Aggression and externalisation problems at school hold negative consequences for both the perpetrators and the victims. This paper argues that the relationship between anxiety and aggression may make it possible to use certain anxiety prevention programmes to help prevent aggression. This hypothesis was tested on a sample of early adolescents…

When expectant mothers are exposed to traumatic events such as natural disasters, their children are at increased risk for developmental and behavioral problems. Many people believe that young children will not be impacted by the traumatic experiences that occur during and following disasters. Therefore, planning for the youngest children at the…

Using the best available evidence to inform decision making is important for the design or delivery of effective health-related services and broader public policy. Several studies identify barriers and facilitators to evidence-informed decision making in Canadian health settings. This paper describes how the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child…

Mentally ill people are among the most stigmatized, discriminated against and marginalized society members. The aims of this study were to explore adolescents' opinions about mental illness and determine whether these change after a mental health educational intervention. Two randomly selected schools took part in this study: one serving as…

Symptoms of depression are common in adolescents and have negative impacts on academic engagement and achievement, as well as on future mental health and functioning. A number of psychological therapies are effective for the treatment of adolescent depression but there are barriers to young people accessing treatment promptly. Providing treatment…

The Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI) is a large-scale, integrated research effort designed to increase the safety of schools nationwide. It was initiated in 2014 at the request of Congress. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) administers the CSSI as a research grant program. Through the CSSI, the NIJ funds research-focused…

The onset of most mental illness and substance dependency typically occurs during adolescence and early adulthood, which coincides with the very age when the majority of students are first encountering the pressures associated with postsecondary education. An effective and easy-to-navigate mental health-care system for postsecondary students helps…

Partnering With Parents, an infant mental health (IMH) intervention program at Starfish Family Services (SFS), is dedicated to improving social-emotional outcomes, supporting wellness, and strengthening relationships between infants and families. Families served by SFS experience a myriad of societal, community, and relational stressors that can…

Child-Centered Group Play Therapy (CCGPT) has been shown to be an effective, developmentally appropriate, and efficient mental health treatment for young children. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore six play therapists' perceptions of conducting CCGPT in four elementary schools. Three overarching themes emerged from the data:…

Ontario's Child and Youth Mental Health (CYMH) program is a provincially sponsored initiative that aims to build school district capacity for developing research-informed school mental health policies. This article reports findings from a mixed-methods study that employs social network theory and analysis tools to explore the centrality of CYMH…

Worldwide, policymakers, health system managers, practitioners and researchers struggle to use evidence to improve policy and practice. There is growing recognition that this challenge relates to the complex systems in which we work. The corresponding increase in complexity-related discourse remains primarily at a theoretical level. This paper…

The Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) blends school mental health practices, systems, and resources into all levels of a multitiered system of supports (e.g., positive behavior interventions and supports). The ISF aims to improve mental health and school performance for all students by emphasizing effective school-wide promotion and…

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are a long-standing and important design for conducting rigorous tests of the effectiveness of health interventions. However, many questions have been raised about the external validity of RCTs, their utility in explicating mechanisms of intervention and participants' intervention experiences, and their…

Objective: A critical evaluation of a salutogenic, wellness education programme was conducted with a group of first-year socioeconomically disadvantaged higher education students, in order to assess the value they placed on health information and wellness priorities. Methods: This study took a mixed-methods approach utilising a…

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is essential to improving the health and nutrition among low-income individuals. During Fiscal Year 2017, over 42 million people living in nearly 21 million households received SNAP in the United States. Within the Mountain Plains Region (Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,…