Implementation quality of whole-school mental health promotion and students' academic performance

Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Michael Lawson, John Keeves

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    117 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Background: This paper argues for giving explicit attention to the quality of implementation of school-wide mental health promotions and examines the impact of implementation quality on academic performance in a major Australian mental health initiative. Method: Hierarchical linear modelling was used to investigate change in standardised academic performance across the 2-year implementation of a mental health initiative in 96 Australian primary (or elementary) schools that was focused on improving student social-emotional competencies. Results: After controlling for differences in socioeconomic background, a significant positive relationship existed between quality of implementation and academic performance. The difference between students in high- and low-implementing schools was equivalent to a difference in academic performance of up to 6months of schooling.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)45-51
    Number of pages7
    JournalChild and Adolescent Mental Health
    Volume17
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Feb 2012

    Keywords

    • Academic performance
    • Intervention quality
    • Mental health
    • Primary school children
    • Social-emotional competencies

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