Methods of preventing mental ill-health among schoolchildren

Background

Mental ill-health is one of the most serious health problems among Swedish children and adolescents. Various surveys suggest that 10-25 percent of children have mental problems so severe that they or those around them suffer. Mental ill-health includes acting-out behaviour, depression, anxiety, impaired cognitive development and other conditions.

There are many factors that can affect children's mental health. Among them are their interactions with their parents and how they get along in school. Thus, it is important that parents are able to provide their children with a secure upbringing. Children who are particularly sensitive or vulnerable may benefit from interventions that make it easier for them to deal with problems at school.

There is great interest in introducing structured programmes to prevent mental ill-health in children. The interventions may target parents, children and educators alike. But the extent to which such programmes have any documented effect remains unclear.

Purpose

The purpose of the project is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of manualised prevention programmes. That includes support in eliminating programmes whose effectiveness is uncorroborated by the evidence or that have been shown to increase the risk of mental ill-health in children.