Javier Guzmán1, Ronald C Kessler2, Ana Maria Squicciarini3, Myriam George4, Lee Baer5, Katia M Canenguez5, Madelaine R Abel6, Alyssa McCarthy7, Michael S Jellinek2, J Michael Murphy8. 1. Skills for Life Program of Junta Nacional de Auxilio Escolar y Becas (JUNAEB) Chile; Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile, and Boston University School of Education, Boston. 2. Harvard Medical School, Boston. 3. Skills for Life Program of Junta Nacional de Auxilio Escolar y Becas (JUNAEB) Chile. 4. Universidad of Chile, Santiago. 5. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Harvard Medical School, Boston. 6. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. 7. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. 8. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Harvard Medical School, Boston. Electronic address: mmurphy6@partners.org.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Skills for Life (SFL) is the largest school-based mental health program in the world, screening and providing services to more than 1,000,000 students in Chile over the past decade. This is the first external evaluation of the program. METHOD: Of the 8,372 primary schools in Chile in 2010 that received public funding, one-fifth (1,637) elected to participate in SFL. Each year, all first- and third-grade students in these schools are screened with validated teacher- and parent-completed measures of psychosocial functioning (the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation-Re-Revised [TOCA-RR] and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Chile [PSC-CL]). Students identified as being at risk on the TOCA-RR in first grade are referred to a standardized 10-session preventive intervention in second grade. This article explores the relationships between workshop participation and changes in TOCA-RR and PSC-CL scores, attendance, and promotion from third to fourth grades. RESULTS: In all, 16.4% of students were identified as being at-risk on the TOCA-RR. Statistically significant relationships were found between the number of workshop sessions attended and improvements in behavioral and academic outcomes after controlling for nonrandom selection into exposure and loss to follow-up. Effect sizes for the difference between attending most (7-10) versus fewer (0-6) sessions ranged from 0.08 to 0.16 standard deviations. CONCLUSION: This study provides empirical evidence that a large-scale mental health intervention early in schooling is significantly associated with improved behavioral and academic outcomes. Future research is needed to implement more rigorous experimental evaluation of the program, to examine longer-term effects, and to investigate possible predictors of heterogeneity of treatment response.
OBJECTIVE: Skills for Life (SFL) is the largest school-based mental health program in the world, screening and providing services to more than 1,000,000 students in Chile over the past decade. This is the first external evaluation of the program. METHOD: Of the 8,372 primary schools in Chile in 2010 that received public funding, one-fifth (1,637) elected to participate in SFL. Each year, all first- and third-grade students in these schools are screened with validated teacher- and parent-completed measures of psychosocial functioning (the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation-Re-Revised [TOCA-RR] and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Chile [PSC-CL]). Students identified as being at risk on the TOCA-RR in first grade are referred to a standardized 10-session preventive intervention in second grade. This article explores the relationships between workshop participation and changes in TOCA-RR and PSC-CL scores, attendance, and promotion from third to fourth grades. RESULTS: In all, 16.4% of students were identified as being at-risk on the TOCA-RR. Statistically significant relationships were found between the number of workshop sessions attended and improvements in behavioral and academic outcomes after controlling for nonrandom selection into exposure and loss to follow-up. Effect sizes for the difference between attending most (7-10) versus fewer (0-6) sessions ranged from 0.08 to 0.16 standard deviations. CONCLUSION: This study provides empirical evidence that a large-scale mental health intervention early in schooling is significantly associated with improved behavioral and academic outcomes. Future research is needed to implement more rigorous experimental evaluation of the program, to examine longer-term effects, and to investigate possible predictors of heterogeneity of treatment response.
Authors: Jose A Piqueras; Verónica Vidal-Arenas; Raquel Falcó; Beatriz Moreno-Amador; Juan C Marzo; Juliana M Holcomb; Michael Murphy Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2021-12-01 Impact factor: 5.428
Authors: Katia M Canenguez; Alyssa M Farley; Ana María Squicciarini; Anamika Dutta; Ariela Simonsohn; Juliana M Holcomb; Felipe Peña; Loreto Leiva; Talia S Benheim; Javier Guzmán; Michael Jellinek; J Michael Murphy Journal: School Ment Health Date: 2022-09-20
Authors: Olakunle Alonge; Anna Chiumento; Hesham M Hamoda; Eman Gaber; Zill-E- Huma; Maryam Abbasinejad; Walaa Hosny; Alia Shakiba; Ayesha Minhas; Khalid Saeed; Lawrence Wissow; Atif Rahman Journal: Health Policy Plan Date: 2020-11-01 Impact factor: 3.344