Supporting Mental Health and Wellness among Private School Students: A Survey of Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools

Little systematic inquiry has focused on school-based mental health services in the Catholic education sector, which educates more than two million children annually in the United States. More than 400 Catholic elementary and secondary schools were surveyed to inform a baseline environmental scan measuring how Catholic schools nationally are serving children's mental health needs. The article sheds light on patterns of mental health staffing and resource provision, student psychosocial and mental health issues, mental health service provision, and barriers to and challenges of mental health service provision. The findings are contextualized by comparison with estimates of public school mental health service provision, consideration of funding issues pertinent to the private school sector, and the continuing need for strategic assessment and action planning to support student mental health.     

Health Service Integration in Oregon School-Based Health Centers: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Young People

School-based health centers (SBHCs) break down traditional barriers encountered by young people in the healthcare system. Along with physical health services, all of Oregon's SBHCs provide some level of mental health services. As more evidence reveals the connection between mental and physical health, integrated care systems that improve health outcomes for those with mental health concerns become increasingly important. Oregon's SBHCs have varying levels of ability to address physical and mental health service integration, based on community resources and logistical limitations. Using data from an assessment of Oregon's SBHC mental health system, this article offers recommendations for how more integrated services in an SBHC can help fill gaps to better meet young people's mental health needs in Oregon.     

Towards School Mental Health in Nigeria: Baseline Knowledge and Attitudes of Elementary School Teachers

There is a shortage of child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) professionals all over the world, and this shortage is especially critical in most parts of the developing world. Schools have been identified as ideal settings to reach needy children in the community, and training teachers in CAMH issues can help improve early identification and appropriate referrals of children with mental health problems. As part of a needs assessment for developing a training programme, selected Nigerian elementary school teachers were asked to complete confidential questionnaires to determine their perceptions of mental health problems in school children. Teachers indicated that they had no previous CAMH training. Baseline assessments revealed that teachers' knowledge of CAMH was deficient, and attitudes to children with mental health problems revealed intolerance. Incorporation of CAMH care into teacher education curricula is a critical next step towards integrating school teachers as mental health collaborators in school mental health programmes in Nigeria.     

School Mental Health and Foster Care: A Logical Partnership

School mental health is increasingly recognized as an effective framework of care for enhancing access to high quality mental health services for school age youth. This article discusses the potential role that school mental health can play in helping to address the mental health needs of children and adolescents in foster care, a group with elevated risk for mental health and educational problems when compared to other children and adolescents living in high risk environments. A full continuum of school mental health services, from prevention to intervention, offers opportunities to reach these youth before academic and emotional-behavioral problems escalate. Benefits and challenges to providing services to youth in foster care through school mental health are discussed and next steps toward developing a training curriculum that addresses core competencies needed for effective school-mental health-foster care integration are addressed.     

Persistently Dangerous Communities and Schools in the United States: How Might School Mental Health Help?

With increasing pressure on schools in the United States to address violence and school safety, school mental health (SMH) programs and services are well positioned to assist school administrators, teachers, and other school staff to prevent and/or reduce inappropriate and violent student behavior in schools. It is a struggle for persistently dangerous schools to provide educational environments that are safe and supportive for all students, and their academic achievement is threatened. The process of identifying and reforming these schools is explored briefly, followed by the ways in which school mental health strategies and programs can reduce suspensions and expulsions. Finally, opportunities are highlighted in which school mental health professionals can work with school administrators to produce effective change to promote safe schools and communities.     

Mental Health Promotion in Irish Schools: A Selective Review

School-based mental health promotion work continues to attract considerable attention in the general health promotion literature. Schools certainly represent one important element in any integrated system of health promotion, with both guaranteed availability of large target groups of pupils and the expertise of experienced teachers. Given high rates of identified youth psychopathology and the recognised inadequacy of youth mental health services, Irish schools are increasingly seen as important locations for preventative mental health promotion work. Some general issues in effective health promotion are outlined. The review then describes the application of a representative selection of mental health promotion resources in Irish schools, and identifies some emerging common elements. Optimising the delivery and selection of resources is then discussed, and one resource is examined. The review concludes with discussion of likely future developments in Irish school-based mental health promotion.     

