Teachers play an important role in promoting a positive school climate, which in turns supports academic achievement and positive mental health among students. This study evaluated the impact of a pre-service teacher education course addressing a range of contributors to school climate. Participants included a cohort of 212 pre-service teachers…

By virtue of their day-to-day contact with students, teachers are uniquely positioned to notice and respond to student psychosocial issues, both mental health problems and issues like peer harassment that can contribute to mental health problems. Yet, teachers' opportunities to learn about providing psychosocial support remain scattered. The…

Children today face increasingly high stress levels, impacting their well-being. Schools can play a crucial role in teaching social and emotional skills; therefore there is a need to identify effective interventions. This mixed-methods study of 124 elementary school students from three New Zealand schools aimed to (1) assess if children…

This study evaluated the efficacy of an intentionally brief school-based mentoring program. This academic goal-focused mentoring program was developed through a series of iterative randomized controlled trials, and is informed by research in social cognitive theory, cognitive dissonance theory, motivational interviewing, and research in academic…

The present study reports the pilot evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of StressOFF Strategies, a "single-session" (45 min) adolescent-targeted, school-based psychoeducational program, which introduces cognitive behavioral techniques and mindfulness-based techniques. Five hundred and sixty-five Grade 9 students (57% female;…

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the use of formative research to adapt, develop, and pretest a mindful yoga curriculum for high-risk youth attending a nontraditional high school. The formative work was conducted in the first year of a larger project to test the efficacy of a mindful yoga program through a randomized controlled trial. The…

Children need to be equipped with the skills to respond effectively to stress and prevent poor decision-making surrounding alcohol and tobacco use. Training and practice in mindfulness is one possible avenue for building children's skills. Recent research has revealed that mindfulness education in the classroom may play a role in enhancing…

Many public school teachers face formidable challenges, including overcrowded classrooms, limited administrative resources, and high numbers of students with behavioral and emotional problems. Mindfulness-based strategies are a potentially promising means of reducing teachers' stress and enhancing their ability to handle job demands effectively.…

Youth with disabilities face both internal and external barriers to career development and often experience poor post school outcomes in comparison to their nondisabled peers. The purpose of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate a motivational interviewing-based group career intervention--Motivational Enhancement Group Intervention…

This study examined training outcomes for lay service providers who participated in a motivational interviewing (MI) training program designed to help increase intrinsic motivation and academic achievement among urban, low-income minority youth. Seventeen lay academic advisors received 16 hours of workshop training in MI. Additionally, two 2-hour…

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a brief client-centred intervention that increases intrinsic motivation for change. Little research has been conducted on MI to promote academic behaviours, but two studies found that one session of MI did improve middle-school students' math grades [Strait, G., Smith, B., McQuillin, S., Terry, J., Swan, S., &…

This study set out to examine the impact of a health and personal development programme (the Social, Personal and Health Education Programme) which had been "enhanced" by the addition of a mental health promotion component. Students aged 12-16 years attending 17 secondary schools were randomly allocated as clusters to participate in…

This study is the first to examine the effectiveness of the "Fun FRIENDS" programme, a school-based, universal preventive intervention for early childhood anxiety and promotion of resilience delivered by classroom teachers. Participants (N = 488) included children aged 4-7 years attending 1 of 14 Catholic Education schools in Brisbane,…