What is the impact of structural and cultural factors and interventions within educational settings on promoting positive mental health and preventing poor mental health: a systematic review

Abstract

Mental health (MH) difficulties are on the increase among children and young people (CYP). Evidence has shown that educational settings contain both risk and protective factors for MH. This review investigated which structural and cultural factors and interventions within educational settings promote positive MH and prevent poor MH in 4–18 year olds. Searches were conducted in PsychINFO, Embase, ERIC, ASSIA and British Education Index, and reference lists from key studies and relevant systematic reviews were hand-searched. Intervention, cohort, and qualitative studies were included. Of the 62 included papers, 36 examined cultural factors (30 social/relational and six value-related) while 12 studies examined structural factors (eight organisational and four physical) and 14 studies examined multiple factors. There was strong evidence for the impact of positive classroom management techniques, access to physical activity, and peer mentoring on student MH. Studies examining the impact of positive school culture, teacher training in MH and parent involvement in school MH activities also found predominantly positive results for student MH, albeit the evidence was of lower quality or from a low number of studies. Few studies explicitly examined the impact of interventions on MH inequalities; those that did indicated limited if any reduction to inequalities. A very small number of studies suggested that interventions targeting those at risk of poor MH due to socioeconomic factors could successfully improve wellbeing and reduce depression, anxiety and behavioural problems. Studies exploring the effect of management and leadership strategies within schools, policies, and aspects of the physical environment other than green space were scarce or absent in the literature. This review highlights the need to consider the ways in which educational settings are organised, the culture that is created and the physical space in order to improve the MH of CYP.

Risk and protective factors for self-harm and suicide in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

“…Following this process, 10% of all references will be screened by two independent reviewers and references will be equally divided into sets and be distributed among all team members. Every set of references will be screened by one screener from the team during the title/abstract screening stage, with a random sample of 10% of the references reviewed by a second screener, following similar approaches in previous large-scale systematic reviews 50–52. Agreement rates for every pair of screeners will be recorded and reported as per cent agreement 53.…”

“…If the agreement rates between pairs of screeners were lower than 90% within the set of 10% randomly selected articles, all remaining articles in this set will be double-screened. Articles progressing to full-text screening will be retrieved and screened by a single screener, with a random sample of 10% reviewed by a second screener, again similar to previous approaches 50–52. If we identify more than one study, which includes the same or overlapping samples, we will prioritise studies using the following hierarchy: largest sample, longest follow-up, adjusted for highest number of confounders.…”

“…Every set of references will be screened by one screener from the team during the title/ abstract screening stage, with a random sample of 10% of the references reviewed by a second screener, following similar approaches in previous large-scale systematic reviews. [50][51][52] Agreement rates for every pair of screeners will be recorded and reported as per cent agreement. 53 If the agreement rates between pairs of screeners were lower than 90% within the set of 10% randomly selected articles, all remaining articles in this set will be doublescreened.…”

“…Articles progressing to full-text screening will be retrieved and screened by a single screener, with a random sample of 10% reviewed by a second screener, again similar to previous approaches. [50][51][52] If we identify more than one study, which includes the same or overlapping samples, we will prioritise studies using the following Open access hierarchy: largest sample, longest follow-up, adjusted for highest number of confounders. All discarded items will be recorded, including a reason for exclusion at the full-text screening stage.…”

The Effect of Learning Burnout on Sleep Quality in Primary School Students: The Mediating Role of Mental Health

“…In the theory of psychological development, psychologist, Erickson, proposed that childhood (6–11 years old) is the basic stage of individual physical and mental health development and the key to ensuring adult mental health [ 5 ]. However, studies at home and abroad have shown that the incidence of children’s mental health problems has become increasingly serious [ 6 ]. Compared with a decade ago, British teenagers had higher rates of depression and self-harm; parents reported higher levels of emotional difficulties, conduct problems, hyperactivity and peer problems, and less sleep [ 7 ].…”