Impact of a Web Program to Support the Mental Wellbeing of High School Students: A Quasi Experimental Feasibility Study

Anttila, Minna; Sittichai, Ruthaychonnee; Katajisto, Jouko; Välimäki, Maritta

doi:10.3390/ijerph16142473

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Improvements in positive outcomes, such as resilience, were found to be greater for ethnic subgroups in Sarkar et al (2017), highlighting the potential for life skills interventions to reduce disparities among ethnic minority groups. Programmes involving families and the wider community reported improvements in attitudes to suicide (Arenas-Monreal et al, 2022) and gender attitudes and reduced physical punishment at home which was more significant for females (Karmaliani et al, 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A scoping review of the implementation and cultural adaptation of school-based mental health promotion and prevention interventions in low-and middle-income countries

Harte,

Barry

2024

Camb. prisms Glob. ment. health

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Effective school-based mental health promotion and prevention interventions in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) can positively impact the mental health and well-being of large numbers of young people. This scoping review aimed to investigate the implementation of effective mental health promotion and prevention interventions in LMIC schools. A scoping review of the international literature was conducted and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Medline, PsycInfo, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL and Cochrane were searched for peer-reviewed literature published from 2014 to 2022. PsycExtra, Google Scholar and the websites of key organisations were searched for relevant grey literature. Study selection focussed on mental health promotion interventions, including the development of social and emotional skills and mental health literacy, and prevention interventions, including anti-bullying and skill-based interventions for "at-risk" students. Twenty-seven studies evaluating 25 school-based interventions in 17 LMICs were included in the review. Fifteen interventions were developed in the implementing country and 10 were adapted from high-income countries (HICs) or other settings. Findings from the studies reviewed were generally positive, especially when interventions were implemented to a high quality. Universal life-skills interventions were found to increase social and emotional skills, decrease problem behaviours and positively impact students' mental health and well-being. Mental health literacy interventions increased mental health knowledge and decreased stigma among students and school staff. Outcomes for externally facilitated antibullying interventions were less positive. All 19 effective studies reported on some aspects of programme implementation, and 15 monitored implementation fidelity. Eleven studies outlined the programme's underpinning theoretical model. Only four studies reported on the cultural adaptation of programmes in detail. Including young people in the adaptation process was reported to facilitate natural cultural adaptation of programmes, while input from programme developers was considered key to ensuring that the core components of interventions were retained. The review findings indicate increasing evidence of effective mental health interventions in LMIC schools. To facilitate the sustainability, replication and scaling-up of these interventions, greater attention is needed to reporting on intervention core components, and the processes of implementation and cultural adaptation in the local setting. Impact statementEffective school-based mental health promotion and prevention interventions in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) can positively impact the mental health and well-being of large numbers of young people. This scoping review sought to map the peer-reviewed and grey literature published from 2014 to 2022 on the process of implementing effective mental health promotion and prevention interventio...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All of the studies reviewed evaluated interventions that were delivered face-to-face in the school setting, apart from the study by Anttila et al ( 2019 ) which evaluated “DepisNet-Thai”, a web-based programme. Interventions were implemented in primary schools (N = 8), middle schools (N = 6) and secondary schools (N = 11).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A scoping review of the implementation and cultural adaptation of school-based mental health promotion and prevention interventions in low-and middle-income countries

Harte,

Barry

2024

Camb. prisms Glob. ment. health

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“…A formal power calculation was not conducted as this small-scale study also focused on feasibility. 34 According to a previous study carried out in a school setting, 35 given the effect size of 0.64, with a statistical power of 0.8 and a confidence level of 0.05, a sample of about 138 subjects was needed. This is similar to other studies that have tested universal programs (n=146 adolescents; 23 n=157 adolescents; 22 ), although sample sizes have varied in previous studies from 78 21 to 1767.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact and Feasibility of Information Technology to Support Adolescent Well-Being and Mental Health at School: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Anttila¹,

