Mental Health and Wellbeing at Schools: Health Promotion in Primary Schools with the Use of Digital Methods

Abstract

Mental health disorders among primary school children remain a crucial issue. Early health promotion interventions can positively affect and prevent the onset of mental disorders. Promising digital mental health methods have been implemented for adolescents and youths with scarce evidence among younger ages. Therefore, the aim of the current systematic review was to identify health promotion interventions on mental health and wellbeing, with the use of digital methods, delivered in primary school settings. Six digital interventions have been identified, three of which were targeting teachers and the others students. Regardless of the limited number of studies, the effectiveness of the web-based interventions upon teachers’ knowledge and attitudes and the positive impact on children’s behavioral improvements has been documented. The lack of adequate evidence highlights the need for further research in the field. The current review provides information for professionals working in primary schools useful for the design and implementation of effective mental health and wellbeing interventions.

Mental health services in the school environment—Future visions using a phenomenographic approach

“…Nevertheless, The attitude of solidarity in mental health issues is more related to Vision 1 and to the salutogenic approach. Consistent with our findings related to the other necessary changes at this level, Sakellari et al (2021) reported promising results in their study concerning the use of digital interventions in mental health issues in school settings. The need for an improvement in competence in mental health issues has also been reported earlier (see for example Gee et al, 2021).…”

“…Conversely, health promotion is a cornerstone in the profession of SNs (WHO, 2021a), and the focus on mental health issues should be in promotion, prevention and early interventions, according to the political strategies and guidelines (Vorma et al, 2020, WHO, 2021b). According to earlier research, promotive interventions are beneficial (O'Connor et al, 2017; Sakellari et al, 2021) and preventive interventions cost‐effective (Feldman et al, 2020; Vartiainen et al, 2021). The results of our study tend to indicate that these interventions are underused.…”

“…According to earlier research, promotive interventions are beneficial (O'Connor et al, 2017;Sakellari et al, 2021) and preventive interventions cost-effective (Feldman et al, 2020;Vartiainen et al, 2021). The…”

“…School‐based mental health promotion seems to be beneficial (O'Connor et al, 2017; Sakellari et al, 2021) and preventive interventions have proved to be cost‐effective (Feldman et al, 2020; Vartiainen et al, 2021). In the mental health field, promotion and prevention are interrelated and overlap but nevertheless distinct concepts.…”

Competences for promoting mental health in primary school

“…This study also confirms some of the features of effective methods documented in the literature (Langford et al, 2014;Shackleton et al, 2016), including the use of digital technology (Sakellari et al, 2021), for mental health promotion. These include a commitment to inclusivity and the multidimensionality in interventions, and a focus on facilitators' competence (Shackleton et al, 2016).…”