down many people. I wish for this to be in person as it would be much easier to orchestrate, as of right now I’m online and it is hard to start a club that it primarily done face to face. I hope this club will last once I have graduated from high school so it can help future students, benefiting all and I hope this will inspire other students to bring awareness to this subject and hopefully it can get talked about at other schools as well as community centers. This will be one way to help defeat not just anxiety but stress as a whole.

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3 Surprising Health Risks of Working From Home

Alex Dos Diaz / Verywell

Key Takeaways

More people are working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While avoiding the office and staying socially distant is crucial to stopping the spread of the virus, working from home can bring about other health concerns.
A recent study found that 41.2% of at-home workers report low back pain and 23.5% experience neck pain.
Experts say that many of these health issues can be prevented or alleviated by taking simple measures to improve your work-from-home environment.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic , more people around the world are working remotely. While the measure has been critical to helping control the spread of the virus, it hasn't come without compromise. As the number of people working from home has increased, healthcare providers have seen a rise in work-related injuries that are unique to the home environment.

That said, experts are hoping to reassure the remote workforce that many of these problems can be prevented or alleviated by taking simple steps to improve your at-home workspace.

Early Research

A small study conducted by researchers in Itlay has provided early insight into the potential impact that the increase in working from home amid the COVID-19 could have.

The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, surveyed 51 at-home workers in Italy. The results showed that 41.2% of at-home workers reported low back pain, while 23.5% reported neck pain. About half of the respondents said that their neck pain (50%) had gotten worse since they started working from home.

While the study was small and limited in scope, it asks some important questions for employees who are trying to minimize the physical and emotional toll of their new work life. The good news is, there are some practical solutions that most workers can benefit from.

What This Means For You

If you're working from home, there are a few proactive steps you can take to help protect your physical and mental wellbeing. Take frequent breaks (set a reminder alarm if you need to), try to reduce your screen time when you can, get regular exercise, avoid eating at your desk or workspace, and stick to defined working hours.

When you aren't working, look for safe and socially distant ways to connect with others. If you notice any new or worsening health issues, be sure to talk to your provider.

Musculoskeletal Pain

Musculoskeletal pain from a not-quite-right desk set-up, unsupportive chair, or just long hours sitting down is a common problem among workers—both in an office setting and at home.

Meredith Christiansen, DPT, PhD , specializes in ergonomics at Fern Health , where she is a clinical scientist for the at-home musculoskeletal pain care program.

Christiansen recommends placing your computer monitor about arms' length away and keeping your hips and knees at a 90-degree angle. It also helps to avoid sitting on the couch or in bed for prolonged periods.

While proper ergonomic alignment matters, Christiansen tells Verywell that it's even more important to get up and move or change positions every hour of your workday. For example, try alternating between sitting at the dining room table and standing at the kitchen counter (which could serve as a standing desk).

If you're still uncomfortable, don't ignore it. "If you are in pain, it’s important to get it managed right away, so it doesn’t become a more chronic issue," Christiansen says.

After hours at your computer, you've probably felt your vision going a little blurry or even developed a slight headache. Eye strain is a common complaint, but one that is on the rise in remote workers.

Danielle Richardson, OD , optometrist, a consultant for Johnson & Johnson Vision, and the founder of Fierce Clarity (a holistic lifestyle and wellness company), tells Verywell that sustained focus on screens is the main reason people working at home experience increased eye strain.

"There are eye muscles that contract when we look up close, and when we look away they relax," Richardson says. "Everything we are doing is on a screen right now, and so there are fewer visual breaks. Meetings are happening via Zoom, people are sending emails instead of speaking to co-workers, and eating lunch in front of the screen."

Richardson recommends adjusting the angle of your computer screen to be 15 to 20 degrees below the horizontal eye level.

Another contributor to eye straight is the " blue light " emitted from screens, which can disrupt vision. "Blue light focuses in front of the retina, so the eye has to work harder to focus on the screen with that wavelength," Richardson says. "Wearing glasses that filter out the blue light will make digital devices more comfortable.

