A School-based Intervention to Promote Mental Health and Self-efficacy Among Students in 7th to 10th Grade

Evaluation of a School-based Intervention to Promote Mental Health and Self-efficacy Among Students in 7th to 10th Grade in Denmark: A Single-group Pre- and Post-test Design

The present study is an evaluation of school-based intervention. The intervention aims to strengthen students' well-being and increase their mental health through training in tools that increase self-efficacy and ability to understand themselves and others. The Danish Committee for Health Education is responsible for developing and implementing the intervention and for recruiting schools, while the the Danish National Institute of Public Health at University of Southern Denmark is responsible for the evaluation of the intervention, including data collection, analysis and reporting.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Mental Health; Self Efficacy
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mental health course

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 3966
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Copenhagen, Denmark, 2100
    • The Danish Committee for Health Education

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria: Student classes in grade 7 to grade 10. This corresponds to students who are typically ages between 12 and 16 years old.

Exclusion Criteria: None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: Mental health course; A mental health-promoting student course offered to lower secondary school classes delivered by their teacher or another employee of the school. T

Behavioral: Mental health course; The student course involves classroom-based teaching of eight lessons over eight weeks. The aim is to strengthen students' faith in their own abilities (self-efficacy) and ability to understand themselves and others (mentalization). In this way, students become better at entering into positive relationships and communities as well as better at handling everyday challenges both academically and socially. The student course includes teaching, exercises and training in simple tools for mastery and mentalization. The student courses in the classes are handled by staff close to the students and are based on both physical and digital material as well as an app for the students. The employees initially participate in a competency development course.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mental wellbeing measured by the short version of the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (SWEMWBS)		Measurements at baseline (one week before treatment) and follow-up (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Self-efficacy measured by two items used in the Danish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study	Inspired by R. Schwarzer and M. Jerusalem two indicators to measure general self-efficacy: 'How often can you find a solution to problems if you try hard enough?' and 'How often can you manage the things you set your mind to?'	Measurements at baseline (one week before treatment) and follow-up (approximately 4 months after baseline)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Social and emotional competence	Nine items (e.g. I speak my mind when I think something is unfair), see Nielsen, L., Meilstrup, C., Nelausen, M.K., Koushede, V. and Holstein, B.E. (2015), "Promotion of social and emotional competence: Experiences from a mental health intervention applying a whole school approach", Health Education, Vol. 115 No. 3/4, pp. 339-356. https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-03-2014-0039	Measurements at baseline (one week before treatment) and follow-up (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Student relationships	Three items from Danish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study about whether the student feel (1) students in their class enjoy being together, (2) students in their class are kind and helpful and (3) accept them as they are.	Measurements at baseline (one week before treatment) and follow-up (approximately 4 months after baseline)
Teacher support	Three HBSC items from Danish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) questionnaire about whether the student feel (1) accepted by their teachers, (2) that their teachers care about them as a person and (3) that they trust their teachers.	Measurements at baseline (one week before treatment) and follow-up (approximately 4 months after baseline)
General school engagement	One HBSC item 'Liking school' from Danish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) questionnaire about how the student likes the school for the moment	Measurements at baseline (one week before treatment) and follow-up (approximately 4 months after baseline)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern Denmark
• Collaborators: Danish Committee for Health Education; Ole Kirks Fond
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Maj Britt Nielsen, PhD, University of Southern Denmark

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 15, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: August 7, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 7, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): August 15, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 11, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 9, 2024
• Last Verified: December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Mental Health; Schools; Self Efficacy; Students; Denmark; Teachers; Teaching Materials
• Other Study ID Numbers: 31509

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No