Planning for Sustainability of an Evidence‐Based Mental Health Promotion Program in Canadian Elementary Schools

Abstract

Substantial research illuminates many factors effecting the implementation of evidence-based mental health promotion programs in schools; however, research on how schools plan for sustaining their investments in these programs is limited. In this qualitative study, we elicited descriptions of opportunities and challenges for sustainability. We interviewed 24 individuals from schools involved in a longitudinal, qualitative research project that followed uptake and implementation of the evidence-based WITS Programs across 2 years (Leadbeater et al. 2012). WITS stands for Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out and Seek help and the online WITS Programs focus on preventing peer victimization ( www.witsprograms.ca ). Our findings suggest that sustainability planning in schools is not merely a next step following high quality implementation, but rather involves multiple ongoing processes that need to be anticipated and supported by school leadership and program champions and developers in order to realize investments in evidence-based programs.

The Sustainability of Evidence-Based Interventions and Practices in Public Health and Health Care

“…For school-based programs, inadequate staffing and administrative support hindered sustainment. This finding is consistent with recent studies that suggest that administrative support, consistent resources, and staff stability and buy-in are particularly important in the school context (70,84,90,146).…”

“…For school-based programs, inadequate staffing and administrative support hindered sustainment. This finding is consistent with recent studies that suggest that administrative support, consistent resources, and staff stability and buy-in are particularly important in the school context (70,84,90,146).Several studies have focused on the sustainability of coalitions aimed at implementing EBIs, including the Communities That Care (CTC) coalition-based prevention system (51) and the PROSPER community-university partnership model (56). A study of 110 CTC sites in Pennsylvania found that 90% of coalitions continued after the three-year initial funding period, with 3-8% of sites terminating each year after (36).…”

“…Rather than testing comprehensive frameworks, many studies have examined individual factors or have used qualitative research to identify stakeholder perspectives on sustainability (38, 70,95). Therefore, most of those frameworks have not been empirically tested to determine their validity for different types of interventions and to identify core factors that may predict sustainability across diverse contexts and intervention types.…”

Enhancing Social Responsibility and Prosocial Leadership to Prevent Aggression, Peer Victimization, and Emotional Problems in Elementary School Children

“…In addition, this study focuses on relatively short‐term effects for cohorts of children in grades one to six followed across two academic years. Sustaining program implementation over time is challenging for both program and school staff (Leadbeater, Gladstone & Sukhawathanakul, ) and the lasting effects of the WITS Programs beyond grade six have not been investigated (Hoglund, Hosan & Leadbeater, ).…”

What are urban teachers thinking and feeling?

“…At this level, the weight of administrative and organizational demands, such as large class sizes, mandated curricula, instructional strategies, high‐stakes testing that constrains their autonomy, and the implementation of other whole‐school requirements, take their toll on teachers (Moriarty, Edmonds, Blatchford, & Martin, ; Roeser et al, ). In addition to these demands, numerous educational researchers cite stress associated with managing student misbehavior and maintaining discipline, as a major and chronic source of their stress (Bierman et al, ; Leadbeater, Gladstone, & Sukhawathanakul, ). More specifically, when teachers experience negative interactions with difficult students on a daily basis, this interaction pattern becomes a source of negative thoughts and emotions, which can in turn impact teachers’ cognitive functioning and motivation (Emmer & Stough, ; Ouellette et al, ).…”