UPRIGHT, a resilience-based intervention to promote mental well-being in schools: study rationale and methodology for a European randomized controlled trial

Abstract

BackgroundAdolescence is crucial period for laying the foundations for healthy development and mental well-being. The increasing prevalence of mental disorders amongst adolescents makes promotion of mental well-being and prevention interventions at schools important. UPRIGHT (Universal Preventive Resilience Intervention Globally implemented in schools to improve and promote mental Health for Teenagers) is designed as a whole school approach (school community, students and families) to promote a culture of mental well-being and prevent mental disorders by enhancing resilience capacities. The present article aims at describing the rationale, conceptual framework, as well as methodology of implementation and evaluation of the UPRIGHT intervention.MethodsUPRIGHT project is a research and innovation project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No. 754919 (Duration: 48 months). The theoretical framework has been developed by an innovative and multidisciplinary approach using a co-creation process inside the UPRIGHT Consortium (involving seven institutions from Spain, Italy, Poland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland). Resulted is the UPRIGHT programme with 18 skills related to 4 components: Mindfulness, Coping, Efficacy and Social and Emotional Learning.Among the five Pan-European regions, 34 schools have been currently involved (17 control; 17 intervention) and around 6000 adolescents and their families are foreseen to participate along a 3-year period of evaluation. Effectiveness of the intervention will be evaluated as a randomized controlled trial including quantitative and qualitative analysis in the five Pan-European regions representative of the cultural and socioeconomic diversity. The cost-effectiveness assessment will be performed by simulation modelling methods.DiscussionWe expect a short- to medium-term improvement of mental well-being in adolescents by enhancing resilience capacities. The study may provide robust evidence on intrapersonal, familiar and social environmental resilience factors promoting positive mental well-being.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03951376. Registered 15 May 2019.

Co-creation and regional adaptation of a resilience-based universal whole-school program in five European regions

“…The UPRIGHT theoretical framework was delineated based on a literature review and the consensus of educational experts and resilience researchers in seven pan-European institutions. 2 The UPRIGHT research project and rationale has been published in Las Hayas et al (2019). The 4 components and their related 18 skills are presented in Table 1.…”

“…The program aims to promote mental well-being by enhancing resilience capacities in young people (12 to 14 years old). Over four years, UPRIGHT will co-create, implement and evaluate a universal whole-school resilience intervention in 5 European countries, 30 schools, 300 teaching professionals and approximately 6000 early adolescents and their families (Las Hayas et al, 2019).…”

“…These schools were identified through a cluster randomized sampling process, and they were stratified according to the number of adolescents, their location (i.e. rural, urban) and socio-economic status (Las Hayas et al, 2019). Local research teams contacted the schools' administration to request participants' informed consent and to explain the characteristics of the co-creation process.…”

Measuring Resilience Across Participating Regions in the UPRIGHT EU Horizon 2020 Project: Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Resilience Scale for Adolescents

“…Resilience carries much promise for promoting adaptive mental health (Anyan et al, 2018 ; Anyan, 2019 ) and refers to the process of, or outcome of, successful adaptation despite adverse life circumstances that increase the probability of mental health problems (Masten, 2001 ). The UPRIGHT (Universal Preventive Resilience Intervention Globally Implemented in Schools to Improve and Promote Mental Health for Teenagers) project (Las Hayas et al, 2019 ) was designed as a resilience-enhancing program that incorporates an ecological framework of resilience by targeting the school environment, the school staff, family, and adolescents as active participants across five EU regions, namely, the Basque Country (Spain), Reykjavík (Iceland), Trentino (Italy), Lower Silesia (Poland), and Denmark (henceforth, intervention sites). 1 Resilience has become an auspicious intervention initiative due to its promising results, being one of the most integrative concepts with an interdisciplinary approach and cost-effective implementation (Anyan, 2019 ).…”

No child is an island: sociability in times of social distancing

“…adolescents, their parents and educational staff, as well as child and adolescent psychiatrists need to be included in efforts to promote school attendance, which is often complex to achieve in the absence of established networks. To be health-promoting, school settings need to explicitly promote students' psychosocial and coping skills, resilience in face of stress as well as socialization [11,12]. As shown by recent data collected among school-aged children and adolescents across Europe, stress and emotional distress levels among European youth are on the increase, suggesting that efforts to support youths to prevent social isolation and distress should be more pronounced than ever, and schools are an important setting for these types of interventions [13].…”