Richardson recommends following the 20-20-20 Rule: Every 20 minutes, take a screen break and focus on an object that's 20 feet away from you for at least 20 seconds.

Getting up and moving can also help. "I encourage my patients to go for a walk, or have a cup of coffee or tea and look outside," Richardson says.

Glasses and Contact Lenses

If you try making these changes but eye strain and headaches persist, it might be time to make an appointment with an optometrist to see if glasses would help.

"We are prescribing a lot more 'computer glasses,' prescription glasses specifically to relax the muscles while they look at the computer screen," Richardson says. "Even that little bit of extra work can trigger migraines."

If you prefer contact lenses to glasses, she says "daily disposable contact lenses are thinner and more breathable than monthly or two-week lenses. We’ve been switching a lot of patients to make them more comfortable."

If you decide to go the contact lens route, Richardson recommends using a hydrogen peroxide-based contact lens cleaning solution to prevent the build-up of debris.

Richardson also recommends using a lubricant for dry eyes . "Whenever you are doing sustained near work you blink less, so I recommend over the counter artificial tears."

Mental Health

Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD , a professor of public health at New Mexico State University, is currently researching the mental health effects of working from home.

Khubchandani has identified several commonalities among those who work from home and have increased health risks. “American homes were not designed to be offices," Khubchandani tells Verywell. "Indoor environmental parameters are not well examined in the home office setting." Khubchandani's study shows how a poor indoor environment can lead to headaches and pain disorders.

“More people are working a greater number of hours, and there are no office time boundaries,” he says. “The lack of scheduled work times will take away from leisure time and as is, people are socializing less and there is lesser human contact, which is a big risk for mental health issues.”

In addition to the effects on mental health, isolation and a sedentary lifestyle also contribute to weight gain and obesity. In some cases, a lack of workplace-related health services might allow preexisting health issues to get worse, and preventative care could suffer as well.

On the upside, some participants in Khubchandani's study reported better health since they began working remotely. “Some individuals are now less likely to skip meals, fast, or eat unhealthy due to having more control over their lives, such as saved commute time."

Beyond physical health, the benefits of being at home more can extend to emotional wellbeing and even productivity. “More opportunities to stay with children and family means greater cooking at home as well and improved diet and sleep and social bonding for some,” Khubchandani says. “Studies have shown greater productivity in remote work, another health benefiting impact for some workers.”

Moretti A, Menna F, Aulicino M, Paoletta M, Liguori S, Iolascon G. Characterization of home working population during COVID-19 emergency: A cross-sectional analysis . Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2020;17(17):6284. doi:10.3390/ijerph17176284

Tietjen GE, Khubchandani J, Ghosh S, Bhattacharjee S, Kleinfelder J. Headache symptoms and indoor environmental parameters: Results from the EPA BASE study . Ann Indian Acad Neurol . 2012;15(Suppl 1):S95-S99. doi:10.4103/0972-2327.100029

By Cyra-Lea Drummond, BSN, RN Cyra-Lea, BSN, RN, is a writer and nurse specializing in heart health and cardiac care.

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Pros And Cons Of Doing Homework
Click to learn the hazards of homework and why the research says it is