Contextual Features of Public Schools in the United States as Settings for Mental Health Promotion

Scanning the current policy and practice landscape of mental health promotion in the United States reveals indicators of significant progress in establishment of comprehensive school-based programs and services. At the same time, however, there remain significant challenges to advancing the SMH agenda. Using a conceptual lens, the authors elucidate fundamental political and practical dimensions of public education that must be addressed, including collaboration with stakeholders opposed to school mental health and partnering with teachers in mental health promotion. Concept mapping is introduced as a strategy to increase understanding about the role of school mental health in public education.     

The Urban Teaching Cohort: pre-service training to support mental health in urban schools

Abstract

Supporting students’ mental health needs is critical in high-poverty urban school districts where many students are at risk for mental health problems. Although teacher–student relationships are at the core of student mental health promotion in the classroom, many teacher preparation programmes do not adequately prepare pre-service teachers entering into urban teaching for the realities of urban teaching. Miami University’s Urban Teaching Cohort (UTC) is an innovative, community-based approach to preparing pre-service teachers for work in the field of urban teacher preparation. In this paper, we review research on the challenges impacting the mental health of urban youth, describe how these challenges connect to the work of urban teachers and discuss how urban teacher preparation can help teachers better support students’ mental health. We discuss the elements of the UTC programme and how this preparation approach can help teachers build relationships with urban students and their families, as well as understand their communities from an asset perspective, to create a positive classroom community that supports the mental health of all students. Preliminary qualitative data indicate student and community support for the programme and support the impact of the programme on relationships and teaching practices.     

Beginning Steps in School Mental Health in India: A Teacher Workshop

As emphasised by this journal, school mental health (SMH) programmes and services, when done well, lead to valued outcomes for students and systems focused on children and adolescents. However, SMH is nearly non-existent in India. Acute scarcity of trained manpower is the main stumbling block. It is therefore imperative to facilitate the process of SMH with some alternative measures, and one way is to enable the primary stakeholders. Towards this end, at the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, India a workshop for teachers was conducted which focused on various aspects of SMH. The effectiveness of the workshop was assessed with the help of pre-post and five-month follow-up assessments which showed increased understanding by teachers of psychological problems in children from participation in the workshop. Admittedly, this is a very early step, but we hope that our experiences will be helpful in moving SMH forward in developing nations.     

Implementing Multi-level Programmes and Approaches that Address Student Well-being and Connectedness: Factoring in the Needs of the Schools

Implementation of effective school-level mental health promotion initiatives is challenging. This paper presents findings from the beyondblue schools research initiative, a cluster randomised trial which aimed to promote student mental health. It sought to implement emotional skills through curriculum, greater community linkages and whole-school environment change in 25 schools in three states of Australia. Using qualitative process evaluation data collected during the three years of the project, we describe key features of the intervention that, according to the project facilitators, influenced its implementation. Project design flexibility to meet individual school needs and provision of sufficient resources appeared to be crucial for successful implementation.     

Minding the Mind: The Effects and Potential of a School-Based Meditation Programme for Mental Health Promotion

A meditation programme was introduced into 31 Catholic schools in one diocese in Queensland, Australia in 2006 which engaged more than 10,000 students between the ages of 5 and 18 years. The objective of the study was to conduct an initial evaluation of this meditation programme which might serve as preparation for a larger prospective study. Semi-structured individual and group interviews with 54 students, 19 teachers and seven parents were carried out in three of these schools, each at the elementary level. Feedback from students, teachers and parents on the perceived effects of this programme indicated favourable impressions of programme benefits. Effects consistently cited included increased relaxation and feelings of calm, reduced stress, reduced anger and improved concentration. Many participants also reported that the experience of meditation at school had prompted them to meditate outside school, particularly at times of stress. A whole-school approach appeared to facilitate more regular practice. This preliminary evaluation suggests that school-based meditation may represent an effective mental health promotion intervention worthy of further study.     

