Here are a few journal articles:

Pazaratz, Don. (1998). Intervention Strategies with a Behavior Disordered Male Residential treatment for children and youth, 16/2. pp. 1-12. This paper describes residential treatment issues and techniques that were used with Gary V, a 15 year old adolescent labelled behavior disordered. Due to his sullen indifference escalating easily into aggression, staff found it difficult to develop a collaborative or therapeutic relationship with Gary. Gary's interactions, in the milieu, were used to teach him experiences of the self (self-esteem), social skills functioning and self-control. Interpretive methods are used over a twenty-three month period to describe, analyze and give meaning to the nature of Gary V.s treatment experience.

Fitzherbert, Kay. (Winter 1997). Promoting Inclusion: The Work Of The Pyramid Trust Emotional And Behavioural Difficulties, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 30-5.
This paper looks at exclusion as a mental health issue. It describes the aims of the National Pyramid Trust and its work to reduce exclusion by boosting the self-esteem and resilience of primary age children causing their teachers concern. The Trust uses a package of three measures: systematic identification of 7 and 8 year old children at risk of social and educational failure in school, multi-agency consultation to formulate a preventive strategy on their behalf and short term activity group therapy to promote confidence, social skills and maturation.

Schofield, Gillian; Brown, Kate. (1999). Being there: a family centre worker's role as a secure base for adolescent girls in crisis. Child and family social work, 4/1. pp. 21-32.
Childcare social work practice with troubled adolescent girls can benefit from drawing on attachment theory, not only as a framework for understanding their relationship history and current behaviour but also as a framework for defining the nature and potential value of a specific kind of relationship provided by the social worker. This paper offers an analysis of the relevance of attachment theory for work with adolescent girls, particularly models of secure and insecure attachments, and examines practice experience in a family centre setting. The young women referred to the family centre had experienced a range of adversities, including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, which had seriously affected their development. They were drifting outside the systems of family, education and local authority care, because none of these could hold onto them. The paper describes how the social worker aimed to change their internal working model by offering them a different kind of relationship experience. She provided a secure base from which they could begin to develop trust, to repair their self-esteem and to build a sense of self-efficacy - the necessary ingredients for resilience and for more successful future relationships.

Robinson, Lena. (2000). Racial Identity Attitudes and Self-Esteem of Black Adolescents in Residential Care: An Exploratory Study. British Journal of Social Work. 30/1, 3-24.
The study examined and compared the racial identity attitudes and self-esteem of 40 African Caribbean adolescents in residential care in a city in the West Midlands and a comparison group of 40 African Caribbean adolescents attending a multiracial comprehensive school in the city. The respondents were administered the Rosenberg (Rosenberg, 1965) Self-Esteem Scale, the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (Parham and Helms, 1981) and a Demographic Questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. Both respondents in residential care and the comparison group primarily endorsed positive racial attitudes. Self-esteem and racial identity attitudes were positively related. The study assessed the implications of the findings for social workers working with black children and adolescents.

Tucker, Carolyn M; Herman, Keith C; Brady, Beverly A; Fraser, Kathryn P. (1995). Operation Positive Expression: a behavior change program for adolescent halfway house residents. Residential treatment for Children and Youth, 13/2. pp. 67-80.
Operation Positive Expression (OPE) was constructed as a group treatment intervention to facilitate assertiveness (versus aggressiveness), self-esteem, and success behaviors among female adolescents at a north central Florida halfway house. The goal was to demonstrate the effectiveness of OPE. ... The findings suggest that OPE is a practical and potentially beneficial programme for residents at halfway houses and similar residential treatment programmes for adolescents.

Wright, Nancy A. (1995). Social skills training for conduct-disordered boys in residential treatment: a promising approach Residential treatment for children and youth, 12/4. pp. 15-28 .
Describes a cognitive-behavioural social skills training programme designed for preadolescent conduct-disordered boys in residential treatment. Programme evaluation findings demonstrate consistent improvement in social skills competency and significant positive changes in self-esteem and self-control. Outcome data on 30 boys one year after discharge suggest that the programme has potential long-term benefits. Key elements contributing to the programme's success seem to be: (1) recognising that there is a multiplicity of disabilities in these boys; (2) shared treatment philosophy; (3) involvement of counsellors; and (4) ongoing programme evaluation.

Bagley, Christopher; LaChance, Marguerite. (2000). Evaluation of a family-based programme for the treatment of child sexual abuse. Child and Family Social Work, 5/3. pp. 205-13 .
A treatment programme for child victims of sexual abuse within the family has been evaluated in terms of psychological and behavioural outcomes for the young people two years after beginning therapy. The Canadian programme was based on principles established by Ciarretto in his Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (CSATP). Screening by child protection workers selected potential candidates. However, because of limited resources, referral of less than half of the originally screened families was made, even though they were judged suitable for participation. This made available an untreated comparison group (n = 30), similar in many ways to the treated families (n = 27). After two years the treated adolescents had largely recovered levels of self-esteem obtained in normative samples, and depressive affect had diminished markedly, as had problem behaviours. By contrast, the untreated adolescents had retained low levels of self-esteem, and high levels of depression. Negative behaviours (delinquency, running away from home, acts of deliberate self-harm) had deteriorated after two years. This was linked both to further within-family abuse (in a fifth), followed by a drift in some into street life. Despite its apparent success, the CSATP could not be continued because of lack of funding, and problems in maintaining a community development model for supporting a humanistic programme.

MacIntyre, Deirdre; Carr, Alan; Lawlor, Maria; Flattery, Michael. (2000). Development of the Stay Safe programme. Child Abuse Review Vol. 9:3. pp. 200-216.
The development and implementation of the Stay Safe programme is described in this paper. The programme, which was developed in the Republic of Ireland, is a culturally sensitive developmentally staged child abuse prevention. It is a multisystemic programme insofar as it includes modules for teachers, parents and children. It also involves liaison with local child protection and child health professionals as an integral part of implementation. Multimedia-based instruction is employed to facilitate multimodal leaning. The broad curriculum covers bullying and child abuse as two related forms of victimization. Disclosure training, assertiveness training and coercion management training are included in the curriculum, which also focuses on enhancing self-esteem and the promotion of peer support.

Rose, Melvyn. (2000). The Land at the Back of the Moon. Residential treatment for Children & Youth, 18/1. pp.1- 14.
Many students in residential treatment have high potential but low self-esteem and achievement, with correspondingly high resistance to treatment. They may best be reached through involvement in their Peer Group led by the Director and his staff in a therapeutic community.

Coleman, John. (March/April 2001). Self-esteem: towards a better understanding Young minds magazine, no. 51, pp. 18-19.
Self-esteem has long been seen as a vital measure of adjustment and mental health. Yet it is a complex concept and recent research suggests we need to know a good deal more before we can be sure which interventions will work for which young people.