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COMMENTS

Health Hazards of Homework
Health Hazards of Homework. Pediatrics. A new study by the Stanford Graduate School of Education and colleagues found that students in high-performing schools who did excessive hours of homework "experienced greater behavioral engagement in school but also more academic stress, physical health problems, and lack of balance in their lives.".
More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research
Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor. • Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The ...
Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in
Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health ...
Is homework a necessary evil?
Beyond that point, kids don't absorb much useful information, Cooper says. In fact, too much homework can do more harm than good. Researchers have cited drawbacks, including boredom and burnout toward academic material, less time for family and extracurricular activities, lack of sleep and increased stress.
Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in
For older students, Kang says, homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night. "Most students, especially at these high achieving schools, they're doing a minimum of three hours, and it's ...
Homework could have an impact on kids' health. Should schools ban it?
Elementary school kids are dealing with large amounts of homework. Howard County Library System, CC BY-NC-ND. One in 10 children report spending multiple hours on homework. There are no benefits ...
Stanford research shows pitfalls of homework
A Stanford researcher found that students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance and even alienation ...
Homework could have an effect on kids' health. Should schools ban it?
Studies indicate a negative relationship between children's amount of homework and their physical health. By Gerald K. LeTendre. September 2, 2015 at 8:01 a.m. EDT. (BigStock) Reformers in the ...
Homework as a Mental Health Concern
It's time for an in depth discussion about homework as a major concern for those pursuing mental health in schools. So many problems between kids and their families, the home and school, and students and teachers arise from conflicts over homework. The topic is a long standing concern for mental health practitioners, especially those who work ...
Is homework making your child sick?
Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children's lives; 56% of the ...
Key Lessons: What Research Says About the Value of Homework
Too much homework may diminish its effectiveness. While research on the optimum amount of time students should spend on homework is limited, there are indications that for high school students, 1½ to 2½ hours per night is optimum. Middle school students appear to benefit from smaller amounts (less than 1 hour per night).
Barriers Associated with the Implementation of Homework in Youth Mental
Introduction. Homework, or between-session practice of skills learned during therapy, is one of the most integral, yet underutilized components of high-quality, evidence-based mental health care (Kazantzis & Deane, 1999).Homework activities (e.g., self-monitoring, relaxation, exposure, parent behavior management) are assigned by providers in-session and completed by patients between sessions ...
Should We Get Rid of Homework?
The authors believe this meritocratic narrative is a myth and that homework — math homework in particular — further entrenches the myth in the minds of teachers and their students.
Is your child's homework harming their health?
When asked how homework affects them, students reported lack of sleep, headaches, exhaustion and stomach problems. Students reported that due to the necessity of keeping their grades up, homework often came first before spending time with friends, attending after school activities or cultivating hobbies or talents outside of academic work.
PDF Is it time to get rid of homework? Mental health experts weigh in
Emmy Kang, mental health counselor at Humantold, says studies have shown heavy workloads can be "detrimental" for students and cause a "big impact on their mental, physical and emotional health ...
Study: Too Much Homework Can Make Your Child Sick
A new study found that too much homework is bad for children's health. Researchers at Stanford say hitting the books for three or more hours a night won't necessarily make a child perform ...
Homework: The Good and The Bad
The impact of homework may also depend on socioeconomic status. Students from higher income families show improved academic skills with more homework and gain more knowledge from homework, according to research. On the other hand, the academic performance of more disadvantaged children seems to be unaffected by homework (6, 7).
What's the point of homework?
These include to: establish and improve communication between parents and children about learning. help children be more responsible, confident and disciplined. practise or review material from ...
When Is Homework Stressful? Its Effects on Students' Mental Health
Lack of sleep. One of the most prevalent adverse effects of schoolwork is lack of sleep. The average student only gets about 5 hours of sleep per night since they stay up late to complete their homework, even though the body needs at least 7 hours of sleep every day. Lack of sleep has an impact on both mental and physical health.
The Dangers of Homework and How to Manage Stress
The Dangers of Homework and How to Manage Stress. Posted by Ike Kelman in English 1 · Giknis · Y Band on Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 11:55 am. In my latest slate post I talked about the threats that come from homework and how to manage it, but most recently I've been trying to start up study groups to help manage people's stress.
3 Surprising Health Risks of Working From Home
The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, surveyed 51 at-home workers in Italy. The results showed that 41.2% of at-home workers reported low back pain, while 23.5% reported neck pain. About half of the respondents said that their neck pain (50%) had gotten worse since they started working ...
(PDF) Occupational Hazard Assessment (Homework Assignment)
Abstract. This week's homework gives you [class students] experience conducting a practical evaluation of a health hazard in either an occupational or a hospital setting, and developing ...