School Mental Health最新文献

This commentary examines the critical importance of intervention development and adaptation research in school mental health, as highlighted by the studies in this special issue. We discuss two primary reasons for advancing this field: increasing the use of evidence-based practices and enhancing intervention benefits by adapting to unique needs. The paper emphasizes the significance of identifying meaningful moderators of intervention response and proposes adopting an intersectionality perspective to better understand the complex factors influencing intervention effectiveness. We review several studies from the special issue that exemplify innovative approaches to intervention adaptation, including peer-supported interventions, culturally responsive programs for specific populations, and adaptations for rural school settings. The commentary also explores the distinction between adapting intervention “packaging” versus mechanisms of action, and highlights the value of community partner involvement in the development process. We argue that by carefully considering moderators of intervention response and embracing an intersectionality framework, researchers can develop effective interventions for diverse youth populations. The paper concludes by discussing future directions for intervention development research in school mental health, emphasizing the need for continued innovation to address the complex and varied needs of students in educational settings.

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation's leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation, and statistics. IES’s National Center for Education Research supports rigorous research that addresses the nation's most pressing education needs from early childhood to adult education. IES’s National Center for Special Education Research supports a comprehensive program of education research designed to expand knowledge and understanding of infants, toddlers, and youth with and at risk for disabilities to improve their developmental, education, transition, and postsecondary outcomes. This paper makes the case that IES Development and Innovation research can support the development of usable, feasible, and affordable approaches (practices, programs, or policies) to help schools meet the mental health needs of their students and staff. The goal of this research is to ensure that school-based interventions are contextually appropriate, implemented with high fidelity, and more likely to produce equitable outcomes than current practice.

The current youth mental health crisis has highlighted a substantial unmet need for effective, accessible, culturally sensitive mental health services and interventions. Schools have the potential to address this gap through the provision of evidence-based mental health interventions and services that meet the needs of their diverse student bodies. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) supports school mental health research that relies on partnerships between academic researchers and school communities to develop optimized interventions that bridge the research-to-practice gap. This article highlights current NIMH priorities in school mental health research and provides additional context for recent federal investments targeting the expansion of school-based mental health infrastructure and interventions.

The extant literature suggests the importance of belonging in preventing and reducing internalizing symptoms. However, it is not yet clear which sources of belonging are most distinctly and robustly linked to symptoms of depression and anxiety. Further, the associations between various sources of belonging when also considering forms of peer victimization have not been readily examined. As such, the current study examined how peer, family, and school belonging are differentially associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety among middle school-age students (N = 256, M_age = 12.23 years, 52% male) when also considering the variance associated with forms of peer victimization. Further, sources of belonging were examined as moderators of the links between various forms of peer victimization and internalizing symptoms. Findings indicated that while family belonging was most robustly associated with depression symptoms, school belonging was most robustly associated with anxiety symptoms. Relational and cyber-, but not overt, victimization were distinctly and robustly associated with both symptom clusters. The only moderating effect evident was with school belonging and overt victimization, such that the association between overt victimization and depression symptoms was only evident when levels of school belonging were high. Findings contribute to our knowledge of distinct associations of various sources of belonging and further highlight the associations between peer victimization and internalizing symptoms among middle school students.

Early identification of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (SEBDs) in children is essential to provide support and reduce the risk of negative outcomes. Schools are considered ideal settings to identify SEBDs, and in many countries special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) play a pivotal role in this respect. Although SENCOs may contribute to improving school-based identification of SEBDs by adopting a more systematic approach, they have a multitude of tasks and considerable professional discretion. As a result, there are differences between SENCOs in the quality of their identification practices in terms of the frequency of observations, the maintenance of a four-eyes principle, and the utilization of specialist knowledge, affecting whether and when SEBDs are identified. The aim of this study was to examine what factors can explain differences in these practices for early identification of SEBDs. Using a narrative qualitative approach, we interviewed 34 primary school professionals, studied school policy documents and observed team meetings. Thematic analysis revealed that an interplay of the factors: (1) (conformity to) school regulations, (2) team continuity, and (3) personal characteristics, explains why SENCOs decide differently on who conducts observations, and when. Generally, SENCOs are more likely to conform to frequent observations by at least two observers utilizing specialist knowledge, when schools have regulations that clearly define by whom and when observations should take place, with competent, committed, proactive school staff conforming to those regulations, within a stable team. Although each factor is important but not essential to ensure these practices, personal characteristics of the SENCO can compensate for a lack of clear school regulations or team discontinuity. Implications for school policy and practice are discussed.

Educators have embraced the promotion of social emotional development, student well-being, and mental health as essential educational objectives to promote academic readiness and growth. To address known research-to-practice gaps and limited availability of evidence-based, universal high school programs, we took a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to develop a contextually and developmentally appropriate program addressing social emotional learning, community, and student well-being. We employed the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) model of systematic instructional design for 2 school years. We collected quarterly anonymous open- and close-ended surveys from students and teachers and open-ended session-specific surveys from teachers; led student advisory and teacher focus groups; and documented coach feedback and observations. Researchers conducted qualitative descriptive and quantitative descriptive analyses. We summarize how CBPR and the ADDIE model of systematic instructional design was applied to ensure contextual fit and acceptability in high schools. We present how findings from the data sources were used to design and develop content and highlight results on comfort, content of interest, and optimal time dedicated to content. We describe how we developed the components of Well Connected©. We conclude with lessons learned for co-developing programs and engaging in participatory research.

