Schools and adolescent mental health: education providers or health care providers?
Abstract
Purpose
The issue of mental health amongst students in the senior years of secondary schooling is one which has recently gained traction in mainstream media and public discourse across Australia. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the ways in which schools and other education providers are responding to mental health issues amongst their students both proactively (for prevention) and reactively (for referral and treatment).
Design/methodology/approach
The project took a qualitative research approach to gathering data from student support staff based in schools and out-of-school learning settings, through a focus group methodology.
Findings
The project found that despite policy rhetoric and research evidence supporting pro-active, curriculum integrated, early intervention to prevent and avoid mental illness and mental distress amongst secondary school students, most schools still take a reactive, piecemeal approach to prevention of mental illness and provision of mental health care. Individual schools and learning providers are responding to issues in a variety of ways, along a continuum of care.
Research limitations/implications
The project had a small sample size and restricted geographic area. The divergence in findings between staff from schools in this area and staff from other education providers suggests much more work needs to be done in establishing the implications of bureaucratic sector and school governance on health and wellbeing outcomes.
Originality/value
This paper begins to explore an under-researched area of school and other education provider responses to rising concern about student mental health.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The research which is reported on in this document was conducted by The Royal Children's Hospital Education Institute, in conjunction with Effie Kapsalos from the IMVC and Brenda McSorley from the IMVC/Inner Eastern LLEN Partnership. Funding was provided by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations under the National Disability Coordination Officer Program. The author's thanks are extended to all the respondents who generously gave of their time and expertise in order to participate in the focus groups. The project was supported by Penny Vakakis, Executive Officer at IMVC as well as by Dr Julie Green and Dr Tsharni Zazryn at The Royal Children's Hospital Education Institute.
Citation
Hopkins, L. (2014), "Schools and adolescent mental health: education providers or health care providers?", Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 20-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-07-2013-0050
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited