School Mental Health

When teachers care for children with trauma histories, they are at risk of developing compassion fatigue (CF), or a reduced empathic capacity (Hupe and Stevenson in J Child Custody Res Issues Pract 16(4):364–386, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2019.1663334 ). They may also develop secondary traumatic stress (STS), a secondary condition resulting from a person learning about details of a traumatic event experienced by someone in their care (Essary et al. in Kappa Delta Pi Record 56(3):116–121, 2020). While CF and STS have been studied widely in healthcare and mental health professionals (Baird and Kracen in Couns Psychol Q 19(2):181–188, 2006; Caringi et al. in Adv Sch Ment Health Promot 8(4):244–256, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1080/1754730X.2015.1080123 ; Cieslak et al. in Psychol Serv 11(1):75–86, 2014), STS and CF have been understudied in the teaching profession (Caringi et al., 2015; Christian-Brandt et al. in Child Abuse Neglect 110(3):104437, 2020; Hupe & Stevenson, 2019). As such, we sought to complete a systematic review of the literature to answer two questions: (1) To what extent are CF and STS being studied in teachers?; and (2) How have CF and STS been studied in teachers? Qualitative data analysis led to the emergence of four themes across all included studies: (1) conceptualization of CF and STS; (2) teachers are at risk of developing CF and STS; (3) varying approaches can mitigate the risk of CF and STS in teachers; and (4) there is limited research on CF and STS in teachers. Limitations and directions for future research and practice are described.

Chương trình Huấn Luyện Người Cứu Hộ Sức Khỏe Tâm Thần Thanh Thiếu Niên (YMHFA) là một chương trình giáo dục công cộng được thiết kế nhằm cải thiện các kết quả sức khỏe tâm thần ở thanh thiếu niên thông qua việc đào tạo người lớn nhận biết các vấn đề sức khỏe tâm thần và giúp thanh thiếu niên tìm kiếm điều trị. Nghiên cứu này đã sử dụng thiết kế theo dõi trước-sau 3 tháng để khám phá xem kiến thức về sức khỏe tâm thần (MHL), sự kỳ thị về sức khỏe tâm thần (MHS), và sự tự tin trong hành vi giúp đỡ có khác biệt theo thời gian giữa những người cứu hộ sức khỏe tâm thần thanh thiếu niên (tức là những người tham gia Dự án Khuyến Khích Sự Khỏe Mạnh và Khả Năng Chống Chọi Trong Giáo Dục) và những người không phải là thành viên của lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần. Như đã mong đợi, tại lần kiểm tra trước, những người cứu hộ thuộc lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần đạt điểm cao hơn đáng kể so với những người không thuộc lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần về MHL và sự tự tin trong hành vi giúp đỡ (p < 0.001), nhưng không có sự khác biệt nào được tìm thấy về MHS. Những người cứu hộ không thuộc lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần đã có điểm số tốt hơn đáng kể từ lần kiểm tra trước đến lần kiểm tra sau về MHL và sự tự tin trong hành vi giúp đỡ (p < 0.001), đạt đến mức tương đương với những người tham gia từ lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần, những người không cho thấy sự cải thiện nào tại lần kiểm tra sau so với mức cao ở lần kiểm tra trước. Mà không cần đào tạo thêm, những người tham gia không thuộc lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần đã có thể duy trì được những tiến bộ tích cực tại lần theo dõi sau 3 tháng. Kết quả cho thấy rằng đào tạo YMHFA có hiệu quả trong việc nâng cao MHL và sự tự tin của các chuyên gia không thuộc lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần lên mức tương tự như các đồng nghiệp thuộc lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần của họ. Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy đào tạo YMHFA có thể quá cơ bản với các chuyên gia thuộc lực lượng lao động sức khỏe tâm thần, và cần có các chương trình đào tạo thay thế dành cho họ.

This study investigated the role of parenting stress, the parental involvement style, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in predicting academic achievement in 8- to 12-year-old children. Guided by the Family–School Relationships Model path analysis was used to compare the effects of a controlling versus supportive style of parental involvement in relation to children's learning. Results revealed that high levels of parenting stress were associated with the use of more controlling strategies regarding children’s academics, whereas lower stress was associated with a more supportive style of involvement. Controlling parental involvement was associated with more parent-rated symptoms of ADHD and lower academic achievement in children, while supportive involvement was associated with fewer parent-rated ADHD symptoms and higher achievement. The relation between both styles of parental involvement and academic achievement was accounted for by children’s inattention, but not hyperactivity/impulsivity, in the home. These findings demonstrate the combined risk of parenting stress, controlling parental involvement, and children’s inattentive behaviors for poor achievement in children.

Schools have become primary providers of mental health services for children and adolescents (Kern et al. in School Mental Health 9:205–217, 2017). Within schools, school principals play a significant role in the implementation of school-based mental health (SBMH; Langley et al. in School Mental Health 2:105–113, 2010). This multimethod study aimed to investigate school principals’ perceptions of SBMH, specifically in how they view SBMH and what barriers and facilitators they identify to successful implementation. School principals from 244 public schools in the United States completed a survey, and 19 principals also participated in semi-structured interviews. Data from a quantitative measure based on Normalization Process Theory (NPT; Finch et al. in BMC Med Res Methodol 18(1):1–13, 2018) indicated that while principals strongly believe SBMH will become a normal part of their work in the future, their responses to whether they are familiar with SBMH and see it as a normal part of the current work were less robust. Results from a framework analysis of the qualitative results identified barriers and facilitators to the implementation of SBMH within and outside of schools, thus aligning with implementation science frameworks such as the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS; Moullin et al. in Implement Sci 14:1–1, 10.1186/s13012-018-0842-6, 2019) framework. The findings may inform SBMH policy in light of the increasing number of children and adolescents with mental health needs (Hoover and Bostic in Psychiatr Serv 72(1):37–48, 2021).

