Adolescent suicide is a growing public health concern. This research explores adolescent perceptions of suicide to identify potential focus areas for future prevention programming. This qualitative study utilized focus groups with 14 high school students. Thematic analysis was used to capture key concepts. Salient themes included: "Deciding…

In a prior study (Millett & Kevelson, 2018a), we demonstrated that college access program participants have positive views of the extent to which the program supports the development of their social and emotional skills and related college help-seeking behaviors in college. In this follow-up study, we explore the extent to which participant…

Background and objective: Considering the worldwide increase in mental health problems among adolescents and the hypothetical positive impact of mental health literacy (MHL) on mental health promotive behaviours, this study examined the effect of a MHL intervention in a sample of Iranian high school students. Design: Educational intervention with…

Bullying and mental health problems are pressing concerns for adolescents. Given their burden, we need to find efficacious ways to prevent these experiences. However, existing prevention programs tend to be single-issue and may not focus on the universal capacities required to reduce these problems among youth. To this end, we evaluated the…

Mental health (MH) stigma affects help seeking behaviors of youth, particularly youth of color. This article reports the impact of Look Around (LA), a social media campaign designed to reduce MH stigma and increase help seeking in 6th- to 12th-grade youth in one Midwestern county. The campaign utilized movie theater advertising, social media,…

Adolescent dating and relationship violence is associated with health harms and is an important topic for sex education. School-based interventions addressing this have been effective in the USA, but schools in England confront pressures that might hinder implementation. We assessed the feasibility of, and contextual enablers/barriers to…

In this mixed methods case study, we investigated the benefits of being a youth mentor to younger peers as part of the Fourth R: Uniting Our Nations Peer Mentoring Program for Indigenous youth. Data were collected from 11 youth mentors via interviews and returned to them for interpretation and meaning-making through a statement sorting and rating…

This study explored how adaptive help seeking was related to academic self-efficacy, perfectionism (maladaptive and adaptive), attitudes towards help seeking (perceived benefits and perceived threats), and teacher emotional support among 311 grade 9 students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. Significant bivariate links…

School social workers are challenged with the responsibility to clinically assist students to the extent that they are ready to learn in school. Because social, emotional, and behavioral issues impact student readiness to learn, these issues clearly fall within the purview of school social work. However, many school social workers have a limited…

Objective: This pilot study sought to better understand what can be achieved by an evidence-based classroom social and emotional education programme. Design and Methods: A 10-lesson, classroom-based programme that taught about emotional literacy, personal strengths, coping and problem-solving strategies, stress management, emotional regulation and…

Despite the need for improving mental health literacy (MHL) among young people in low- and middle-income countries little research is available. Schools are an ideal location in which to address mental health literacy. A Canadian school-based mental health literacy resource was adapted for application in sub-Saharan Africa called the African Guide…

The use of peer education has been well documented within the discipline of health promotion, but not within the youth mental health domain. This paper describes an evaluation of an innovative schools-based peer education training programme that involved preparing young people to deliver a mental health workshop to their peers. Participants…

This paper describes the design and initial testing of AnswerPro, a mobile academic peer support system for school pupils aged 11-16 years. AnswerPro is a mobile optimised web application that enables pupils to seek support with school work from knowledgeable peers on various subjects. This paper presents research findings from the project, and in…

Many school-based suicide prevention programs do not show a positive impact on help-seeking behaviors among emotionally troubled teens despite their being at high risk for suicide. This study is a secondary analysis of the Surviving the Teens® program evaluation to determine its effect on help-seeking behaviors among troubled youth. Results showed…

The study presented in this report evaluates the effects of a school-based theatrical performance "Walk In Our Shoes" on a group of predominantly Latino youth in Santa Barbara County, California. The performance follows the lives of four (fictional) high school students and introduces their various experiences with both mental health…