Enhancing resiliency and promoting prosocial behavior among Tanzanian primary-school students: A school-based intervention

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 821-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rony Berger ◽  
Joy Benatov ◽  
Raphael Cuadros ◽  
Jacob VanNattan ◽  
Marc Gelkopf
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Prosocial Behaviors ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Based Intervention ◽  
School Based ◽  
Culturally Adapted

Children in Sub-Saharan Africa are living under chronic adversity due to poverty, serious health issues, physical and sexual abuse, and armed conflicts. These highly stressful conditions have deleterious effects on their mental health and socio-emotional adjustment. Since many children lack adequate access to mental health care, culturally adapted school-based resiliency programs could provide a resource to scaffold their development and promote their mental health. This study evaluated the efficacy of a universal school-based intervention in enhancing the resiliency of Tanzanian primary school children and cultivating prosocial behaviors. A total of 183 students from grades 4 to 6 were randomly assigned to either the 16-session “ERSAE-Stress-Prosocial (ESPS)” structured intervention or to a Social Study curriculum (SS) active control group. The original ESPS program was adapted by Tanzanians mental health professionals who modified the program based on local idioms of distress and indigenous practices. Students' resilience was evaluated before, after and 8 months following the intervention by assessing social difficulties, hyperactivity, somatization, level of anxiety, prosocial behaviors and school functioning as well as academic achievements and disciplinary problems. There was significant improvement on all outcome measures for the ESPS group compared to the control group post-intervention and at the 8-month follow up. The ESPS intervention was equally effective on most measures for students experiencing different adversity levels. The results indicate that a culturally adapted universal school-based intervention can be effective in enhancing Tanzanian students' resiliency and promoting prosocial behaviors. Should these results be replicated and found enduring, the modified ESPS could be a valuable mental health-promoting intervention in other low-income countries.

scholarly journals Effect of a School-Based Anxiety Prevention Program among Primary School Children

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (24) ◽  
pp. 4913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Fatimah Ab Ghaffar ◽  
Sherina Mohd Sidik ◽  
Normala Ibrahim ◽  
Hamidin Awang ◽  
Lekhraj Rampal Gyanchand Rampal
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
Prevention Program ◽  
Coping Skills ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Anxiety Prevention ◽  
School Based ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Significant Difference

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders in childhood, and children with anxiety have an increased risk of psychiatric disorders during adulthood. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based anxiety prevention program for reducing anxiety among primary school students relative to a school-as-usual control group. Secondary to this, the current study aimed to examine the effect of a school-based prevention program on worry coping skills and self-esteem. A two-group parallel cluster randomized controlled trial of a single-blinded study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, with schools as the unit of allocation and individual participants as the unit of analysis. The intervention program was conducted between May 2016 and December 2017. The primary outcome was anxiety, whereas the secondary outcomes were worry coping skills and self-esteem measured at three months post-intervention. Data were analyzed by using a generalized linear mixed model, accounting for the clustering effect. Subgroup analyses were performed for children with anxiety. A total of 461 students participated in this study. At baseline, there was no significant difference between groups for anxiety score, worry coping skills score, and self-esteem score (p > 0.05). The intervention was effective in reducing anxiety for the whole sample (p = 0.001) and the anxiety subgroup (p = 0.001). However, it was not effective in improving worry coping skills and self-esteem. These findings suggest that the program could be effective for reducing symptoms of anxiety when delivered in schools and provide some support for delivering this type of program in primary school settings.

scholarly journals Improving motor fitness in primary school children through a school based intervention

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
Milica Blagojević ◽  
◽  
Borislav Obradović ◽  
Zoran Radović ◽  
Ivan Đukić ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
School Based Intervention ◽  
School Based ◽  
Motor Fitness

scholarly journals Impact of a Single School-Based Intervention for COVID-19 on Improving Mental Health

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Kubo ◽  
Akihiro Masuyama ◽  
Hiroki Shinkawa ◽  
Daichi Sugawara
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Junior High School ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Children’S Mental Health ◽  
Children's Mental Health ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
School Based Intervention ◽  
School Based

An underlying concern about the COVID-19 pandemic is that the mental health of children will decline. The present study aimed to investigate whether a single school-based intervention, including self-monitoring and psychoeducation for COVID-19, effectively achieved its aim to promote children’s mental health. The study was conducted in a junior high school. We assigned the third grade as the intervention group, second grade as the announcement group, and first grade, the control group. We hypothesized that the intervention group would experience improved mental health and reduced fear of COVID-19, when compared to the announcement and control groups. Interaction effects were observed only for depression, indicating a significant intervention effect in the intervention group. These findings suggest that a single school-based intervention that includes self-monitoring and psychoeducation for COVID-19 can help to improve children’s mental health. It is suggested that school-based interventions that intend to raise children's awareness of COVID-19 promote healthy development and adaptation within the school.

