Heuristic assessment of psychological interventions in schools (HAPI Schools)

Children spend more time in school than in any other formal setting and, with mental illness in children on the rise, there is more pressure on schools to intervene in student mental health than ever before. In the current study, two phases of semi-structured interviews were conducted with school leaders and special educational needs coordinators (Phase 1, N = 23; Phase 2, N = 11), to investigate first‐hand experiences in dealing with student mental illness. Thematic analysis, drawing on Grounded Theory, was used to identify themes. The results identified deprivation as one of the main causes of mental ill‐health in students, with insufficient budgets, inappropriate mental health services, and overly long waiting times as barriers to intervention. Difficulties in identifying appropriate mental health interventions to use in school were also reported. The authors propose a simple four‐point heuristic, for assessing the quality of school‐based mental health interventions to be used by school staff, so that educators can more readily identify appropriate mental health support for their students.

Citation

Platt, I. A., Kannangara, C., Carson, J., & Tytherleigh, M. (2021). Heuristic assessment of psychological interventions in schools (HAPI Schools). Psychology in the Schools, 58, 1399–1415. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22527

Publisher

Wiley

Journal

Psychology in the Schools

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10034/627538

DOI

10.1002/pits.22527

Type

Article

Description

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Platt, I. A., Kannangara, C., Carson, J., & Tytherleigh, M. (2021). Heuristic assessment of psychological interventions in schools (HAPI Schools). Psychology in the Schools, 58, 1399–1415], which has been published in final form at [https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22527]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.

ISSN

0033-3085

EISSN

1520-6807

Additional Links

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pits.22527