Early adolescents’ experiences of a school- and community-based prevention program: perceived ‘bridges’ and ‘walls’ to promoting mental health and wellbeing

Abstract

Objective: The prevalence of mental health difficulties among children and adolescents is rising. This study aimed to explore early adolescents' lived experiences of a school-and community-based prevention programme, including what helps, why, and when.Method: Seventy-eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with early adolescents (aged 10 to 13) as part of the evaluation of HeadStart, a UK-based programme. A reflexive thematic analysis was conducted to explore participants' engagement with the programme and their experiences of a range of interventions. A typology was developed to facilitate comparisons between participants' experiences. Results:The typology consisted of five groups, including early adolescents who described positive or helpful experiences of HeadStart support, those who wanted more support, those who described more mixed or unhelpful experiences of support, and those who did not report receiving much or any support. Cross-group themes highlighted the 'bridges' that interventions can build to promote mental health and wellbeing, e.g., learning new coping or problem-solving skills. There was more variation between the groups in terms of the 'walls' (e.g., issues with intervention content, timing, or location) that may limit intervention effectiveness. There were also some group differences in terms of the other sources of social support that participants had access to and the level of difficulties that they were facing in their lives. Discussion:The findings suggest that intervention developers should tailor design and delivery according to different profiles of early adolescents who may be more or less able or willing to accept help, and who may experience different formats, structures, and content of support as either more or less useful.