Implementing and Evaluating Evidence-Based Treatments in Schools: Successes and Lessons Learned

This pilot study presents a community's attempt to enhance their school mental health partnership by collaborating with a university to implement the Youth Experiencing Success in School (Y.E.S.S.) Program, a school mental health program composed of evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for children with disruptive behavior problems (Owens et al, in press). The study sought to replicate the effectiveness of the Y.E.S.S. Program and evaluate treatment effectiveness under high university involvement conditions (HUI: services provided by university graduate students) and low university involvement conditions (LUI: services provided by community professionals). HLM analyses indicated that the rates of improvement for the HUI and LUI conditions did not differ significantly for any treatment outcome variable. When these two treatment groups were combined, teachers reported that treated children demonstrated significant improvements in symptoms, social functioning, and classroom functioning, whereas control children on a waiting list did not. Results replicated some of the positive effects of the Y.E.S.S. Program and offer grounds for optimism that, with sufficient technical support, EBTs can retain their effectiveness when delivered by community professionals in schools in under-served communities. Successes and lessons learned from the process of transporting EBTs to the community via a school-mental health partnership are presented.     

Critical Factors and Strategies for Advancing Statewide School Mental Health Policy and Practice

The authors sought to identify factors and strategies critical to statewide advancement of school mental health (SMH) efforts from the perspective of states that have demonstrated innovation, achievement and investment in SMH practice and policy. The School Mental Health-Capacity Building Partnership (SMHCBP) 1 conducted three in-depth focus group discussions in each of four states with representatives from diverse stakeholders. Participants reported successes and challenges in developing and advancing local and state SMH policies, programs, and services. Qualitative analyses led to identification of ten critical factors to advancing SMH at state level. They included developing a vision and shared agenda for SMH, identifying feasible and sustainable funding models, and establishing effective accountability and outcomes monitoring of SMH efforts. Strategies to implement each factor were also identified by discussion group participants and SMH-CBP Steering Committee members. States and districts can employ the factors and strategies laid out in this paper as part of a planning and continuous quality improvement process to assess and advance school mental health.     

Flourishing in Life: An Empirical Test of the Dual Continua Model of Mental Health and Mental Illness among Canadian University Students

In 2008-2009 a national household mailout was undertaken across Australia by beyondblue: the national depression initiative. The aim was to raise awareness of depression and encourage people to seek more information via the beyondblue information line or website. Following the staggered dispatch of information across the country, 2051 telephone surveys were conducted to evaluate recall of the material, and calls to the beyondblue infoline and website hits were monitored. The results indicate that direct mail can be a highly effective strategy to not only promote mental health, but also encourage information and help seeking. The impact of a range of factors on recall and help-seeking behaviour is also explored. Findings reveal the impact of demographic factors whilst also highlighting the potential importance of brand recognition and perceived relevance of information when determining those most likely to recall and respond to mailouts as mental health promotion strategy.     

Creating Shared Mental Models for Evidence-Based Mental Health Promotion in Schools

In postulating the need for a more inclusive conceptualisation of knowledge that improves the practice of prevention science in mental health programs, Rowling (2008) makes a case for acknowledging the validity of the disparate research and practice cultures from both health and education. A review of literature using narrative synthesis was undertaken to explore the differing research and practice cultures. Three recurring themes were identified at the interface of these differing traditions: individual versus group orientation, school leadership and change in schools. These are perceived differently due to the mental models being used by program developers and education professionals. These alternative views consistently emerge in relevant evaluation reports. It is proposed that the identified problems of sustainable implementation in schools are not restricted to health-related programs, but are consistent across interventions. Building on this analysis, several actions are suggested that will increase the capacity to develop, implement and sustain universal and evidence-based promotion and prevention activities in Australian schools.     

