School Mental Health最新文献

This study examined the perceived preparedness of educators working in Title 1 schools to address the mental health needs of students. Data were gathered from educators (defined as teachers and other school personnel; N = 299) employed by eight Title 1 public schools within one district in Florida, most of whom were K-5 teachers (n = 199). Participants completed measures of perceived role breadth (i.e., the degree to which they believe that attending to mental health needs is part of their role as an educator), self-efficacy in addressing student mental health needs, and attitudes toward trauma-informed care principles and ideals. Results showed that participants had a relatively high average score on the role breadth measure [M = 4.31 on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high)], indicating that they believe their role includes responsibility not only for student learning but also for attending to the mental health of students. Scores on the self-efficacy measure showed a moderate level of confidence in addressing the mental health needs of students [M = 3.08 on a scale from 1 (low) to 4 (high)], although there was variability in mean levels of confidence across different types of tasks. In terms of attitudes toward trauma-informed care, participants showed moderately positive attitudes on the ARTIC-10 [M = 5.05 on a scale from 1 (low) to 7 (high)]. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relation between the outcome variable of attitudes toward trauma-informed care and the following predictor variables: school, role (teacher vs. non-teacher), role breadth, and self-efficacy. Results showed that role breadth and self-efficacy were significant and positive predictors (p < 0.01) of attitudes toward trauma-informed care. Implications for school-level trauma initiatives are discussed.

The Good Behavior Game (GBG), a universal classroom management intervention, has shown clear benefits in promoting the behavioral, social-emotional, and academic development of students. However, the quality with which this intervention is delivered tends to diminish over time, which decreases the likelihood of these positive outcomes. By leveraging the benefits of technology, we built a sophisticated online platform to support teachers’ fidelity of the GBG in collaboration with expert consultants and education partners. This paper details initial steps to develop and refine GBG Technology (GBG Tech). Three teacher consultants and two experts in technology-enhanced and classroom management interventions provided ongoing feedback as GBG Tech was initially developed through a rapid prototyping approach by a team of high-tech engineers. Twenty-four teachers participated in focus groups to inform subsequent revisions of the technology, and seven teachers tested the feasibility of GBG Tech in their classrooms for 6 weeks. As anticipated, teachers found GBG Tech to be acceptable, understandable, and feasible to use. Moreover, teachers reached fidelity quickly (M = 2.43 weeks), sustained fidelity for 6 weeks, and delivered the GBG at the recommended dosage. The results of this study informed a full version of GBG Tech that is ready for large-scale testing and a set of design principles intended to guide the development of other technology-delivered interventions aimed at sustaining fidelity in authentic classroom settings.

In this mixed-methods experiment, we examined the impacts of an externally provided rationale and teachers’ own beliefs on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to student misbehavior. Teachers (N = 120) viewed a video describing three instances of a student’s misbehavior, then were randomly assigned to receive one of three explanatory rationales for the misbehaviors, including intentionality, cognitive deficits, adverse childhood experiences, or a comparison condition that offered no new information. Teachers reported causal attributions, emotional responses, perceived self-efficacy, and disciplinary strategy. Results suggest that teachers’ attributions are independently predicted by their own beliefs about the student’s misbehavior and the provided rationale. Further, both sources of information predicted teachers’ feelings, self-efficacy, and disciplinary strategies. We discuss implications for changing teachers’ attributions of misbehavior and increasing the use of positive behavior management strategies.