Ylitalo²,

Kurki³

et al. 2021

JMDH

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Health-related behaviors that arise during adolescence can have important, sometimes lifelong, implications on a person's health. Psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diagnoses among minors have increased, and the related depressive symptoms may negatively affect quality of life. There is great potential for information technology (IT) to benefit the area of mental health for adolescents, and schools can serve as a setting in which this can be done. We tested whether the IT-based program "DepisNet" could be used as a universal school-based program to support adolescents' well-being and mental health. Patients and Methods: We used a quasi-experimental, pre-post design with two preference arms (intervention and control groups). The study setting comprised two lower secondary schools (N=151 adolescents) in one city in Finland. To analyze the impact of the program, we compared the changes in the outcome measures between the two groups using T-tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests. We analyzed the changes within the groups using T-tests and Wilcoxon tests. Results: Our analysis revealed no statistically significant differences between the groups in any of the outcomes (depression, quality of life, self-esteem, self-efficacy). Regarding adolescents' quality of life, the observed change was more positive in the intervention group, compared to that of the control group (change mean 1.36 vs −0.49), although statistical significance was not achieved (p=0.10). Our results indicated encouraging results related to the feasibility components: adherence and acceptance. Conclusion: Universal interventions and programs that relate to adolescent well-being and mental health can be integrated into school curricula to promote the awareness of adolescents' general well-being and mental health issues.

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“…167 Neurourbanist-public health research collaborations could further investigate strategies to mitigate risks for vulnerable groups by researching biophysical and neurological responses to urban features, including temperature ranges, noise levels, and odors, 168 or to particular settings (eg, transportation corridors, 169 foliage 170 ). Preventionbased research could seek to implement online programs to support mental health 171 or digital health promotion initiatives for young people in areas at high risk for adverse mental health experiences (eg, adolescent girls in urban slums 172 ). Finally, public health-planning collaborations could use geolocated and social media data to study how young people make decisions in space that may affect relevant behavior (eg, physical activity) 74 or to examine the effects of distinct soundscapes (eg, plazas, outdoor malls) and infrastructures (eg, green infrastructure), or conduct qualitative document analyses that link local zoning policies with active transport goals.…”

Section: Proposed Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Do Urban Environments Affect Young People’s Mental Health? A Novel Conceptual Framework to Bridge Public Health, Planning, and Neurourbanism

2021

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Childhood and adolescence are crucial periods for mental and social development. Currently, mental illness among young people is a global epidemic, and rates of disorders such as depression and anxiety are rising. Urban living, compared with rural living, is linked with a higher risk of serious mental illness, which is important because the world is urbanizing faster than ever before. Urban environments and their landscapes, designs, and features influence mental health and well-being. However, no conceptual frameworks to date have detailed the effect of urban environments on young people’s mental health, and few studies have considered the growing role of digital and social media in this relationship, leading to calls for the development of holistic approaches to describe this relationship. This article synthesizes existing knowledge on urban places (both built and natural environments) and mental health in the public health and urban planning literature and examines the emerging field of neurourbanism (a multidisciplinary study of the effect of urban environments on mental health and brain activity) to enhance current practice and research. We developed 2 novel conceptual frameworks (1 research-oriented, 1 practice-oriented), adapted from Bronfenbrenner’s socioecological model, that focus on the relationship between urban environments and young people’s mental health. We added a digital and social media contextual level to the socioecological model, and we applied a multilayer concept to highlight potential cross-field interactions and collaborations. The proposed frameworks can help to guide future practice and research in this area.

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Impact of a Web Program to Support the Mental Wellbeing of High School Students: A Quasi Experimental Feasibility Study

Cited by 19 publications

References 62 publications

A scoping review of the implementation and cultural adaptation of school-based mental health promotion and prevention interventions in low-and middle-income countries

A scoping review of the implementation and cultural adaptation of school-based mental health promotion and prevention interventions in low-and middle-income countries

Impact and Feasibility of Information Technology to Support Adolescent Well-Being and Mental Health at School: A Quasi-Experimental Study

How Do Urban Environments Affect Young People’s Mental Health? A Novel Conceptual Framework to Bridge Public Health, Planning, and Neurourbanism

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