In the context of rapid urbanization, the school merger policy has been widely implemented in rural China since the early twenty-first century, generating significant augment in the demand for boarding at school. Using 738 samples from a national sample database (China Family Panel Studies) in 2016 and 2018, this exploratory study employed a difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the impact of boarding on the academic pressure of students in rural primary and secondary schools after the implementation of school merger policy from the emotional and spatial distance perspective. The results are robust when subject to propensity score matching and difference-in-differences (PSM–DID) and random sampling tests. Further analysis reveals that forced boarding would intensify academic pressure by impairing students' emotional experiences. The increase in parent–child emotional distance will negatively strengthen the impact of boarding on students' learning pressure, while from the perspective of spatial distance, students who live far away from their parents due to boarding face greater learning pressure. This study has important policy implications for school mental health practice of boarding schools.

School reentry after inpatient psychiatric hospitalization requires careful coordination between multiple team members to ensure stability across transitions, given documented negative academic and socioemotional impacts in the post-discharge period. Existing investigations are limited by the fact that no articles examine the perspectives of multiple participant types simultaneously. We conducted a qualitative study of multiple children transitioning out of psychiatric hospitalization and their adult reentry team members, utilizing thematic analysis informed by grounded theory. Across 16 semi-structured interviews, we analyzed perspectives from 17 participants: four children, four parents, five school staff, and four hospital staff. We identified four key themes informing an overarching theory: 1) Centering the socioemotional role of school; 2) Clarifying what constitutes good communication; 3) Reconciling multiple sources of authority; and 4) Navigating limitations with creativity. Together, these themes converge into two new theoretical concepts. First, stereovision represents the synthesis of multiple “lines of sight,” which cross to create a densely interactional system. Second, patchworking represents the cobbling together of case-by-case solutions to develop an adequate support plan in the face of multiple limitations or barriers. In conclusion, by incorporating the above four thematic findings into a novel theoretical framework, we argue that when navigating school reentry after psychiatric hospitalization, children and adults must use stereovision and patchworking to create a strong, flexible support fabric. These reflections increase representation of child and adult team member voices in the literature and inform future school–hospital–family partnerships for school reentry after psychiatric hospitalization.

The complexities of individual (developmental changes) and contextual (change of school) factors interact during a school level transition period. The current study focuses on one aspect of possible difficulties, namely anxiety, and one potential support mechanism, specifically social support from family and peers, and their interplay during the school year when transitioning to a higher level of education. The study monitors anxiety levels of Slovene students (N = 115, 69.6% females) and the role of their social support through their transition using a longitudinal design with four time points—at the beginning of the school year, at the middle of the school year, at the end of the school year, and at the beginning of the new school year after the transition—in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings from an unconditional growth model show a significant difference in anxiety at the initial measurement, while the change in time is insignificant. The findings show that peer support is a significant predictor of anxiety at all four time points and that family support is a significant predictor of anxiety at three of the four time points (not significant at the end of school year). Students who report a higher sense of peer and family support report less anxiety. As identified in the study, social support is an important protective factor for higher anxiety levels; therefore, it is important to provide mechanisms of social support during a transition and throughout the pre- and post-transition school years.

Youth with attention problems are at increased risk for school disengagement (Booster et al., JAD 16:179–189, 2012; DuPaul & Langberg, in: Barkley (ed), Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment, Guilford, New York, 2014), which portends risk for poor outcomes (Bond et al., JAH 40:357.e9–357, 2007; Carter et al., JA 30:51–62, 2007; Fredricks et al., RER 74:59–109, 2004). Interventions that target school engagement may benefit from peer delivery because peers are widely available in schools and potentially more credible than adults. In this study, a peer-supported school-based school engagement intervention for middle school students with attention problems, Together Engaging and Achieving Meaningfully (TEAM) was developed with educators and students. In initial development (Study One), community development team meetings with partners (N = 9 school staff and students) were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes used to refine TEAM. In Study Two, a single-case pilot with one student with attention problems and one peer coach was conducted. Measures of fidelity, attendance, acceptability, and satisfaction were collected. Results were used to refine TEAM. Then in pilot implementation (Study Three), a non-randomized pilot was conducted with 10 fifth- through seventh-grade students with attention problems (n = 6 in the intervention group) and six eighth-grade coaches. Measures of fidelity, attendance, acceptability, satisfaction, and clinician-required time for implementation were collected. Cohen’s d mean difference effect sizes were calculated between and within groups over implementation. Feedback from partners highlighted barriers and aspects that were acceptable and feasible. Results from implementation suggested high attendance, high coach fidelity with revised implementation support, and low clinician-required time. Lessons learned and avenues for future development and research are discussed.