A coordinator’s learning journey in implementing a Full-Service Community School in Australia

Improving performance in an environment often tested by intermingled social problems, including poverty, racial isolation, cultural clashes between teachers and students, and school funding disparities requires authentic, committed family, school, and community partnerships. Using Bryk’s (2010) model for effective and improving schools, our study describes challenges and achievements experienced over a decade of implementing the full-service community school (FSCS) reform in two neighborhoods in Indianapolis, Indiana. We also share lessons about funding, collaborative structures and processes, and organizational responses to change. The study has broad implications for both FSCSs and urban schools with comparable demographics that are working to build effective partnerships to address social problems in lasting ways.

Background: Nottingham has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in England. One of the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy's aims was to improve Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) and sexual health services (SHS) in schools. However, evidence suggests that some schools do not prioritize these topics. Methods: A mixed qualitative and quantitative questionnaire was distributed to teaching staff and school nurses within Nottingham secondary schools to ascertain what SRE and SHS were offered and their attitudes towards them. The results were descriptively analysed. Results: A total of19 participants responded from seven schools. Four of the schools indicated that high quality SRE was being provided. Three schools appeared to only offer minimal SRE. Provision of SHS was varied, with few members of the teaching staff fully aware of the services provided in their school. Three schools indicated that no SHS were provided. Conclusions: The study has highlighted inconsistencies in how SRE and SHS are implemented and prioritized in Nottingham secondary schools. This results in a postcode lottery as to whether teenagers receive appropriate SRE and SHS. Participants were unaware of what SRE or SHS are offered in their school. School nurses must promote the services they offer so that both teaching staff and students are aware of how and what services can be accessed.

Background: In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that about 3.6 million Filipinos suffer from mental health (MH) or substance use (SU) conditions [1]. However, there is a dearth of literature on the delivery of MH and SU services in Philippine schools and workplaces. Objectives: This study aimed to describe the prevalence of MH and SU services in Philippine schools and workplaces. It also examined the level of institutional support, barriers, and stigma and discrimination for MH and SU. Methodology: Data was gathered in October 2022 using an online survey. The survey generated 262 respondents from all regions of the country. Schools represented 55% of respondents whereas 45% were from government and private workplaces. Results: Schools and workplaces report providing more services for MH compared to SU. They also have more budget for mental health compared to substance use. The most commonly provided services are prevention programs on stress with a greater percentage of schools providing this compared to workplaces. Majority of schools and workplaces do not have any screening or treatment programs for MH and SU. Barriers to service delivery include the lack of budget, personnel, and knowledge of what services to provide. Results showed moderate levels of stigma and discrimination, with attitudes towards substance users being more negative compared to those with MH issues. Conclusion: Despite national policies requiring MH and SU services in schools and workplaces, gaps in service delivery and institutional support hinder implementation. To improve service delivery, there is a need to strengthen resources, policy, leadership support and address stigma and discrimination.

Integrating health and mental health services in schools: Psychologists collaborating with primary care providers

Cadre conceptuel pour l’intégration de la santé de la reproduction en milieu scolaire : expérience au Sénégal

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the natural rhythm of the school year, affecting the way services are rendered. This shift has implications for the termination of services and the guidance of school social work interns through the termination process. This article provides lessons learned from the rapid transition from face-to-face practice to telemental health services in schools. The authors present strategies for supervising the termination process in a remote environment. In keeping with social work’s professional mandate, field instructors must guide interns on conducting termination services properly and engage interns in this reflective process. This article also addresses issues of equity and access for students and their families. Attention is given to the impact of termination on student clients, families, school social work interns, and field instructors. Telemental health demonstrates promise in supporting a model of practice that provides opportunities for innovation. Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to continue this discourse for engaging in and developing best practices for telemental health services, termination of services, and supervision of social work interns in the school setting. The school social work profession must continue to augment policies related to the provision of telemental health services in school settings.

