A programme aimed at helping school pupils to “normalise” emotions such as stress and sadness has shown promise, a government-backed study says.
Experts analysed several strategies aimed at promoting children’s mental wellbeing and found that while some worked, others actually harmed wellbeing in some cases.
Led by the Evidence-Based Practice Unit, a collaboration between the Anna Freud charity and University College London (UCL), and funded by the Department for Education, a trial of the strategies ran from 2018 to 2024.
It involved 32,655 pupils in Years 4,5,7 and 8, across 513 schools in England, and tested school-based interventions aimed at boosting mental health awareness and promoting mental health and wellbeing.
Improving mental health awareness
The results show that one intervention - Strategies for Safety and Wellbeing (SSW) - had the best overall effect.
SSW helps pupils to normalise everyday emotions, such as stress and sadness, and better understand how to differentiate them from mental ill-health. It also informs them where to go for support.
The intervention involved trained school staff delivering a series of eight lessons designed to increase children’s and young people’s skills around personal safety and managing their mental health, as well as to help them to identify their support networks.
SSW was found to significantly improve mental health literacy - specifically, the intention to seek help if mental health problems arise in the future - in primary schools. When it was implemented in full, a significant rise in mental health literacy was seen in secondary schools.
Mindfulness may worsen pupils’ difficulties
Two other strategies - mindfulness-based exercises and relaxation techniques - were trialled in primary schools (Years 4 and 5) and secondary schools (Years 7 and 8).
The course on relaxation techniques, made up of daily five-minute sessions, significantly reduced emotional difficulties when delivered frequently and consistently in primary schools, and most helped children from ethnic minority groups.
However, in secondary schools there was evidence that emotional difficulties actually increased significantly with the frequency of the sessions.
Meanwhile, the mindfulness exercises, which involved training teachers to deliver daily five-minute sessions in class, reduced emotional difficulties when delivered frequently in secondary schools.
But in primary schools there was evidence that the sessions could increase emotional difficulties, including in children with special educational needs and prior emotional problems.
‘Small but positive’ effects
Overall, the researchers say the positive effects that they witnessed were small but, when amplified across the population, could translate into “meaningful change”.
Chief investigator Jess Deighton, professor in child mental health and wellbeing at the UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, said: “We found that some of the interventions trialled are only effective when delivered in full or for certain groups, but can cause unintended consequences for some.
“The most promising intervention - Strategies for Safety and Wellbeing - is designed to help children and young people before potential problems escalate into mental ill-health by normalising everyday emotions and showing where to find support if needed.
“This taps into what schools are already doing but provides structured and comprehensive guidance to support staff in delivering these messages.
“As this was the first time these interventions were trialled in England, more research is needed to help us understand potential negative consequences and how these can be negated.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Currently too many children and young people are waiting too long to access the mental health support they need, making it all the more vital that promising studies like these can identify evidence-based early interventions to address problems before they escalate.”
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