The goal of this pilot study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-component consultation package in improving teachers’ classroom management skills, particularly among teachers with lower baseline levels of knowledge, skills, and intervention-supportive beliefs. Participants were 58 elementary school teachers (93% female; 50% non-Hispanic White) who received up to eight biweekly consultation sessions focused on general classroom management strategies and implementation of a daily report card intervention with one target student with or at risk of ADHD. Teachers were randomly assigned to either a comparison consultation condition designed to mirror current best practices (Frank & Kratochwill, in: Erchul, Sheridan (eds) Handbook of research in school consultation, Routledge, New York, 2014; Noell & Gansle, in: Erchul, Sheridan (eds) Handbook of research in school consultation, Routledge, New York, 2014) or a multi-component condition designed to simultaneously address teacher knowledge, skills, and beliefs as possible barriers to implementation of classroom interventions. Teachers in both conditions showed significant improvements in labeled praise, appropriate response to student rule violations, and general competence in classroom management. In support of the hypotheses, teachers with lower baseline levels of knowledge, skills, and intervention-supportive beliefs demonstrated more improvement in key outcomes in response to multi-component consultation, as compared to the comparison consultation (Cohen’s d ranged from 0.33 to 1.12). Implications for research and practice in school consultation are discussed.

Social–emotional learning (SEL) is the process of acquiring and applying knowledge, skills, and attitudes to achieve long-term relational and emotional goals. Teachers often implement SEL strategies in the classroom; however, shifting to online schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted teachers’ perceptions of their abilities to implement SEL. This study was designed to identify whether and how teachers’ perceptions of SEL changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers (N = 637) in the USA completed a demographic questionnaire, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and rated their beliefs about SEL during the pandemic on a modified version of the Comfort and Culture subscales of the Teacher SEL Beliefs Scale. Data were collected between September 2020 and March 2021. Teachers indicated that they felt neutral to comfortable with SEL and that they felt neutral to supported by their school culture for SEL during the pandemic. Lower depression symptoms, greater school poverty, and perceived general support (not specific to SEL) from the administration were associated with higher teacher comfort with SEL. Further, greater general support from the district and colleagues was associated with greater school culture supporting SEL during COVID-19. Results suggest that addressing teachers’ internalizing symptoms and fostering a supportive work environment is important in aiding teachers in SEL implementation.

This study aimed to identify multiple co-developmental trajectories of the three components (i.e., school satisfaction, positive affect in school and negative affect in school) of subjective well-being (SWB) in school and their relations to predictors and outcomes among Chinese elementary school students. A total of 2756 students (Mage = 9.91 years, SD = 0.72; 47% girls) completed a packet of measures on four occasions at 6-month intervals. Latent class growth analyses identified four co-developmental groups (i.e., flourishing, at-risk, congruently moderate-stable, and congruently high-stable). Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that group membership was predicted by peer victimization, maltreatment by teachers, and academic achievement. Students in the at-risk group reported the most internalizing and externalizing problems while students in the flourishing group reported the fewest internalizing and externalizing problems. The findings highlighted the importance of subgroup differences in understanding the progression of SWB in school and the need for universal screening, dynamic monitoring, and interventions tailored to the unique characteristics of the subgroups.

Public school trauma responses to school shootings in the USA would benefit from a greater focus on trauma intervention in the aftermath of a shooting. The current research explored school staff attitudes toward public school trauma response after school shootings. This phenomenological study was conducted with 12 public school staff members with school shooting experience through convenience sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with questions about public school responses to trauma following a school shooting. Findings indicated school staff concerns related to public school trauma response to school shootings were categorized by four major themes: trauma intervention, perception of support, unintended negative consequences, and barriers to trauma intervention. Reflections of school staff offer insight into where the public schools can begin to more adequately address the needs of students and faculty members who have also survived school shootings.

Teachers are identified as frontline participants in school-based suicide prevention efforts. However, their training and roles in these efforts are often not clearly defined. Because 25 states currently mandate suicide prevention training for teachers and 14 other states encourage this training, teachers’ perceptions about their role in suicide prevention are important to consider. As such, this study assessed secondary teachers’ (N = 74) perceptions of their role in suicide prevention, barriers to participating in suicide prevention, and their perceived levels of comfort and confidence in identifying and intervening with suicidal youth. Participating teachers overwhelmingly agreed that they should have a role in suicide prevention. In comparison with untrained teachers, those with previous suicide prevention training were twice as likely to have had a suicidal student or peer of a suicidal student approach them to talk about suicide. Surprisingly, years of teaching were not correlated with teachers’ comfort and confidence in identifying and supporting suicidal youth. Overall, teachers agreed that limited training, fears of making the situation worse, and fears of legal repercussions were barriers that kept teachers from intervening with potentially suicidal students. In order to help teachers effectively perform their gatekeeper role, training efforts must consider teachers’ perceptions, address perceived barriers, and facilitate teacher–student interactions that would increase the likelihood of students coming to teachers for assistance with suicidal concerns. To help schools in providing suicide prevention training for teachers, a list of recommended resources is provided.