Position paper for guiding response to non-suicidal self-injury in schools

Around the world, school staff are increasingly expressing concern about nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and how best to address this behavior in the school setting. However, there is a notable lack of informed guidance for schools, and clear inconsistencies in the practices school staff adopt. In this position paper we draw on our collective research and clinical expertise to provide best-practice guidelines for addressing NSSI in school settings. We outline the importance of a school protocol, and the key features all school protocols should contain. We also focus on how schools can minimize contagion of NSSI within their school environment. We believe these guidelines will be an important starting point for schools interested in developing an evidence-based approach to addressing NSSI.

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Safety first: The role of trust and school safety in non-suicidal self-injury

McGill Journal of Education ◽

10.7202/1009175ar ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 46 (3) ◽

pp. 423-441 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Rick Nelson Noble ◽

Michael J. Sornberger ◽

Jessica R. Toste ◽

Nancy L. Heath ◽

Rusty McLouth

Keyword(s):

School Environment ◽

School Safety ◽

School Staff ◽

Perceived Safety ◽

School Settings ◽

Self Injury ◽

School Trust ◽

Being Bullied ◽

Safety First

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become very prominent among adolescents in middle and high school settings. However, little research has evaluated the role of the school environment in the behaviour. This study examined whether indices of school trust and perceived safety were predictive of NSSI behaviour. Results indicate that these variables allow us to more accurately identify participants who engage in NSSI. Students who report being bullied and threatened, and who have less trust in specific members of school staff are more likely to engage in NSSI.

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Interdisciplinary perspectives on the management of the unsettled baby: key strategies for improved outcomes

Australian Journal of Primary Health ◽

10.1071/py11073 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 332 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Pamela S. Douglas ◽

Renata E. Mares ◽

Peter S. Hill

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Best Practice ◽

Professional Communication ◽

Selection Strategy ◽

Clinical Expertise ◽

Extensive Experience ◽

Best Practice Guidelines ◽

Early Primary ◽

Primary Care Practitioners

The objectives of this study were to analyse the perspectives of key informants with clinical expertise in the care of unsettled babies in the first few months of life and their families, concerning changes required to improve outcomes. The research used a purposive selection strategy and thematic analysis of key informant interviews of 24 health professionals from 11 disciplines. Informants were selected for extensive experience in the management of unsettled babies and their families.Participants corroborated existing evidence that post-birth care in Australia is fragmented. All held the view that, first, early primary care intervention for unsettled infants and their families, and second, improved cross-professional communication, are vital if the burden of this problem to the infant, family and health system are to be minimised. There was consensus, third, that significant gaps exist in health professionals’ knowledge base and management behaviours.The development of education resources, best practice guidelines, shared assessment frameworks for primary care practitioners and strategies for improved cross-professional communication are necessary to improve the health outcomes and decrease the burden of this common yet complex post-birth problem.

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Managing epilepsy in the school environment

British Journal of School Nursing ◽

10.12968/bjsn.2019.14.6.278 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 278-282

Author(s):

Pete Henshaw

Keyword(s):

School Environment ◽

Best Practice ◽

School Staff

With one in 220 under-18s living with a form of epilepsy, the condition is one that school staff must understand and be able to manage. Drawing on guidance from UK epilepsy charities, this article provides some tenets of best practice that can be passed on to schools.

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Bog Bodies in Context: Developing a Best Practice Approach

European Journal of Archaeology ◽

10.1017/eaa.2019.54 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 227-249 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Henry Chapman ◽

Roy van Beek ◽

Ben Gearey ◽

Ben Jennings ◽

David Smith ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cultural Landscape ◽

Best Practice ◽

Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽

Best Practice Guidelines ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Current State ◽

Starting Point ◽

Practice Approach ◽

State Of Research ◽

Bog Body

Bog bodies are among the best-known archaeological finds worldwide. Much of the work on these often extremely well-preserved human remains has focused on forensics, whereas the environmental setting of the finds has been largely overlooked. This applies to both the ‘physical’ and ‘cultural’ landscape and constitutes a significant problem since the vast spatial and temporal scales over which the practice appeared demonstrate that contextual assessments are of the utmost importance for our explanatory frameworks. In this article we develop best practice guidelines for the contextual analysis of bog bodies, after assessing the current state of research and presenting the results of three recent case studies including the well-known finds of Lindow Man in the United Kingdom, Bjældskovdal (Tollund Man and Elling Woman) in Denmark, and Yde Girl in the Netherlands. Three spatial and chronological scales are distinguished and linked to specific research questions and methods. This provides a basis for further discussion and a starting point for developing approaches to bog body finds and future discoveries, while facilitating and optimizing the re-analysis of previous studies, making it possible to compare deposition sites across time and space.

