Want to improve school mental health interventions? Ask young people what they actually think

Abstract

As part of the recent 'therapeutic turn' in education, schools are now commonly seen as a place for mental health guidance and support. This often involves interventions-special curricula of lessons or activities (e.g. counselling sessions), which aim to either prevent mental health problems or manage those that have already started. Running these interventions in schools makes good sense: rates of mental health problems in young people are rising, and large numbers can be reached in this setting. However, evidence for the effectiveness of such interventions has been mixed. One way to improve how helpful and useful they are, we argue here, would be to ask young people themselves what they think about these programmes. This involves collecting qualitative data: gathering in-depth information about young people's experiences and opinions, rather than relying solely on numerical data, such as rating scales. The small number of existing published qualitative studies in this area show that many young people do find these interventions helpful, but there are issues that warrant careful attention. For example, some young people can feel worried or vulnerable during classroom-based exercises, and others don't see how the interventions are relevant for their own lives. Here, we exploreThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

The effect of universal school-based mindfulness on anhedonia and emotional distress and its underlying mechanisms: A cluster randomised controlled trial via experience sampling in secondary schools

“…Compared to targeted approaches, universal programmes can reach and benefit large groups of adolescents regardless of risk ( Greenberg, Domitrovich, Weissberg, & Durlak, 2017 ; Durlak et al, 2022 ; Werner-Seidler, Perry, Calear, Newby, & Christensen, 2017 ). Universal approaches do not single out and therefore stigmatize selected adolescents ( Foulkes & Stapley, 2022 ). Furthermore, school settings are particularly suitable for the implementation of universal programmes due to their broach reach and centrality in the lives of adolescents ( Greenberg & Abenavoli, 2016 ).…”

Schoolchildren’s Experience of Engaging in A Lust for Life Schools Programme

“…Additionally, the review provided insight on the applicability of learned skills and knowledge to every-day life, and any changes in participants' knowledge of mental health, well-being, resilience and/or emotional literacy that occurred as a result of engaging in school-based programmes. The importance of including the insights of children for programme development has been emphasised by research and policies around the world (Bastounis et al, 2017;Foulkes & Stapley, 2022;OECD, 2021;Robson et al, 2019). Thus, this narrative synthesis of 23 studies reveals valuable information for developers, policymakers, and researchers of school-based well-being and mental health programmes, providing information on factors that make programmes enjoyable, engaging, applicable, and useful, from the perspective of the participant.…”

“…The importance of including the insights of young people engaging in universal school-based well-being and resilience programmes has also been recognised (Robson et al, 2019;Werner-Seidler et al, 2017). As Foulkes and Stapley (2022), stated, we need to "ask young people what they actually think" (p. 41).…”

“…Similarly, throughout the duration of this thesis, when reviewing relevant literature, time and time again the recommendation was made for more qualitative research to be conducted in the area (e.g., Foulkes & Stapley, 2022;Maloney et al, 2014;Robson et al, 2019;Skyrabina et al, 2016;Thomas & Atkinson, 2017;Werner-Seidler et al, 2017). There are many systematic reviews and meta-analyses exploring outcomes from programmes based on self-report measures and quantitative data, as outlined in chapter 2.…”

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

“…Qualitative evaluations of targeted interventions, for example, have shown that feeling able to discuss issues in a safe, supportive, and confidential environment is important, and that feeling singled out, not having enough sessions, or not feeling that problems are resolved can be limitations of interventions or barriers to impact (e.g., Kvist Lindholm & Zetterqvist Nelson, 2015;Lynass et al, 2012;McGeechan et al, 2021;Stapley et al, 2022c). However, in general, there is relatively little published research on the lived experiences of young people receiving schooland/or community-based preventive and promotive interventions (Foulkes & Stapley, 2022).…”