Childhood trauma can result in developmental and psychosocial problems leaving teachers struggling to manage the effects of students’ trauma and potentially leading to increased burnout. The present study investigated whether teachers’ attitudes towards teaching trauma-affected students and prior experience with trauma predicted teacher burnout. Five types of prior experience were informed by the multidimensional model of attitude strength: the extent and valence (i.e., how favourable or unfavourable the experience was) of direct teaching experience, the extent and valence of personal experience, and the extent of indirect experience (trauma-training). The study investigated whether the relationships between prior experiences and burnout were mediated by teachers’ attitudes, controlling for teacher age. Australian mainstream teachers (N = 536) were recruited to an online survey through snowball sampling on social media. Results showed that attitudes significantly mediated the relationships between all experience variables with burnout, except for the extent of personal experience. More favourable attitudes were predicted by more direct experience (contrary to the hypothesised direction) and indirect experience (as hypothesised). Regarding valence of experience, exploratory analyses found more favourable direct and personal experiences predicted more favourable attitudes. Supporting the hypotheses, all mediations found more favourable attitudes predicted less burnout, while more personal experience predicted greater burnout. These cross-sectional findings suggest that greater experience teaching trauma-affected students, trauma-training, and fostering favourable perceptions of teachers’ personal trauma may protect teachers from burnout. Future research using longitudinal designs is needed to support causal effects between teachers’ experiences, attitudes, and burnout.

The purpose of this study was to address the role of social comparison in determining individual development by exploring the relationship of four types of social comparison with academic persistence‒procrastination and subjective well-being among Chinese adolescents (n = 530, M_age = 14.59) from both variable- and person-centered perspectives. Results showed that the paths from social comparison to outcome were significant in most cases. Upward contrast (i.e., focusing on differences with superior targets) and downward identification (i.e., focusing on similarities with inferior targets) seemed detrimental, but upward identification (i.e., focusing on similarities with superior targets) and downward contrast (i.e., focusing on differences with inferior targets) seemed beneficial for adolescent development. Moreover, four social comparison profiles (moderate, 52.1%; high, 14.3%; upward contrast, 5.7%; and positive interpretation, 27.9%) emerged. The upward contrast profile was the least adaptive, and the positive interpretation profile (with high upward identification and downward contrast) was the most adaptive. This study provides new insights for understanding the role of social comparison in adolescent development and how to make more constructive use of it.

Schools need effective, sustainable implementation strategies to support teachers in using effective Tier 1 (i.e., whole class) and Tier 2 (i.e., targeted) behavioral interventions in the classroom. This paper describes an iterative, community-partnered process of developing implementation resources to support teachers in using Tier 1 and 2 positive behavior management interventions; we call these resources the Positive Behavior Management Toolkit (PBMT). There were two key aspects to the iterative development process: 1) working with a Program Development Team of district—and school-employed partners to identify priorities, interpret data, provide feedback on resources, and plan for sustainment; and 2) conducting a series of tryouts in which teachers used a version of the PBMT in their classrooms and provided quantitative and qualitative feedback on acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, and recommendations for improvement. In partnership with the Program Development Team, we used data from the tryouts to inform revisions to the PBMT. This paper presents quantitative and qualitative data from the tryouts and describes how these data informed revisions to the PBMT. We also describe the processes by which we engaged the team, considerations related to contextual appropriateness, and lessons learned related to community-engaged intervention development research.

Trauma in early childhood is a significant public health concern. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services play a critical role in identifying and responding to children impacted by trauma. However, little is known about early childhood professionals’ experiences and needs relating to supporting trauma-impacted children. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore early childhood professionals’ experiences of working with trauma-impacted children in ECEC, the barriers to adopting trauma-informed approaches, and the organisation-wide shift that is needed to embed them. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 early childhood educators, organisational leaders, and childhood trauma consultants in Victoria, Australia. Thematic analyses revealed that early childhood professionals’ perceived increasing prevalence of trauma in children attending ECEC. However, educators are generally unprepared and unsupported for this, and experience many workplace challenges leaving them feeling overwhelmed. This highlighted the need to support the professional development and well-being of early childhood educators. Meanwhile, the study identified systemic barriers impeding the implementation of trauma-informed approaches within ECEC. The findings also suggest that the collective efforts “starting from the top”, with everyone engaged, coupled with cross-sector collaboration is needed for meaningful, trauma-informed organisational change within ECEC.

