Development of School-based Mental Health Program

BACKGROUND: Mental health services for school-aged children can help prevent the emergence of more severe problems. AIM: This study aims to create a mental health program for school-aged children. METHODS: An action design was used, and the implementation procedure consisted of four stages, namely reconnaissance, planning, acting, and reflecting. Furthermore, the respondents were 12 teachers, and the samples for the program were 73 students. In the reconnaissance stage, data were recorded and documented in transcript form. RESULT: At the planning stage, the instrument of mental health status, workbooks, and modules were developed. Meanwhile, in the acting stage, psychosocial intervention was conducted, and in the reflecting stage, the child mental health status before and after were measured using a dependent t-test. Furthermore, Focus Group Discussion activity in the Development of School-based Mental Health Program has 6 themes. The analysis results showed significant changes, meaning that there was a change in mental health status in school-aged children (p = 0,000; alpha 0.05). This showed that there was a significant influence of the program implementation on mental health status. CONCLUSION: The programs include identification, assessment, intervention, and mental health facilitation in school-aged children. Therefore, it is recommended for health service and education office to synergize in developing the program to improve achievement.