The state of child and adolescent overall health in the United States evidences the need for both prevention and treatment. Although much time and energy has been spent in recent years discussing and improving health benefit coverage and affordability for children, physical access to services has not kept pace with these changes. This article will introduce four major physical health issues (obesity, diabetes, asthma, and teen pregnancy/STD) and five key mental health issues (suicide, depression, ADHD, aggression, and violence) facing young people today. In an effort to answer the question, “What can be done?” school-based health clinics and their impact on health and educational outcomes are examined.

Telepsychiatry and School Mental Health

Mental health is an important and essential component of Health. In India about 197.3 million people have mental disorders and majority of the population have either no or limited access to mental health services. The issue is also quite common among the students. Thus, the country has a huge burden of mental disorders, and there is a significant treatment gap. The tea communities which shares the one third population of Assam consisting of marginalized populations, face unique socio-economic and cultural challenges, contributing to significant mental health issues among their children. Adarsha Vidyalayas were designed by the Government of Assam to provide quality education and holistic support, were examined as potential platforms for integrating mental health services. The present study explored the community-based mental health services and its implementations in the Adarsha Vidyalayas of tea gardens areas. The study used a qualitative research method to examine the services provided by the mental health professionals and its implementations among the students of the Adarsha Vidyalayas in the tea garden areas of Charaideo District, Assam, India. The result of the study revealed that although the DMHP is runned in the Charaideo District but they doesn’t Cover the Adarsha Vidyalayas till now. The study also revealed the awareness of the Headmasters and teachers on the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) integration in schools which was quite satisfactory. The current study recommends some effective measures such as-collaborative effort from the educators, parents, healthcare professionals, and community stakeholders to implement the DMHP in the Adarsha Vidyalayas of Tea garden areas of Charaideo District, Assam, India.

Background/Objectives: Autism research has often interpreted autistic sociality through neurotypical norms, limiting ecological accounts of autistic meaning-making and context-sensitive support needs. Social virtual environments (SVEs), such as VRChat, allow modulation of sensory exposure, social distance, and participation pace, potentially enabling autistic-led interaction with greater autonomy and predictability. This study examined how autistic young adults co-construct meanings around social interaction, identity, and self-regulation in peer-led discussions within an SVE; identified context-sensitive processes relevant to well-being; and evaluated the feasibility and acceptability of SVEs as a participatory research setting. Methods: Sixteen autistic young adults (18-38 years; DSM-5-TR, Level 1) participated in nine remote sessions conducted in VRChat, coordinated via a co-designed Discord server. The peer-led discussions were audio-video recorded, transcribed, and anonymized. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, combining inductive session-level coding, cross-session thematic clustering, and participatory refinement with community partners. Results: Autistic experience was framed as a context-dependent negotiation of interpretive risk, interactional workload, masking-related energy costs, and epistemic injustice, alongside future-oriented accounts emphasizing access, dignity, and systemic redesign. Observational memos documented multimodal participation, distributed peer facilitation, and accessibility-relevant sensitivities to environmental stability. Community partners reported positive experiences and supported the acceptability of private-world VRChat sessions. Conclusions: Peer-led discussions in an SVE can support ecologically grounded, participant-centered qualitative research, offering methodological opportunities to study autistic meaning-making under conditions that reduce demands and risks.

IntroductionThe prevalence of overweight and obesity among children has risen sharply during recent decades. School nurses are key health professionals in interventions targeting the early onset of overweight and obesity during childhood. Understanding how school nurses experience communication with parents concerning their child´s growth and weight development are essential. The aim of the study is to describe school nurses’ experience of communicating growth data and weight development to parents of school children ages 8 and 10 years.MethodThe design of the study is a descriptive, qualitative design with purposive and snowball sampling. Sixteen interviews with school nurses were conducted and analysed with qualitative content analysis.ResultThe analysis resulted in three main categories including subcategories. In Challenges in the professional role, the school nurses expressed a lack of knowledge, skills and tools in communication, described a perception of parental responsibility and stated using several different approaches in communicating growth data and weight development to parents. In Sustainable communication with parents, the school nurses described the value of creating a dialogue, a supportive approach to the parents, and the building of a relation between them and the parents as essential. In Barriers in communicating the child´s weight, the school nurses described the experience of stigma concerning the subject of overweight and obesity, increased concern when they detected underweight as well as an ambivalence towards measuring weight.ConclusionThe study highlights an educational challenge concerning the need for training, skills, and strategies for communication with parents. A variety of ways in school nurses’ communication with parents were identified in the present study and this shows an inconsistency in how School health services was offered and a need for the development of evidence-based procedures for communicating growth data and weight development to parents.

