Children First: It’s Time to Change! Mental Health Promotion, Prevention, and Treatment Informed by Public Health, and Resiliency Approaches

Although the importance of healthy mental development in children and youth is not disputed, the mental health needs of far too many Canadian children are being ignored. Within the context of recent federal and provincial calls for systemic reform of the mental health care systems for children and youth, we underscore the necessity for ongoing innovation, development, education, and evaluation. This article describes our aims to establish demonstration and research sites focused on promising frameworks that draw from systems of care, public health, and resiliency approaches

The Effects of a Peer Mentoring Program on Academic Success Among First Year University Students

The present study examines the effect of participation of first-year university students in a full-year peer mentoring program as well as individual differences in motivation in relation to outcome measures of retention and achievement. A sample of 983 first year students completed the Academic Motivation Inventory (Tremblay, 1998) and agreed to provide final grades; 537 students were randomly assigned to participate in the program, while the remainder served as a control group. Mentored students who continued to participate mid-way through the second semester had significantly higher final grades than did students in the control group. There was no effect on retention from year one to year two, however data are being collected on retention and grades for all groups for the length of their undergraduate careers. Students high in anxiety in the mentored group showed achievement comparable to that of low anxiety program participants, whereas students in the control group with high anxiety scored significantly worse on achievement than did their low anxiety counterparts.La présente étude a examiné les répercussions de la participation d'étudiants de première année impliqués, pendant un an, dans un programme de mentorat de pairs, ainsi que les différents niveaux de motivation en rapport avec les résultats mesurés de rétention et de réussite. Un échantillon de 983 étudiants de première année ont complété l'inventaire de motivation académique (Tremblay, 1998) et ont accepté de soumettre leurs notes finales; 537 étudiants ont été choisis au hasard pour participer au programme, tandis que le groupe restant allait faire fonction de groupe contrôle. Les étudiants bénéficiant de l'appui du programme de mentorat qui sont restés jusqu'à la moitié du second semestre ont obtenu des notes considérablement plus élevées que ceux dans le groupe contrôle. Aucun effet sur la rétention n' a été observé entre la première et la deuxième année, mais toutefois des données continuent d'être recueillies dans ce domaine, ainsi que dans celui des notes obtenues par tous les groupes au cours des quatre premières années de scolarisation universitaire. Les étudiants plus angoissés impliqués dans le groupe de mentorat ont aussi bien réussi que les participants du même groupe qui l'étaient moins, tandis que les étudiants du groupe contrôle souffrant d'un niveau d'anxiété élevé ont considérablement moins bien réussi que leurs homologues qui y étaient moins sujets

Pre-service Teacher Education for Mental Health and Inclusion in Schools

Pre-service teacher education in mental health and mental health literacy is essential to creating the conditions necessary to support the mental health and wellness of children and youth in schools. Many teachers report never having received any education about mental health, but recognize the importance of this knowledge in meeting the needs of their students in regular classrooms. This article describes the development of a completely online mental health course organized around five learning objectives and delivered in a large pre-service teacher education program in Canada. Next, this article presents the results of research to evaluate impact on the pre-service teacher education students. Results are organized into expected and unexpected learning outcomes. Implications for further research and practice are shared

The Impact of Residence Design on Freshman Outcomes: Dormitories Versus Suite-Style Residences

This study was designed to measure affective, behavioural, and cognitive variables in a sample of 3159 first-year students, and to compare these variables by the type of residence building in which the student lived. Students living in suite-style buildings reported a greater sense of belonging, and higher activity levels than students living in dormitory- style buildings. Furthermore, sense of belonging was predicted by high extraversion and low conscientiousness. This suggests that introverted, conscientious students living in traditional dormitory-style buildings may be most at-risk of feeling “out-of-place” in residence.Cette étude a été crée pour évaluer les variables émotionnelles, comportementales, et cognitives dans une panel de 3159 étudiants dans leur première année d’université, et pour comparer ces variables par le type d’édifi ce de résidence dans laquelle les étudiantes vivaient. Etudiants vivant dans les immeubles de style suite ont rapporte un sens d’appartenance plus grand, et des niveaux plus élevées d’activité que celles qui vivait dans les immeubles de style foyer. En plus, un sens d’appartenance a été prédit par haute extraversion et des niveaux bas de conscience. Cela suggère que les étudiants introverties et consciencieux qui vivent dans les immeubles traditionnelles de style foyer seront peut-être les plus exposer à sentir « hors-de-place ». &nbsp

