School Mental Health最新文献

The psychiatric hospital-to-school transition is a critical process to help ensure the safety and continuation of care of adolescents experiencing suicide-related thoughts and behaviors post-hospitalization, particularly because school-based mental health services are sometimes the most affordable and accessible service for adolescents. Hospital-to-school and family-to-school bidirectional communication are consistent recommendations across transition programs, but there are few policies or administrative standards for facilitating communication between these entities. The purpose of this study was to identify school mental health professionals' (SMHP) experiences and needs for best communication with hospitals and families during the hospital-to-school transition process. This qualitative study collected information from 10 Virginia SMHPs on communication between schools, hospitals, and families during the process, and to identify barriers and facilitators to this communication. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. There were no distinct barriers or facilitators, instead there were communication needs that could facilitate communication if available and strong or could be a barrier to communication if non-existent or insufficient. These needs were organized into three themes: School-Family Communication Needs, School-Hospital Communication Needs, and Family-Hospital Communication Needs. Findings revealed several administrative needs for communication during the hospital-to-school transition process including the need to 1) establish evidence-based practice guidelines for hospital to school transition communication, 2) incorporate communication considerations when developing a training for SMHPs on supporting students in the hospital to school transition, 3) provide clear guidance on communication guidelines for SMHPs, 4) address any psychoeducation needs with families, and 5) prioritize building strong relationships between SMHPs and families, as well as SMHPs and hospitals.

Suicide rates among Black youth are rising faster than any other group, with increased deaths and suicidal behaviors. While research highlights protective factors like school connectedness in reducing suicide risk, limited person-centered studies focus on its association with suicidal behaviors among Black adolescents. This study identifies latent classes of school connectedness in Black adolescents, examines predictors of class membership, and explores the relationship between these classes and suicidal ideation. Data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study included an analytic sample of 1,323 Black/African American adolescents enrolled in public schools at age 15, providing a cross-sectional snapshot of the cohort during adolescence. Latent class analysis was conducted using six indicators of school connectedness, covariates, and suicidal ideation as the outcome. The Latent Class Analysis revealed three subgroups that existed among Black students: Optimal Connections (46.51%), Unstable Connections (42.10%), and Minimal Connections (11.38%). Youth in the Unstable and Minimal Connections classes were more likely to have a history of suspension/expulsion and report anxiety and depression symptoms compared to those in the Optimal Connections class. The Minimal Connections class had twice the likelihood of reporting suicidal ideation compared to the Unstable Connections class indicating they may be at higher risk for progression to suicidal behaviors. These findings highlight the diverse experiences of school connectedness among Black youth and its association with suicide risk. Integrating assessments of school connectedness into suicide prevention efforts can help identify students in need of support and inform targeted, culturally responsive interventions.

There has been an increase in suicide-related thoughts and behaviors for school-aged children. This has translated into an increase in Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations due to mental health concerns. These trends have prompted school mental health professionals to seek more training to support these students as they return to school. As such, we piloted an online training that included asynchronous content-based modules and a live mixed-reality role-play experience. Participants (n=12) demonstrated an increase in knowledge and skills, as demonstrated by pre- and post- survey responses and observations of the mixed-reality experience. In addition, participants viewed the training as acceptable and feasible, noting the flexibility of the asynchronous modules and the opportunities for application of skills in a low-stakes environment during the mixed-reality simulation. Implications for school mental health professional training and suicide prevention are discussed.

