Mental Health Provision in UK Secondary Schools.

Megan Garside,Barry Wright,Victoria Allgar,Roshanak Nekooi

doi:10.3390/ijerph182212222

Abstract

Research reports high levels of mental health problems faced by young people in the UK. Schools provide a range of mental health support services, although these are often not robustly evaluated. This paper aims to explore the mental health provision of secondary schools across two large regions in the North of England and provide comparisons to the mental health questionnaire scores of their pupils. Results are part of a wider study providing an overview of the mental health of secondary school pupils. Measures include the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, distributed to year 8, 9, and 11 pupils attending secondary schools and a bespoke mental health service provision questionnaire for school staff at the same schools. A total of 6328 pupil questionnaires and 36 staff questionnaires were returned from 21 schools. Results showed a non-significant correlation between provision and young people’s mental health scores and highlight a range of factors to take into consideration. There is a need to improve the evaluation and recording of school-based mental health provision. Mental health difficulties in young people are prevalent in schools. Future research is needed to elucidate which types of services are most helpful in preventing, supporting, and signposting those with mental health problems.

Highlights

There has been a reported gradual rise in mental health problems in children and young people since 2004, as found through a major survey commissioned by NHS Digital [1]
This increase has been noted by other researchers [4,5], in contrast, a study conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic that looked in detail at trends across selected mental health outcomes found no increase in emotional disorders in young adolescents in England [6]
This paper aims to explore school-based mental health provision and compare this to the mental health scores from their year 8, 9, and 11 secondary school-aged pupils

Summary

Introduction

There has been a reported gradual rise in mental health problems in children and young people since 2004, as found through a major survey commissioned by NHS Digital [1]. Children aged 5 to 16 years old identified as having a probable mental disorder [3] This increase has been noted by other researchers [4,5], in contrast, a study conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic that looked in detail at trends across selected mental health outcomes found no increase in emotional disorders in young adolescents in England [6]. Vulnerable children require access to timely, person centred, high-quality care in order to improve their mental health and to prevent further deterioration [8,9,10]

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion