Health Promotion Research Centre, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland.
J Youth Adolesc. 2019 Jul;48(7):1245-1263. doi: 10.1007/s10964-019-00987-3. Epub 2019 Apr 19.
School-based social and emotional learning programs aim to provide students with the skills they need to deal with life challenges, thereby enhancing their social and emotional wellbeing, academic outcomes, and reducing their risk of mental health difficulties. While there is a robust evidence base on the effectiveness of these programs originating from the US, there is a relative paucity of research on how these programs impact young people in other county contexts, especially for older adolescents and those at higher risk. This study sets out to address this research gap by evaluating the effectiveness of a social emotional learning program designed for older adolescents in Ireland, the MindOut program. MindOut is a universal school-based social and emotional learning program designed for older adolescents in Ireland which was developed based on a common elements approach underpinned by CASEL's framework. Employing a cluster randomized-controlled trial, data on social and emotional skills, academic performance and mental health outcomes were collected from students (n = 497; 51.1% female) ages 15-18 years in 32 disadvantaged schools. There were significant improvements in intervention students' social and emotional skills including, reduced suppression of emotions (p = 0.035), use of more positive coping strategies [reduced avoidance coping p = < 0.001) and increased social support coping p = 0.044)]. Improvements in mental health and wellbeing were also found with significantly reduced levels of stress (p = 0.017) and depressive symptoms (p = 0.030) as well as reduced anxiety scores for females students (p = 0.044). These short-term evaluation findings support the positive impact of school-based social and emotional learning programs, such as MindOut, when designed to be both age and culturally appropriate and delivered to older adolescents in disadvantaged schools.
学校社会情感学习计划旨在为学生提供应对生活挑战所需的技能，从而增强他们的社会情感健康、学业成绩，并降低他们出现心理健康问题的风险。虽然这些计划源自美国，具有强大的有效性证据基础，但关于这些计划如何影响其他国家背景下的年轻人，尤其是年龄较大的青少年和高风险人群的研究相对较少。本研究旨在通过评估为爱尔兰年龄较大的青少年设计的社会情感学习计划——MindOut 计划的有效性来填补这一研究空白。MindOut 是一个基于共同要素方法并以 CASEL 框架为基础的爱尔兰面向所有青少年的学校社会情感学习计划。该计划采用整群随机对照试验，从 32 所弱势学校的 15-18 岁学生（51.1%为女性）那里收集了关于社会和情感技能、学业成绩和心理健康结果的数据。干预组学生的社会和情感技能显著提高，包括减少情绪抑制（p=0.035）、更多地使用积极应对策略[避免应对策略减少 p<0.001）和增加社会支持应对 p=0.044）]。心理健康和幸福感也有所改善，压力水平显著降低（p=0.017），抑郁症状减少（p=0.030），女性学生的焦虑评分也有所降低（p=0.044）。这些短期评估结果支持了基于学校的社会情感学习计划（如 MindOut）的积极影响，这些计划在设计时既考虑到年龄因素又考虑到文化因素，并针对弱势学校的年龄较大的青少年实施。
