Manchester Institute of Education, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2023 Jul 7;23(1):1305. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15836-z.
Provision that aims to promote the social, emotional, and mental wellbeing of children and young people (including their mental health) is increasingly implemented in education settings. As researchers, policymakers, and practitioners explore the complexities of promotion and prevention provision in practice, it is critical that we include and amplify children and young people's perspectives. In the current study, we explore children and young people's perceptions of the values, conditions, and foundations that underpin effective social, emotional, and mental wellbeing provision.
We engaged in remote focus groups with 49 children and young people aged 6-17 years across diverse settings and backgrounds, using a storybook in which participants constructed wellbeing provision for a fictional setting.
Using reflexive thematic analysis, we constructed six main themes presenting participants' perceptions: (1) recognising and facilitating the setting as a caring social community; (2) enabling wellbeing to be a central setting priority; (3) facilitating strong relationships with staff who understand and care about wellbeing; (4) engaging children and young people as active partners; (5) adapting to collective and individual needs; and (6) being discreet and sensitive to vulnerability.
Our analysis presents a vision from children and young people of an integrated systems approach to wellbeing provision, with a relational, participatory culture in which wellbeing and student needs are prioritised. However, our participants identified a range of tensions that risk undermining efforts to promote wellbeing. Achieving children and young people's vision for an integrated culture of wellbeing will require critical reflection and change to address the current challenges faced by education settings, systems, and staff.
越来越多的教育机构开始提供旨在促进儿童和青少年的社会、情感和心理健康（包括其心理健康）的服务。作为研究人员、政策制定者和实践者，我们在探索促进和预防措施在实践中的复杂性时，必须纳入并放大儿童和青少年的观点。在当前的研究中，我们探讨了儿童和青少年对有效促进社会、情感和心理健康的服务的价值观、条件和基础的看法。
我们在远程焦点小组中与来自不同背景的 49 名 6-17 岁的儿童和青少年进行了互动，使用了一本故事书，让参与者为一个虚构的环境构建了福利服务。
我们使用反思性主题分析，构建了六个主要主题，呈现了参与者的看法：（1）认识和促进关怀的社会社区；（2）使幸福感成为中心的环境优先事项；（3）促进与了解和关心幸福感的工作人员建立良好的关系；（4）让儿童和青少年成为积极的合作伙伴；（5）适应集体和个人的需求；（6）对脆弱性保持谨慎和敏感。
我们的分析提出了儿童和青少年对幸福感提供的整体系统方法的愿景，具有关系和参与式的文化，在这种文化中，幸福感和学生的需求是优先考虑的。然而，我们的参与者确定了一系列可能破坏促进幸福感的努力的紧张局势。要实现儿童和青少年对整体幸福感文化的愿景，需要进行批判性反思和变革，以应对教育环境、系统和工作人员目前面临的挑战。