Traumatic events are becoming more prevalent in youth, especially considering the increase in disaster exposure, impacting the wellbeing and mental health of youth. Youth in rural communities are more adversely impacted due to a lack of access to available support and services. Interventions geared toward treating traumatic stress are needed for youth residing in these communities. The Cognitive-behavioral Intervention in Schools is a school-based trauma-focused group therapy intervention geared for adolescents between 5 to 12th grade who have experienced traumatic events. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of CBITS in a rural community impacted by a natural disaster.This study utilized a non-probability sample of youth attending primary and secondary school in a rural community impacted by Hurricane Michael. Data collection occurred with youth and parents at three-time points: pre-, post- and three months post-intervention. Feasibility and acceptability were measured through count data of referrals, assents/consents, and the number of sessions attended. Outcomes explored improvement in trauma symptomology and problem-solving skills. Results showed CBITS is a feasible and acceptable intervention for youth exposed to a natural disaster. Results of the outcome measures showed significant differences between baseline and three-month follow-up and from the post-test to the three-month follow-up on the youth self-report. Parent proxy report showed a significant decrease in PTSD symptomology from the post-test to the three-month follow-up. To examine predictors of improvement at follow-up, a regression analysis was conducted. Results showed that trauma exposure and gender were significant predictors for trauma symptom follow-up scores on the youth self-report. Youth trauma experiences vary, but for youth impacted by natural disasters, CBITS may be a feasible and acceptable intervention. School-based interventions are integral for serving youth who may not receive trauma intervention otherwise, especially for those in rural communities.

Mental health problems are increasing among children and adolescents. School-based mindfulness interventions are gaining popularity worldwide and may be a way to decrease depression and anxiety symptoms in students. However, before introducing large-scale mindfulness interventions in school settings, more research is needed on feasible, easily applicable practices that are possible to fit in the school schedule. In this controlled intervention study, a total of 1399 students aged 9–16 were included. The 10-week classroom-based mindfulness intervention comprised daily, brief mindfulness sessions led by schoolteachers or via audio files. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were evaluated with Beck scales prior to and after the intervention. In addition to whole group analyses, subgroup analyses on age, sex as well as mode of delivery were performed. ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03327714. No significant differences between the intervention and control group in change of depression or anxiety symptoms after the intervention were detected. However, the subgroup of students who received teacher-led mindfulness sessions (16%) had a significant decrease of depression and anxiety symptoms after 10 weeks compared to those who received the sessions via audio files. Brief mindfulness sessions on daily basis did not have any detectable overall effect on depression and anxiety symptoms among schoolchildren. Our findings do not support an introduction of large-scale mindfulness interventions in schools although the potential influence of mode of delivery needs to be further examined.

Clinical trial registration The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT03327714).

This article highlights an ongoing academic-community partnership between university researchers and City Year Miami, the local site of a national education non-profit serving the nation’s third-largest school district. AmeriCorps Members (ACMs) serve as small-group interventionists and behavior/attendance coaches for the county’s lowest performing students. Collaboration with City Year Miami supplemented their routine workforce support with trainings (n = 18) for City Year Miami Team Leaders (TLs) and ACMs focused on youth mental health. Trainings emphasized the Cognitive Triangle by highlighting how to bring compassion and intentionality to their work with students, school partners (e.g., teachers, teammates, and administrators), and their own self-care. We present our collaboration, the training model, and process data representing three layers of organizational voice that informed iterative revisions and refinement to the training model. Data sources (n = 45 TLs and ACMs) highlight what was learned from each group (TLs, ACMs, and leadership) and include: (1) pre-training survey data, (2) training-generated data such as attendance and exit slips, (3) post-training survey data measuring intent to use training content, and facilitators and barriers to use, and (4) meeting-generated data from formal (planned, agenda-driven) and informal (impromptu) partner discussions. Emphasis is placed on the role of City Year Miami organizational leaders and providers at all stages of research and implementation, as well as lessons learned in this community-partnered, school-engaged work, including takeaways related to positionality, partnership, and research.