Development of a World Health Organization Programme for School Mental Health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Background: Schools provide an exceptional opportunity for mental health promotion and intervention. Aims: To describe the development of a World Health Organization (WHO) School Mental Health Program (SMHP) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Methods: Two tenets guided development of the SMHP: (1) it used a multitiered system of support framework including 3 tiers of interventions (universal, early and targeted); and (2) interventions must be feasible for implementation by non-mental health professionals. Results: The WHO SMHP is organized into a background section, followed by 3 modules: Social–Emotional Childhood Development; Mental Health Promoting Schools (Promotion and Prevention); and Addressing Student Mental Health Problems in Your Classroom, including specific classroom strategies and case examples. Conclusion: Developing an appropriate curriculum sensitive to the needs of individual countries requires involvement of those familiar with schooling in those countries, with mental health priorities and practices that promote mental health, and to coalesce school staff, parents and community members in the service of their children.

Universal Screening in Positive School Mental Health Using the ASEBA Methodology for Teachers: A Pilot Epidemiological Study

School-based detection and intervention are critical components in ensuring positive mental health in children, with teachers playing an essential role in assessing students’ well-being. The current research aims to be a pilot epidemiological study on positive school mental health in Malaga, Spain, using the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). Data were collected in the COVID-19 pre-pandemic setting, using the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF) and the Teacher Report Form (TRF) in a sample of 420 children, who were between 5 and 8 years old at the time of the data collection. In 5-year-old children, the DSM-oriented scale with the highest clinical prevalence corresponds to attention deficit and hyperactivity problems (1.13%). In this same sub-sample, clinical levels of externalizing problems (4.52%) were non-significantly more common than internalizing conditions (1.69%). As for children between 6 and 8 years old, the DSM-oriented scale with the highest prevalence of clinical scores corresponds to anxiety problems (4.12%) and conduct problems (2.88%). Clinical levels of externalizing problems (9.47%) were non-significantly more prevalent than internalizing problems (6.58%). The results present 95% confidence intervals prevalence data in the general population and sex-differentiated descriptive statistics. The results are discussed according to their implication for school mental health.

Project SUMS (scaling up of mental health in schools): design and methods for a pragmatic, cluster randomised waitlist-controlled trial on integrated school mental health intervention for adolescents

Background There is an increasing need for Mental Health Promotion (MHP) among adolescents, especially in developing countries with limited resources and rapid socio-demographic transition. With the growing burden of mental health problems among adolescents (suicide, depression) and their preferences to seek help from their peers, improving Mental Health Literacy (MHL) and behaviours for First Aid in Mental Health (MH-FA) becomes crucial to promote their mental health. Methods Schools are ideal settings for reaching the vulnerable adolescents. The proposed study evaluates the effectiveness of a classroom-based teacher-led integrated school mental health intervention called SUMS (MHP + MHL + MH-FA). The study will involve a pragmatic, cluster-randomised waitlist-controlled design to evaluate the effectiveness of SUMS intervention using schools as unit-of-randomisation. The study will be conducted in Srinivaspura taluka (Sub-district) of Kolar district (administrative unit of health) of Karnataka in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary expert team from NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health And Neuro Sciences), Bangalore-India and Department of Education, Government of Karnataka, India. A total of 8 schools (400 students studying in 6–8 grade) from Srinivaspura taluka will be randomised into intervention and waitlist control group. The intervention group will receive SUMS intervention through 10–15 h of classroom sessions. The primary outcome is the improvement in positive mental health literacy, as measured by the Mental Health-Promoting Knowledge (MHPK-10) scale. Changes in MH-FA knowledge and intentions, Mental health stigma, help-seeking and resilience are assessed as secondary outcomes. Data will be collected at baseline, 6-weeks, 6-months and 12-months post-intervention. The waitlist-control schools will receive the interventions at the end of the 12-month follow-up assessment in intervention-schools. Discussion This is the first study to integrate Mental Health Literacy with Mental Health Promotion and behaviours for First Aid in Mental Health to promote mental health well-being among adolescent school children in India. With a need to build a more substantial evidence base on School Mental Health Promotion approaches in developing countries, the study findings will have implications for implementing and operationalising Health and Wellness Ambassador initiative in India. Trial registration Clinical Trials Registry - India, CTRI/2019/07/020394. Registered prospectively on 29 July 2019. (ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/pmaindet2.php?trialid=35724&EncHid=&userName=sums).

A Scoping Review of Police Involvement in School Crisis Response for Mental Health Emergencies

The purpose of this scoping literature review was to examine research on police involvement in school mental health crisis response. The search was conducted in PsychInfo, PubMed, and ERIC and initially identified 315 articles. After applying inclusion/exclusion criteria, 47 articles remained. Detailed review and data extraction by three independent reviewers resulted in a final article count of nine. Three primary themes were identified across articles: (1) perceptions and consequences of law enforcement presence in schools; (2) the role of school-community partnerships in successful crisis response models; and (3) gaps in research and challenges of implementing and scaling existing models. Though in practice law enforcement officers are often involved in school mental health crisis response, there is limited empirical research supporting this approach. Our review did not return any randomized trials. In the absence of empirical evidence supporting the use of current models, there is a need for research on law enforcement involvement in school crisis response and, more broadly, community-partnered models of responding to student mental health needs.