Lai Kelly Y C, Hung Se-Fong, Lee Hannah W S, Leung Patrick W L
Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 Jun 9;13:866323. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.866323. eCollection 2022.
School-based mental health support services allow children and adolescents easy access to services without requirement of traveling to clinics and hospitals. We describe a School Mental Health Support Scheme (SMHSS) piloted in Hong Kong and discuss the challenges and learnings from the experience. This conceptual paper argues that accessibility is not the only advantage of such services. Teachers are significant others in child development, alongside with families. They play a central role in impacting the children's/adolescents' needs for competence and adult attachment, while schools provide an expanded social network of peers for one's social relationship. The fulfillment of these needs has powerful implications in the mental health of the children/adolescents. Teachers can help students to develop a sense of competence with self-worth and self-identity providing guidance and feedback, whether they be on one's strengths or weaknesses, with acceptance, tolerance and unconditional positive regard. Particularly, the latter define a form of teacher-student relationship or adult attachment that offers the children/adolescents emotional security and nourishment, protecting them from failings and adversities. Teachers can also supervise and guide their students' social development with peers at schools. A recent meta-analysis has found preliminary evidence that those school-based mental health services integrated into the teachers' routine teaching activities are more effective. Teachers, who are overworked and stressed by the schools' overemphasis on academics and grades, have yet to fully grasp their unique roles in supporting students with mental health needs. This paper ends by advocating a paradigm shift in which both the healthcare professionals and educators should forge a mutually beneficial collaboration in jointly enhancing the mental health of children/adolescents at schools.
以学校为基础的心理健康支持服务,让儿童和青少年无需前往诊所和医院就能轻松获得服务。我们描述了在香港试行的一项学校心理健康支持计划(SMHSS),并讨论了从该经验中获得的挑战和经验教训。这篇概念性论文认为,可及性并非此类服务的唯一优势。教师与家庭一样,是儿童成长过程中的重要他人。他们在影响儿童/青少年对能力和成人依恋的需求方面发挥着核心作用,而学校为个人的社会关系提供了一个扩大的同龄人群体社交网络。这些需求的满足对儿童/青少年的心理健康具有重要意义。教师可以通过提供指导和反馈,无论是关于优点还是缺点,以接纳、宽容和无条件的积极关注,帮助学生培养自我价值感和自我认同感。特别是,后者定义了一种师生关系或成人依恋形式,为儿童/青少年提供情感安全感和滋养,保护他们免受失败和逆境的影响。教师还可以在学校监督和指导学生与同伴的社交发展。最近的一项荟萃分析发现了初步证据,表明那些融入教师日常教学活动的以学校为基础的心理健康服务更有效。然而,由于学校过度强调学业成绩,教师工作过度且压力大,他们尚未充分认识到自己在支持有心理健康需求的学生方面的独特作用。本文最后倡导一种范式转变,即医疗保健专业人员和教育工作者应建立互利合作关系,共同促进学校中儿童/青少年的心理健康。