The daily report card (DRC) is a commonly used behavioral intervention in which teachers rate child performance on target goals and parents provide home rewards based on the child's performance. The current study investigated associations between child externalizing problems, empathy, and specific components of the DRC: (1) types of DRC goals that are chosen, (2) teacher and parent adherence to the DRC, and (3) child performance on the DRC. These aims were examined in a sample of 71 children (ages 7-11) who were enrolled in a school-home intervention designed for children with significant inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behaviors. Teachers and parents completed separate baseline measures of inattention (IA), hyperactivity/impulsivity (H/I), conduct problems (CP), and empathy. Outcomes included type of DRC goals (i.e., academic, behavioral, and social-emotional), teacher and parent adherence to the DRC during the initial four-week intervention period, and child DRC performance during the same period. First, IA predicted more academic goals but fewer social-emotional goals, H/I predicted fewer academic goals but more behavioral goals, and CP predicted more social-emotional goals. Second, H/I predicted better parental adherence such that parents rewarded their child's DRC more frequently. Third, baseline empathy predicted better overall DRC performance; externalizing problems did not negatively impact DRC performance. Results suggest that the DRC is a robust behavioral modification tool that can be tailored to fit each child's needs and severity of externalizing problems. Empathy may serve as an important factor when designing treatment protocols to improve overall child behavior.

Supporting students returning to school after a mental health crisis often involves more training than many school staff members receive. With the increase in youth mental health diagnoses, there has also been an increase in the number of youth requiring psychiatric emergency department visits and hospitalizations. As such, this study employed a basic qualitative design to gather the perspectives of school staff who support students' mental health about their experiences and training needs related to supporting youth returning to school after psychiatric hospitalization. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 school mental health professionals or administrators. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three themes were identified: 1) most participants received minimal formal training in graduate school on hospital to school transition, 2) most participants learned about hospital to school transition on the job, and 3) participants made recommendations and identified specific training needs. Implications for training are discussed including a need for variety (e.g., some practitioners need basic training while others need more advanced training) and different format preferences (in-person may be preferred but online asynchronous is more convenient).

Despite efforts to reduce and prevent incidents, bullying behaviors remain prevalent in schools, leading to poor outcomes for all involved. While the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is one of the most extensively implemented school environment interventions in the USA, it has yet to yield consistently positive results across contexts, necessitating efforts to understand strategies to bolster its success and that of similar school-wide prevention efforts. This qualitative study used data from focus group discussions with 39 school staff-teachers, administrators and administrative assistants, other non-teaching staff-on the factors associated with implementing the OBPP in their schools. It specifically distilled their perspectives on potential strategies that could further improve the odds of implementation success and impact. Additionally, it examined similarities and differences in these personnel's perspectives based on their respective roles and responsibilities. The data yielded seven themes, including intensifying training, increasing the efficacy of staff discussions, addressing issues related to time and conflicting priorities intensifying communication, increasing student involvement, increasing parent involvement, and providing staff support to help with implementation. Personnel's perspectives aligned with their responsibilities in the program, offering insights into the importance of triangulating data from multiple sources while prompting considerations about the school-wide applicability and feasibility of suggestions offered. The potential and feasibility of these thematic suggestions are discussed in the context of the OBPP intervention's components and provisions and findings from other school-based interventions. Implications for sustainability-based studies of the OBPP and other school-based interventions are also discussed.

Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly recognized for their positive impact on children's physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral health. However, no mindfulness-based lifestyle interventions have focused on improving both the physical and mental well-being of economically marginalized preschoolers. Therefore, this one-group study aimed to examine feasibility, acceptability, and satisfaction of a 5-week mindfulness-based lifestyle intervention among preschoolers, caregivers, and childcare teachers. Caregiver-preschooler dyads were recruited from one urban and one rural Head Start childcare center. Outcome data were collected at baseline only, while evaluation data were obtained following the intervention. The intervention included three components: a school-based mindful eating and movement learning for preschoolers; a home-based caregiver training on mindful eating, movement, and parenting; and a school learning and home practice connection in mindfulness. Nineteen preschoolers, 18 caregivers, and three teachers participated. The enrollment rate was 40.4%. Attrition was 0% among preschoolers and 5.6% (n = 1) among caregivers (one caregiver passed away). Baseline data collection completion rate was 100%, with 88.9% (n = 16) caregivers and 84.2% (n = 16) preschoolers having valid ActiGraph data. Hair sample parental consent rate was 57.9% (n = 11), while sample collection rate was 90.9% (n = 10). Intervention implementation fidelity was excellent. Average intervention participation rates were 83.2% (n = 16), 72.2% (n = 13), and 55.6% (n = 10) for the preschooler component, caregiver meeting, and social media-based caregiver component, respectively. Acceptability and satisfaction with the intervention were high among caregivers and teachers. The results support the feasibility, acceptability of, and satisfaction with the 5-week intervention among preschoolers and caregivers from economically marginalized families and childcare teachers.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12310-025-09767-w.

