The Hopeful Minds Programme: A Mixed-method Evaluation of 10 School Curriculum Based, Theoretically Framed, Lessons to Promote Mental Health and Coping Skills in 8–14-year-olds

Abstract

Snyder and colleagues (1994, 2000) pioneered the development of hope in terms of promoting goal-directed thinking, whereby the individual can find routes to goals (pathways thinking), and motivation to use them (agency thinking) (Snyder et al., 2002). As individuals learn to be more hopeful, they may be more able to make commitments, set goals, and work towards attaining them (Shorey et al., 2003). Research shows that hope exists uniquely beyond optimism and positive thinking (Feldman & Kubota, 2015). Since the creation of hope theory, there has been a growing body of research evaluating its role in wellbeing. Low hope is significantly related to negative outcomes: psychological distress (Snyder, LaPointe, Crowson, & Early, 1998); depressive symptoms (Kwon, 2000), poorer academic achievement; disengaged coping styles (Folkman, 2010) and tendencies to engage in self-doubt and negative rumination (Snyder, 1999). Low-hope and negative rumination has been linked to anxiety (Michael, 2000), low emotional regulation (ER), low selfesteem and low social support satisfaction in children and adolescents (Merkaš & Brajša-Žganec, 2011). Those higher in hopeful thinking show positive associations with perceived competence and self-efficacy (Davidson, Feldman, Margalit & 2012), increased confidence (Snyder, 2000), lower emotional distress (Gilman, Dooley, & Florell, 2006), greater use of engaged coping styles (Chang & DeSimone, 2001), and positive coping abilities such as problem solving (Snyder, 2000). Nevertheless, there remains some mixed reports, as a meta-analysis by Weis and Speridakos (2011) found no conclusive evidence that hope enhancement strategies alleviate psychological distress, although Klausner and colleagues (2002) found a hope-based intervention for older adults diagnosed with depression resulted in significant improvements on all measured outcomes (hope, anxiety, and family interactions). Using college students, Brown and colleagues (1999), found they experienced increases in levels of hope, academic performances and self-esteem on completion of a hope-based programme. There is a lack of longitudinal research on the impact of hope interventions (Ciarrochi, Heaven, & Davies, 2007), however one post-primary school study showed that students who had received a hope intervention showed significant increases in levels of hope, self-worth and life satisfaction up to 18 months after completion (Marques, Lopez, & Pais-Ribeiro, 2011). Considering relatively weak evidence base on the effectiveness of hope-based interventions in pre and early adolescent children (not just those at risk), a purposeful theoretically sound intervention was considered necessary. Further there are no curriculum-based programmes which explicitly teach children to develop an innate conceptualisation of hope and goal setting

Fearing the Future: A Call to Teach Hope

“…The level of hope has been regularly assessed in patients, yet limited research exists on the hope in students who will one day treat these patients [18,[21][22][23]. [8,19,20,22,24,25]. Hopeful Minds, for example, is an evidenced-based curriculum designed to teach hope to elementary and middle school students [8,24,25].…”

“…[8,19,20,22,24,25]. Hopeful Minds, for example, is an evidenced-based curriculum designed to teach hope to elementary and middle school students [8,24,25]. Their research suggests that teaching hope is possible and results in an increase in "emotional intelligence, leadership, resiliency, self-esteem, mental health, and the prevention of suicide."…”

“…Their research suggests that teaching hope is possible and results in an increase in "emotional intelligence, leadership, resiliency, self-esteem, mental health, and the prevention of suicide." [8,[24][25][26]. This curriculum could be adapted and implemented into higher education courses as well.…”

“…If academia can instruct how to power through challenges, hope can be taught to find encouraged emotion and action [8,[15][16][17]. Teaching hope may instill the skill and belief in our students, our future healthcare practitioners, that optimism over struggle may play more of a key role in patient and personal outcomes [8,24,25].…”

The professional place of teachers on the island of Ireland: truth flourishes where the student’s lamp has shone

“…Inspections seem to have an increasingly important role to play within ITE, not least because they influence the priorities of teacher educators anxious to attain the coveted 'outstanding' grade which can then be cited in course advertisements. On the ground in higher education institutions, it is easy to see how course content is, in effect, steered by the focus of the inspections, even in the absence of teacher education policy per se, towards contemporary educational priorities such as the Learning Leaders Strategy, Shared Education and current issues such as pupil wellbeing (Kirby et al 2019). As a corollary, themes/topics which are not the focus of inspections tend to receive less prioritisation within the crowded curricula of oneyear PGCEs.…”