Symposium Summary:
Background: Adolescence is a crucial period for laying the foundations for healthy development and mental wellbeing. The increasing prevalence of mental disorders amongst adolescents makes promotion of mental wellbeing and preventive interventions at schools important.
At the European Conference on Positive Psychology in 2016, collaboration between international experts took effect to apply for a grant to work towards a holistic approach to promote wellbeing for teenagers. The outcome is the UPRIGHT project, a research and innovation project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No. 754919.
Aim: To develop, implement and test for effectiveness of the UPRIGHT intervention. UPRIGHT takes a whole school approach (school community, students and families) to promote a culture of mental wellbeing and prevent mental disorders by enhancing resilience capacities.
Methods: The theoretical framework has been developed by an innovative and multidisciplinary approach using a co-creation process inside the UPRIGHT Consortium (involving seven institutions from Spain, Italy, Poland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland). The UPRIGHT programme is administered in 18 to 24 sessions to 3000 adolescents in schools in five European countries, their families and school staff. The program is monitored for quality control. A randomised controlled trial is used to measure its effectiveness to increase mental wellbeing and a comparator control sample of the same size. Qualitative evaluation is also being done.
Results: In the symposium the theoretical framework resulted in the UPRIGHT programme, the co-creation process, the implementation story and lessons learnt will be presented. The description of the mental health outcomes of a large sample of adolescents in Europe, and preliminary results of the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health is also to be presented.
Symposium Presentation 1 Proposal:
Title: Mental health of adolescents in Europe in turbulent times
Presenter: Carlota Las-Hayas
Proposal: In this session we will present a description of the mental health outcomes of a large sample of adolescents (12-14 years old) attending schools in Europe, and preliminary results of the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health. A necessary step within the UPRIGHT project was to know the baseline mental health status of adolescent students in Europe before implementing the UPRIGHT intervention. During 2018 and 2019 a representative sample of 3,767 adolescents attending schools in 5 pan-European countries, self-completed a psychometrically sound battery of questionnaires to evaluate both their degree of mental health, degree of mental ill health and conduct problems. Mental health outcomes included wellbeing, personal resilience, school resilience and health related quality of life whereas mental ill health outcomes included anxiety, depression and perceived stress. Conduct problems such as violent behaviours and frequency of substance use were also self-reported. Once data was collected, descriptive analyses of their mental health and conduct problems were performed. Additionally, we also explored if different mental health profiles emerged empirically from the data, through the combination of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and cluster analysis. Results revealed the prevalence of three mental health profiles in the studied population, which will be described. Additionally, in this talk, we will also present preliminary results of the impact of the pandemic on mental health outcomes before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in a subsample of students. As a conclusion, we will make an argument in favour of the adequacy of implementing universal and holistic school-based mental health promotion interventions in adolescent populations.
Symposium Presentation 2 Proposal:
Title: Why, how, and with whom to implement Cocreation of Educational Services? Research, Innovation, and Policy Development to promote Mental Wellbeing and Resilience in Schools.
Presenter: Roxanna Morote
Proposal: UPRIGHT’s Co-creation and Regionalization was a mixed-methods and participatory research process which involved more than one thousand adolescents, school professionals, teachers, and families, as well as six interdisciplinary teams, with more than twenty educators, health professionals, governmental and policy officers, in seven pan-European institutions. As a result, UPRIGHT has a validated intervention model and regionalization strategy, as well as a Teachers’ Manual that highlights the role of the school professionals as change promoters in the school and community contexts. In this presentation we will highlight why and how a participative co-creation process addresses the risks of decontextualized and top-down interventions, thus informing resilience as an appropriate paradigm for implementing school-based programs. We will reflect critically on the possibilities of resilience in educational systems, public services, and policy development as a paradigm for the promotion of individual wellbeing as well as societal development and sustainability.
Symposium Presentation 3 Proposal:
Title: Validation
Presenter: Mette Marie Ledertoug
Proposal: In order to create of a wellbeing and resilience program to be implemented in schools, the UPRIGHT Consortium decided to stress the importance of relevance and usefulness to the stakeholders. One of the milestones in this endeavor was to validate the usefulness and relevance of resilience promoting interventions across the variety of students, teachers and families involved by exploring cultural differences and needs in each pilot country. The methodology for this validation included an initial member-checking validation method, an internal audit conducted by an appointed researcher from each of the participating pilot countries, and a manual validation performed by stakeholders again using member-checking method. The findings were used to co-customize the core resilience intervention according to the needs detected and finally participants and stakeholders validated the resilience intervention program.
In this presentation, we will demonstrate a thorough and user-friendly method to secure a high level of applicability in schools and at the same time meeting the needs of stakeholders by ensuring meaningfulness and relevance.
Symposium Presentation 4 Proposal:
Title: UPRIGHT Implementation story and lessons learnt
Presenter: Silvia Gabrielli
Proposal: This presentation will begin by providing an overview of the protocol followed by the UPRIGHT pilot sites to implement the project, in order to ensure a consistent deployment of the programme across the participating countries. It will also briefly present the main tools and procedures set up to facilitate an active and constant involvement of the different stakeholders’ groups (adolescents, teachers/school staff and families) in the project and for monitoring their preferences and possible difficulties in the deployment of the UPRIGHT programme.
In particular, an online web platform was developed by the UPRIGHT project to support the delivery of educational materials and resources relevant to the implementation of the Wellbeing for Us and Wellbeing for All programme, specifically targeting the participating families, school staff and the school communities.
The conclusion will provide main figures and lessons learnt from the two waves of the UPRIGHT programme implementation phase to inform future initiatives and public health projects aimed at promoting a culture of wellbeing in schools.