Mindful Coping and Mental Health among Adolescents

The aim of the research described here is to provide knowledge of adolescents and their coping strategies through the construct of mindful coping. Little is known about the contributions of mindfulness to the enhancement of mental health in adolescents. Inspired by dialectical behaviour therapy (Linehan, 1993a, b), we discuss the mindful coping process and investigate how different aspects of this process are related to mental health in a non-clinical adolescent sample. The empirical approach consisted of a cross-sectional study of 652 high-school students from two high schools, covering all streams. The relations between the four proposed mindful coping aspectsawareness, distraction, preventing negative emotions and constructive self-assertionwith psychological symptoms (PS), as well as how these four aspects moderated the relationship of perceived life strains (LS) with PS, were studied. The results show that coping by preventing negative emotions and constructive self-assertion were associated with fewer PS and/or weaker association between LS and PS, whereas coping by use of distraction was related to more PS and did not moderate the association between LS and PS. Finally, coping by use of awareness was related to a stronger association of LS with PS. The results only partly supported our expectations, providing challenging and important knowledge for future research on mindful coping in adolescents.     

Evaluation of MindMatters Buddy Support to Secondary Schools in South West Sydney

This study assessed the outcomes of a buddy support scheme designed to increase the capacity of secondary schools to adopt a whole school approach to improving the well-being of students and to enhance uptake of MindMatters. The scheme supported schools implementing MindMatters, forming partnerships, and creating links with health services, organisations and community groups. The results showed that intervention schools were significantly more likely to ensure internal support by assigning a person responsible for MindMatters (90% vs 38%), forming a core team (79% vs 21%), reporting changes (94% vs 26%) and connectedness (100% vs 21%) and continuing MindMatters implementation (90% vs 33%) than non-intervention schools. They also reported positive outcomes in student and community participation, policy development and implementation. The results indicated the usefulness of the scheme and a plausible contribution to a greater level of sustainable changes than standard delivery of MindMatters. To assess the impact, further investigation with a larger sample is needed.     

Identifying Evidence-Based Work on Mental Health Promotion in Schools in Europe: An Interim Report on the DataPrev Project

This paper is an interim report on the Schools element of the DataPrev project, one element of a wider project funded by the European Union which aims to increase the understanding and knowledge across Europe of evidence-based mental health promotion policy and practice by creating a database of mental health promotion and mental disorder prevention programmes, and producing policy and practice guidelines. The Schools element of the project involves a search for both universal and targeted school-based programmes in Europe which can be shown by robust criteria to have the likelihood of promoting mental health in schools, and attempts to identify the principles that support effective programmes. It includes a systematic search for existing reviews, using over 80 search terms to reflect the range of terminology used in the field across disciplinary and geographical boundaries. To date (about halfway through the process) over 40 recent good systematic reviews have been identified, from which 16 successful evidence-based school mental health interventions have been identified. Most of these originate in the United States (US), some come from Australia and some from Europe itself. The key features of effective programmes so far identified include operating on several fronts at once (‘whole school’), developing skills in students and staff, involving learners, balancing universal and targeted approaches, and consistent implementation over a long period of time.     

The Impact of Mental Health Literacy on Help-Seeking Intentions: Results of a Pilot Study with First Year Psychology Students

Although mental health literacy has been proposed as a factor that may facilitate help-seeking, few studies have examined this relation. This pilot study was designed to investigate the relation between mental health literacy and help-seeking intentions, and to explore which components of mental health literacy might be best able to predict help-seeking intentions. An online questionnaire was completed by a convenience sample of 150 university students enrolled in a psychology unit, aged between 17 and 26 years. A simultaneous multiple regression indicated that higher levels of mental health literacy could predict greater intentions to seek help from professional sources. A number of mental health literacy components made a unique and significant contribution to the prediction of help-seeking intentions. The findings of this pilot study indicate that the role of mental health literacy in facilitating help-seeking is a promising area of research.