“Where Love Prevails”: Student Resilience and Resistance in Precarious Spaces

Growing concerns about school-based mental health (SBMH) in Canada have led to questions concerning how policymakers and educators can develop mental health competencies. Coincidental to this movement has been the emergence of a discourse of community and citizenship, emphasizing active, bottom-up decision-making and self-governance. However, in the rural context, in particular, the ability to engage as a community of citizens is too often thwarted by policies that privilege economic interests over the wellness of those affected—as in the case of school closures, which is our focus here. We adopt Jean Baker Miller’s (Toward a new psychology of women. Beacon Press, Boston, MA, 1976) Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) to examine the experiences of a community in a rural area through the closure of a school. We theorize that meaningful participation is critical to building resilience through examining how students in a downtown medium-size city’s high school independently responded to the threatened closure of their school—with their own unique brand of organization and resistance. In rural districts where the community is part of the fabric of the curriculum itself, school closures can limit a community’s ability to build the “mental health” capital—or resilience—needed to sustain its inhabitants. We argue that in the process changes to place can contribute to mental health vulnerability and reduction in well-being

Gender Differences in Cooperative Learning with University Students

Differences in achievement were investigated for 80 female and 80 male university students who were randomly assigned to either cooperative or competitive teaching methods. After viewing a videotaped instruction on research design, participants completed a mini-assignment either individually in the competitive condition or with a same-sex partner in the cooperative condition. All participants individually completed a multiple-choice test to assess achievement. Although no differences were found on the multiple-choice test, on the mini-assignment women scored significantly higher in the cooperative than in the competitive condition, whereas men performed about equally in both conditions.Nous avons étudié les différences de performance chez 80 étudiants et 80 étudiantes universitaires à qui l’on avait assigné, par hasard, un projet conforme, soit à des méthodes de coopération, soit à des méthodes concurrentielles. Après avoir visionné une vidéo de directives portant sur la méthodologie de recherche, les participants ont complété un petit travail seul, dans un contexte concurrentiel, ou bien avec un partenaire de même sexe dans un contexte de coopération. De plus, tous les participants ont complété un examen à choix multiples individuellement, pour mesurer leur performance. Les résultats de cet examen ne révèlent aucune différence. Toutefois, la note e qu’ont obtenue les femmes pour le petit travail était bien plus élevée pour celui accompli dans un contexte de coopération que dans un contexte de concurrence. La performance des hommes était semblable dans les deux contextes

A Well Place to Be: The Intersection of Canadian School-Based Mental Health Policy with Student and Teacher Resiliency

This policy analysis identifies and critiques dominant narratives in the school-based mental health (SBMH) movement in Canada, with an eye to the ideas and resources being mobilized. The policy narratives were identified as SBMH problems and solutions, represented by the websites and links to other resources of the ministries and departments of education in Canada. There are three areas under-represented in the policy narratives that deserve more nuanced attention in SBMH initiatives; these are (a) to work with educators to develop communities of practice on school mental health around the notion of resiliency, (b) to consider the structural and material factors that affect people’s ability to be resilient at school, and (c) to extend the current focus on promoting student wellness to include teacher wellness. We ground these recommendations by contrasting the policy narratives with the story of our work with educators on a website about resiliency through the lenses of positive psychological health and a sociomaterial perspective on resources. We suggest that a sociomaterial approach to SBMH initiatives, using conceptual tools from implementation science and workplace psychological health, may help both students and teachers develop resiliency

Barriers to Education for the Marginalized Adult Learner

This qualitative study examines barriers to adult education by the marginalized adult learner. We adopted an inclusive approach by interviewing potential adult learners who had not participated in adult education programs due to illiteracy. Five overlapping themes related to barriers emerged and were categorized as: family values and responsibilities (i.e., cultural); the emotional effect of family poverty on participants’ lives (i.e., anger at the welfare system); disrupted school and learning experiences (i.e., multiple school changes); social exclusion and personal challenges (i.e., marginalization due to race, class); and turning points in participants’ education and hopes for the future (i.e., positive role models)

Exploring Attitudes of Future Educators About Sexual Minority Youth

Fifty-two secondary teacher candidates from a Canadian university completed questionnaires assessing levels of homoprejudice, knowledge of homosexuality, and perceptions of professional issues related to sexual minority youth. The level of homoprejudice in this sample was lower than in earlier studies with teachers, and lower homoprejudice was found to be significantly related to higher professional commitment and willingness to assist sexual minority students. As well greater knowledge of homosexual issues was significantly related to lower levels of homoprejudice, and men had significantly more homoprejudiced attitudes than women.Cinquante-deux stagiaires d’une université canadienne ont complété des questionnaires évaluant les préjugés contre l’homosexualité, les connaissances sur l’homosexualité et les perceptions des enjeux professionnels liés aux jeunes appartenant à une minorité sexuelle. Cet échantillon a démontré moins de préjugés face à l’homosexualité que ceux des études précédentes impliquant des enseignants; or, un rapport significatif existe entre des niveaux peu élevés de préjugés face à l’homosexualité d’une part, et un plus grand engagement des les jeunes membres d’une minorité sexuelle et une volonté accrue de leur venir en aide d’autre part. Un lien significatif existe également entre des connaissances plus importantes relatives aux enjeux touchant les homosexuels et des niveaux moins élevés de préjugés face à l’homosexualité. Finalement, les hommes ont démontré, de manière significative, plus d’attitudes homophobes que les femmes