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Acceptability and feasibility of strategies to promote healthy dietary choices in UK secondary school canteens: a qualitative study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-551209/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marie Murphy ◽

Daniel Mensah ◽

Elena Mylona ◽

Oyinlola Oyebode

Keyword(s):

Secondary School ◽

Focus Groups ◽

School Setting ◽

School Staff ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Choice Architecture ◽

School Settings ◽

Dietary Choices ◽

Qualitative Focus Groups ◽

Food And Drink

Abstract Objective To explore the acceptability and feasibility of choice architecture strategies for dietary change in UK secondary school canteens from the perspectives of pupils, school staff and catering providers through qualitative focus groups and interviews. Results Three focus groups with adolescents (n = 15) and eight interviews with school staff and caterers recruited from one school and catering provider in Coventry UK were undertaken. Convenience, presentation and value for money were the main drivers for food and drink purchases in this school setting; while the most acceptable choice architecture strategies for intervening to drive healthy dietary choices are those that make use of proximity and positioning. Challenges to the feasibility of nudge strategies included concerns about behavioural issues, increased food waste, and a decline in uptake of canteen purchases. Acknowledging adolescents’ desire for autonomy and for food to be familiar and predictable was considered important. The design of food choice architecture interventions for secondary school settings should consider the specific characteristics of this age group and setting to ensure successful implementation.

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Individual-Centred Approaches to Accessibility in STEM Education

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11100652 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 652

Author(s):

Theresa Davey ◽

José Victorio Salazar Luces ◽

Rebecca Davenport

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Educational Attainment ◽

Stem Education ◽

Practice Guidelines ◽

Best Practice ◽

Holistic Approach ◽

Learning Approaches ◽

High Quality ◽

Best Practice Guidelines ◽

Starting Point

Equitable access to high-quality higher education is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, and 10, which indicate that it is crucial for a future sustainable society. Globalisation and reductions in systemic barriers to university admission are creating increasingly diverse higher education classrooms, but traditional education methods may unfairly disadvantage some groups of students. Creating equity in access to high-quality education requires teaching approaches that are considerate of each student’s individual sociocultural context as it affects their educational attainment. Building on discipline-based education research (DBER) principles in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, a modified holistic approach is proposed that primarily centres on students and tailors the teaching methods to the needs of the individuals and the dynamic of the whole class. This work demonstrates that educational attainment and student confidence was improved by applying an individual-centred teaching approach in a highly diverse undergraduate engineering classroom. Trials of this approach in a pilot classroom showed clear and consistent improvement over standard active learning approaches. Best practice guidelines for individual-centred teaching in STEM classrooms are provided. Further work is needed to examine the efficacy of this approach in a generalised setting, but the positive outcomes for student attainment are in line with existing research in the literature. The best practice guidelines presented herein may serve as a starting point for other educators to become more aware of the sociocultural needs of their individual students and classrooms, which may result in a move towards equity in STEM higher education.

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Staff Voices: What Helps Students With High Mental Health Support Needs Connect to School?

Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling ◽

10.1375/ajgc.16.1.1 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Sarah Anderson ◽

Helen Kerr-Roubicek ◽

Louise Rowling

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

School Environment ◽

Best Practice ◽

School Mental Health ◽

School Staff ◽

Support Needs ◽

School Students ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support ◽

Fitting In

AbstractResearch indicates that an important determinant of mental health is the degree to which someone feels connected to his or her environment. For young people, how they feel about ‘fitting in’ at school, in terms of peers, staff and the curriculum, is an important factor in their wellbeing. An effective whole school mental health promotion approach will therefore involve the creation of a school environment that encourages a sense of belonging and connection for its students. While the theory behind student connection to school has received a significant level of attention in the education, health and crime prevention literature, not so much is known about how school staff understand the process of ‘students connecting to school’ and what they do to enable it. Even less is reported about the experiences and views of students with high mental health support needs themselves on the issue (see Unheard Voices, Holdsworth & Blanchard, 2005). Therefore, the following study was conducted to seek understanding of the perspectives of school staff about how students connect to school and the implications for enabling the connection of students with high mental health support needs. Qualitative analysis of interviews revealed the emergence of a number of themes that align with previous research on connection to school. This study formed part of the MindMatters Plus initiative, a combined health and education best practice approach to improving the mental health outcomes of secondary school students with high support needs. The findings of this study have practical implications for school staff who are looking for ways to further enable student connection to school. They also add a complementary perspective to those of students as extrapolated in Holdsworth and Blanchard (2005).

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