The promotion of mental health and emotional wellbeing of children (5-13) through participatory partnership work with school communities in one local authority : a realistic evaluation of the 'treasure project', a three-year children's fund project

摘要

This is an evaluative study of an ecological, multi-faceted, multi-levelled school-based mental health and emotional wellbeing project , called the ‘Treasure Project’. The project team directly supported 3,452 children and trained 607 staff from 56 schools. Realistic Evaluation (Pawson & Tilley, 1997) informed the evaluation. Theories, developed from a review of literature, were used to derive a framework of hypotheses about effective work in the area of mental health and emotional wellbeing. Data collected about the project was checked against the framework leading to new theories and hypotheses being developed. Findings from the evaluation suggest that: 1) projects aiming to promote children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing have more impact if they are multi-faceted, multi-levelled and include a whole school approach; 2) direct interventions supporting children’s emotional needs are more effective if school staff’s capacity is simultaneously increased through training and partnership work; and 3) capacity building is most effective when it takes place over time, is aimed at building staff’s support skills, and is rooted in evidence-based approaches providing good resources for future reference. The enquiry’s limitations are discussed, together with a consideration of how these findings might useful to professionals, including educational psychologists, working in partnership with schools.