Background School health programs need to target all aspects of physical, psychological, and social well-being. Using a slightly modified version of the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist, we developed and conducted the first validation of the School Health Assessment Tool for Primary Schools (SHAT-PS). Method The exploratory sequential mixed method was used in this study. In the first phase, scientific databases were systematically searched to find school health models and instruments and 65 interviews were conducted with school stakeholders. The Colaizzi’s method was used to code the qualitative data into themes. Then, a pool of items was created for each theme, rechecked by psychometric experts and then validated for content (i.e., relevance, clarity, and comprehensiveness) by psychometric experts and individuals of the target population (i.e., school personnel). In the second phase, classical test theory was utilized to analyze the validity and reliability of the resulting items from phase 1 among 400 individuals working at primary schools. Results The coding of the interviews resulted in ten themes that we labeled based on the theoretical literature: school health policies, community connections, health education, physical activity, health services, nutrition, psychological services, physical environment, equipment and facilities, and school staff’s health. The items created for each theme ended up in an initial pool of 76 items. In the final stage of phase 1, 69 items remained after the content validity assessment by experts and school personnel. In phase 2, the SHAT-PS items were tested using maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Of the 69 items from phase 1, 22 items were removed due to low factor loadings. The results showed that the 8-factor model was the best solution (chi-square/df = 2.41, CFI = .98, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .06). The discriminant and convergent validity of the SHAT-PS were evaluated as satisfactory and the scale had high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha for all subscales > .93). The test-retest reliability was satisfactory—the intraclass correlation coefficient pooled was .95 (99% CI [.91–.98]). Moreover, the standard error of measurement resulted in an SEM pooled equal to 4.4. No discrepancy was found between subgroups of gender and subgroups of staffs’ positions at schools. Conclusion The SHAT-PS is a valid and reliable tool that may facilitate school staff, stakeholders and researchers to evaluate the presence of the factors that promote health at primary schools. Nevertheless, in the process of validation, many of the items related to staff’s health were eliminated due to poor factor loadings. Obviously, staff health is an important factor in the measurement of school health. Hence, we recommend that the validity and reliability of the SHAT-PS in other cultures should be done using the original 76-item version.

Background School health programs need to target all aspects of physical, psychological, and social well-being. Using a slightly modified version of the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist, we developed and conducted the first validation of the School Health Assessment Tool for Primary Schools (SHAT-PS). Method The exploratory sequential mixed method was used in this study. In the first phase, scientific databases were systematically searched to find school health models and instruments and 65 interviews were conducted with school stakeholders. The Colaizzi’s method was used to code the qualitative data into themes. Then, a pool of items was created for each theme, rechecked by psychometric experts and then validated for content (i.e., relevance, clarity, and comprehensiveness) by psychometric experts and individuals of the target population (i.e., school personnel). In the second phase, classical test theory was utilized to analyze the validity and reliability of the resulting items from phase 1 among 400 individuals working at primary schools. Results The coding of the interviews resulted in ten themes that we labeled based on the theoretical literature: school health policies, community connections, health education, physical activity, health services, nutrition, psychological services, physical environment, equipment and facilities, and school staff’s health. The items created for each theme ended up in an initial pool of 76 items. In the final stage of phase 1, 69 items remained after the content validity assessment by experts and school personnel. In phase 2, the SHAT-PS items were tested using maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Of the 69 items from phase 1, 22 items were removed due to low factor loadings. The results showed that the 8-factor model was the best solution (chi-square/df = 2.41, CFI = .98, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .06). The discriminant and convergent validity of the SHAT-PS were evaluated as satisfactory and the scale had high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha for all subscales > .93). The test-retest reliability was satisfactory—the intraclass correlation coefficient pooled was .95 (99% CI [.91–.98]). Moreover, the standard error of measurement resulted in an SEM pooled equal to 4.4. No discrepancy was found between subgroups of gender and subgroups of staffs’ positions at schools. Conclusion The SHAT-PS is a valid and reliable tool that may facilitate school staff, stakeholders and researchers to evaluate the presence of the factors that promote health at primary schools. Nevertheless, in the process of validation, many of the items related to staff’s health were eliminated due to poor factor loadings. Obviously, staff health is an important factor in the measurement of school health. Hence, we recommend that the validity and reliability of the SHAT-PS in other cultures should be done using the original 76-item version.

