The focus of this review is therefore, on universal mental health promotion interventions in schools rather than those that target high-risk individuals or where health education is part of the treatment of a mental health disorder. This review identified and synthesised evidence on the effectiveness of school-based interventions designed to improve mental health literacy and reduce mental health stigma. In lieu of universal mental health programs and direct hiring of clinicians, schools should implement practices that are structural, relevant to their specific environments, or have demonstrated capacity for implementation in education settings. A comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of school-based mental health initiatives on the national level has not been achieved and is likely impossible, given the heterogeneity of programs and services implemented across states, districts, and individual schools. To the extent that students in traditional public schools need mental health services, it will be more difficult to target those students if resources are allocated to universal programs.
Evidence for Different Program and Facilitator Types
On average, 48.9% of students within these schools were girls, 9.2% of Indigenous status, and 23.7% from a language background other than English. Principals could also respond via free-text to provide detail on programs that were used in their school but which were not listed in the program menu. It provided a conceptual framework (rationale) to support a whole-of-school approach and implementation process, comprising step-by-step guides to support implementation and maintenance, as well as staff training, and support personnel. These comprised MindMatters for secondary (middle/high) school students (7th through 12th grades; ages ~ 12–18 years) commencing in 2000, KidsMatter Primary for primary (elementary) school students https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/mental-health-multi-tiered-trauma-informed-school-programs-improve-mental-health-among-youth.html (foundation kindergarten through 6th grade; ages ~ 5–12 years) from 2006, and KidsMatter Early Childhood for preschool aged children from 2010 (Graetz et al., 2008; Littlefield et al., 2017).
Leveraging Implementation Science to Improve the Scale-up of School Mental Health Programming
And it is essential reading for any professional who is responsible for and interested in children’s well-being and development. Also included is an Appendix of specific group activities and exercises that can be put to use in the school setting. We would also like to thank research assistants Irene Muli, Andreas Ekvall, and Paul Bengtsson for their work in the initial parts of the scoping review process.
WHO information series on school health. Three-tiered support for children and families. Mental health gap action Programme intervention guide (mh-GAP-IG) for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings. Mental health gap action Programme intervention guide (mhGAP-IG) for mental, neurological and substance-use disorders in non-specialized health settings. Accelerated action for the health of adolescents (AA-HA!) a manual to facilitate the process of developing national adolescent health strategies and plans. A proposed typology and guidance for systematic reviewers in the medical and health sciences.
Depression brought on by a difficult home life might be better addressed through after-school programs that provide a safe environment away from home. First steps by the education system should more closely address underlying adversity in ways that are natural to schools. The State is responsible for determining which agency is responsible for paying for educational and related services for these children. While high-need students wait for appropriately intensive services and scarce placements to become available, their education is put on pause if they cannot safely be in the classroom.
- This is in line with evidence showing that social contagion can induce depression, suicide, self-harm, gun violence, bullying, cyberbullying, and violent offending.
- Although there is an extensive research literature about school mental health services that examines the effectiveness of prevention programs and interventions, studies rarely focus on the strategies that are used to support the implementation of these interventions in schools.
- Part of the comprehensiveness of the framework is that strategies for promoting mental health and wellbeing spanned from preventively oriented approaches to health promotion while also acknowledged the importance of access to health services.
- Actually, interventions on improving teaching skills to promote a positive classroom atmosphere could potentially benefit children, especially those experiencing a moderate to high level of risks of mental health problems 136, 137.
We thus revised our intervention content to include examples specific to social media use and digital literacy (e.g., soliciting examples of reactive behaviors when using social media, highlighting potential negative patterns of thinking when using social media and how to challenge those thoughts, including examples of how to regulate emotions during social media use). Students shared stories of family members who were not accepting of mental health issues and instead labeled these issues as being “lazy.” We need to normalize, start normalizing the mental health to parents and more kids will be able to get the help they need. Due to conflicting in-school activities, school closures, and unanticipated student absences, students, parents, and school personnel agreed that it would be unreasonable to assume that students would consistently attend sessions. Students, parents, and school personnel favored flexible format offerings that provided students with the option of participating as part of a group or individually depending on their needs and circumstances.
