Research Library

This briefing aims to describe an approach to monitoring and evaluating children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges, as a means to provide better support. The IDEA (Intervention description, Design, Evaluation implementation, Analysis and reporting) approach is described, which gives practical steps to the development of approaches to evaluating support for mental health and wellbeing delivered in educational settings. Three evaluations that have adopted this approach are also summarised.

This document is designed to inspire and support education providers to engage students with wellbeing survey findings. It introduces approaches to sharing complex information with students in an accessible way and to gathering their responses. The insights gained can help improve education providers’ understanding of the findings. We have provided practice examples from sessions we ran using findings from the Wellbeing Measurement Framework (WMF) student wellbeing survey but the principles and practical guidance apply to findings from any student wellbeing survey.

The primary challenges staff identified in supporting mental health and wellbeing varied across the timepoints. They include issues relating to logistics, the demand for support and the availability of support.

Why focus on children’s mental health at this time? What has the impact been on young people’s mental wellbeing? How can we best support children and young people’s mental health at this time?

This briefing draws on learning emerging from research led by the Evidence Based Practice Unit in collaboration with the Child Outcomes Research Consortium, The University of Manchester and Common Room. The Mercers’ Company funded the research. The Mercers’ Company is the Premier Livery Company of the City of London. Authors: Deighton, J., Stapley, E., Lereya, T., Burrell, K., Atkins, L. (2019).

The dual-factor approach to mental health was employed to explore levels and interrelations of protective factors associated with resilience in a dataset of 30,841 schoolchildren aged 11–14 in England. Authors: Jefferies, P., Fritz, J., Deighton, J., Ungar, M. (2023).

The aim of this review was to systematically identify the behavioural change techniques (BCTs) underpinning anorexia nervosa apps for young people. BCTs refer to the “common language” used by researchers to determine the triggers of behaviour change. Authors: Chiang, CP., Hayes, D., Panagiotopoulou, E. (2023).

We tested to what extent positive experiences were associated with depressive symptoms in adolescence among those who were previously exposed to intimate partner violence. Parental intimate partner violence experienced in childhood was associated with more depressive symptoms at age 18. Most positive experiences, such as relationships with parents, teachers, peers, school enjoyment, were linked with fewer depressive symptoms at age 18. Authors: Gondek, D., Feder, G., Howe, L. D., Gilbert, R., Howarth, E., Deighton, J., Lacey, R. E. (2023).

The aim of this research was to explore young people’s experiences of therapeutic relationships with staff in secure settings, which is a central component of the Framework for Integrated Care (SECURE STAIRS). Authors: Jacobs, J., D'souza, S., Lane, R., Cracknell, L., Singleton, R., Edbrooke-Childs, J. (2023).