Background School health programs need to target all aspects of physical, psychological, and social well-being. Using a slightly modified version of the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist, we developed and conducted the first validation of the School Health Assessment Tool for Primary Schools (SHAT-PS). Method The exploratory sequential mixed method was used in this study. In the first phase, scientific databases were systematically searched to find school health models and instruments and 65 interviews were conducted with school stakeholders. The Colaizzi’s method was used to code the qualitative data into themes. Then, a pool of items was created for each theme, rechecked by psychometric experts and then validated for content (i.e., relevance, clarity, and comprehensiveness) by psychometric experts and individuals of the target population (i.e., school personnel). In the second phase, classical test theory was utilized to analyze the validity and reliability of the resulting items from phase 1 among 400 individuals working at primary schools. Results The coding of the interviews resulted in ten themes that we labeled based on the theoretical literature: school health policies, community connections, health education, physical activity, health services, nutrition, psychological services, physical environment, equipment and facilities, and school staff’s health. The items created for each theme ended up in an initial pool of 76 items. In the final stage of phase 1, 69 items remained after the content validity assessment by experts and school personnel. In phase 2, the SHAT-PS items were tested using maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Of the 69 items from phase 1, 22 items were removed due to low factor loadings. The results showed that the 8-factor model was the best solution (chi-square/df = 2.41, CFI = .98, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .06). The discriminant and convergent validity of the SHAT-PS were evaluated as satisfactory and the scale had high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha for all subscales > .93). The test-retest reliability was satisfactory—the intraclass correlation coefficient pooled was .95 (99% CI [.91–.98]). Moreover, the standard error of measurement resulted in an SEM pooled equal to 4.4. No discrepancy was found between subgroups of gender and subgroups of staffs’ positions at schools. Conclusion The SHAT-PS is a valid and reliable tool that may facilitate school staff, stakeholders and researchers to evaluate the presence of the factors that promote health at primary schools. Nevertheless, in the process of validation, many of the items related to staff’s health were eliminated due to poor factor loadings. Obviously, staff health is an important factor in the measurement of school health. Hence, we recommend that the validity and reliability of the SHAT-PS in other cultures should be done using the original 76-item version.

Acknowledgments.- About the Editors.- List of Contributors.- Developing and Enhancing Competencies in the Practice of School Psychology.- Applying Law and Ethics in Professional Practice.- Building Competency in Cross-Cultural School Psychology.- Managing Your Professional Practice as a School Psychologist.- Consulting with Families, Schools, and Communities.- Assessing Student Skills Using a Nontraditional Approach.- Assessing Student Skills Using Process-Oriented Approaches.- Evaluating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Concerns.- Beyond Unproven Trends: Critically Evaluating School-wide Programs.- Advocating for Effective Instruction: School Psychologists as an Instructional Leader.- Facilitating Mental Health Services in Schools: Universal, Selected, and Targeted Interventions.- Preventing and Intervening in Crisis Situations.- Developing Competent Written and Oral Communication.- Using Advancing Technologies in the Practice of School Psychology.- Making A Career of School Psychology.- Monitoring Professional Competence in School Psychology.