Transition from primary to secondary school is an important life event for young people that may have impacts on mental health. Objective and subjective measures of the school environment may be associated with mental health outcomes post-transition. Pre-transition (year 6, aged 10-11) survey data from young people in Wales, UK, were linked to post-transition (year 7, aged 11-12) survey data (n = 506) and combined with an objective value-added measure of school meaningfulness created from administrative data. Multi-level models were run, adjusting for pre-transition mental health difficulties, to investigate the relationship between individual and school-level variables, including self-reported perceptions of school connectedness and school meaningfulness, and mental health difficulties and mental wellbeing outcomes post-transition. Pre-transition mental health difficulties were consistently significantly associated with post-transition mental health difficulties. Higher family affluence was significantly associated with higher mental wellbeing and lower difficulties. School connectedness items also showed evidence of significant association with mental health difficulties and wellbeing outcomes post-transition. School meaningfulness was only significantly associated with post-transition mental wellbeing. Individual- and school-level factors offer opportunities for targeting interventions to support young people's mental health and wellbeing across the school transition period.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12310-025-09776-9.

Background: Youth involved in the U.S. child welfare system (CWS) are at risk for mental health problems, including suicidal ideation (SI). However, the relationship between preteen suicidal ideation and academic outcomes has not been considered.

Methods: This study uses data from two nationally representative longitudinal surveys of CWS-involved youth to examine the association between preteen suicidal ideation (ages 7-11) and subsequent academic well-being (ages 12-17) among CWS-involved youth in the United States. Suicidal ideation was assessed using a single self-report item. Academic well-being was assessed through a number of constructs related to young people's ability to thrive in the present and future, including school engagement, academic achievement, and expectations of what their lives would look like in adulthood. Linear regression models with person-level random effects were estimated.

Results: Findings indicate CWS-involved youth with a history of preteen suicidal ideation performed worse across all measures of adolescent academic well-being compared to their peers without a history of suicidal ideation.

Conclusions: These findings, though associational, have potentially broad implications for understanding how early life suicidal ideation may impede CWS-involved youths' ability to thrive academically.

In 2021, the Welsh Government introduced new statutory guidance for schools titled 'Framework Guidance on Embedding a Whole School Approach to Emotional and Mental Wellbeing'. This document outlined new responsibilities for educational settings to work towards incorporating a whole school approach, with regard to the Framework in action planning, service delivery and policy in relation to the mental and emotional wellbeing of learners and staff. While there is growing evidence to suggest that whole school approaches can be beneficial to social and emotional wellbeing for pupils, evidence on effective implementation is limited. This paper reports on findings from qualitative group interviews with staff in schools in Wales, conducted as part of a wider, mixed-methods evaluation of the Framework. It focuses on factors in the school context which impacted initial implementation. A number of school level factors were identified as barriers to implementation and staff engagement with the Framework. School staff reported higher levels of pupil mental health challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and an absence of capacity in in-house and external support services to address this. Poor staff wellbeing and significant workload pressures were also reported, driven in part by concurrent implementation of the new Curriculum For Wales. This led staff to feel ill-prepared for the more complex issues being faced, exacerbated by a lack of access to relevant training to be able to support pupil and colleague mental health. This paper concludes with recommendations for policy-makers to support Framework implementation.