School-based interventions for mental health promotion: A systematic review of evidence-based practices at the global level
School-based mental health interventions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47779/ajhs.2025.788Keywords:
School-Based, Mental Health, Children, Adolescents, InterventionsAbstract
School-based interventions support children’s holistic well-being by promoting mental health,
fostering resilience, and enhancing social, academic, and physical development. This systematic review aimed to synthesize current evidence-based research on school mental health promotion interventions. Another objective is to analyze the reported outcomes of interventions to review current policies and available resources. A comprehensive search within MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL (EBSCO), and Google Scholar was conducted using different combinations of keywords “school-based”, “intervention”, “mental health”, “evidence-based”, “theory” and “promotion” by using the Boolean operators “AND” and “OR”. Studies were included from December 1, 2017, to October 31, 2024, study design (randomized control trials), age ≤ 18, all genders, and English language. Studies were excluded based on inception year, age ≥ 18 years, study designs other than mentioned above, and non-English language. Quality assessment was performed with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tool for randomized controlled trials. A total of 24 studies were included, identifying a total of 32 evidence-based mental health interventions. These school-based mental health promotion interventions utilized combined frameworks (n=7), cognitive behavioral therapy (n=5), mindfulness theory (n=3), mental health literacy (n=3), diathesis-stress model (n=3), WHO-approved FRIENDS program (n=2), social cognitive theory(n=1). A combination of programs and frameworks were utilized in 5 out of 24 studies. School-based interventions effectively reduce depression, anxiety, and psychosocial challenges in youth, promoting well-being. More rigorous research is needed to enhance evidence-based interventions, consider contextual influences, and evaluate broader societal benefits of empowering children in mental health prevention.
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