scholarly journals Outcome of School-Based Intervention Program in Promoting Personal Hygiene in Primary School Children of Mumbai, India

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38
Author(s):  
Sachin Taware ◽  
Priyanka Gawai ◽  
Ameeta Chatterjee ◽  
Harshad Thakur
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
School Based Intervention ◽  
School Based ◽  
Before And After

Personal hygiene plays an important role in preventing communicable diseases especially in children. In developing countries like India, the burden of communicable diseases is high which makes an awareness program imperative in school children. The objective was to study the outcome of school-based intervention program in promoting personal hygiene among the primary school children of Mumbai and Thane. This is a comparative study carried out from July 2015 to March 2016 between intervention and nonintervention groups before and after intervention. Using random sampling, 119 schools in Mumbai and 24 schools in Thane were selected. Our results suggest that knowledge, attitude, and practices were significantly different in end-line than baseline in the intervention group and had better effects as reflected in scores compared with comparison group. The findings reveal that a health education program clubbed with entertainment and interaction can bring positive attitudinal shift which is otherwise difficult to change.

Mental Health of Preschool and Primary School Children: Dynamics and Improvement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Spichak ◽  
Valentina Sirotinkina ◽  
Irina Sokolenova ◽  
Iuliia Akulinina
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Average Score ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Joint Work ◽  
Experimental Group

Abstract Background: Improving the mental health of children is one of the main tasks for modern society. The aim of the work is to study the dynamics of mental health in preschool and primary school children under a psychological and pedagogical experiment. Methods: The study was conducted at 12 kindergartens (250 children) and 3 primary schools (200 children) in 2018 – 2019, in Moscow (Russian Federation). Children of each age group were divided into 2 groups according to the time spent on the Internet. The control group spent up to 15 minutes a day. The experimental group had an uncontrolled pastime. In total, there were 4 groups. The performance indicators (average score) and the dynamics of aggression were studied. The parents were provided with a survey. Children and parents had lectures with psychologists and teachers during the second academic year. The child aggression can be associated with an extra time spent on the Internet and the conniving attitude of parents. Results: The conducted research confirmed the importance of complex actions in reducing the aggressiveness and improving the mental health of children. The joint work of psychologists, parents and children themselves gave positive results. The control groups children significantly faster reduced aggressiveness by 1.4 - 1.6 times, on average, comparing to the experimental groups (1.2 times, p ≤ 0.05). The aggressiveness of children is associated with a lack of parents’ attention, that leads to uncontrolled surfing on the Internet and playing video games. Children from the experimental group demonstrated aggressive behavior 1.5 - 1.7 times more often than children from the control group (p ≤ 0.01). The survey of parents showed the same pattern. Thus, connivance of aggression and an aggressive reaction to communication with teachers were more significant (0.5 - 0.7 times, p ≤ 0.05) in the experimental group compared with the control. Conclusions: The improvement of the behavior of children was successful already after a 1 year of the experiment. The academic performance improved, while aggressiveness decreased in all groups.

Can Implementation of a Resilience Program for Primary School Children Enhance the Mental Health of Teachers?

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orla Tyson ◽  
Clare M. Roberts ◽  
Robert Kane
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Teacher Training ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Usual Care ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Usual Care Control Group

AbstractThis study investigated whether a mental health promotion program delivered by primary school teachers to prevent internalising problems in children had any impact on the teachers' job-related affective wellbeing. Teacher job-related anxiety and job-related depression were measured before teaching the Aussie Optimism program, and after implementation at 12 and 24 months. Schools and teachers were randomised to one of three groups: Aussie Optimism with Teacher Training; Aussie Optimism with Teacher Training and Coaching; or the Usual Care control group, which implemented the regular Western Australian Health Education Curriculum. In all three groups, teachers taught lessons to promote student self-management and interpersonal skills during the last two years of primary school. Teachers in schools in the control group received training in Aussie Optimism after the first year of intervention. Data was collected from 405 primary school teachers in 63 government primary schools. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed partial support for the hypotheses, with teachers in the Training and Coaching intervention group reporting significantly lower levels of job-related anxiety at the 12-month assessment and depression at both the 12- and 24-month assessments when compared to teachers in the Usual Care control group. There were no significant differences between teachers in the Training only group and the control group after intervention.

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