School Based Prevention Programs

A School-Based Prevention Program is a program that is implemented into elementary and high schools worldwide in order to prevent future behaviour that is harmful or inappropriate. The aim is to reduce behaviours related to drug abuse, suicide, depression, anxiety, bullying, violence, unwanted pregnancies, obesity, and to improve safety in the environment. It works to provide information and skills on mental health to children and adolescents, and to promote destigmatization. The process of the program includes presenting a framework to students on principles and objectives to be learned, learning skills are modelled by the teacher or instructor and practicing them (such as through role play), discussion and feedback are gathered on the learnt skills and experience, and assigning homework is to further practice outside of the classroom or school environment. Information is mostly taught by teachers but can be provided through other measures such as with presentations. When it is possible, interaction with parents or caregivers occurs in order to educate and provide skills to them. A prevention program is important because it allows for the possibility of earlier identification and treatment of mental health disorders, which increases the likelihood of recovery. In fact, one of its first programs was the Drug Abuse Resistance Education in 1983, and since then an increasing number of programs under this category have been created. What is needed to implement these activities into school systems is local involvement regarding criteria, organizational support from those who have high-quality training in the area, principal support, and standardization for guidelines of the programs. It involves time, effort, money, and continuous monitoring but it leads to positive outcomes if guidelines are followed and a continuous effort is applied.

The Canadian Mental Health Commission's Input

The Mental Health Commission of Canada presented information on these programs to show that behavioural and cognitive information is provided to the students to prevent mental health problems such as depressed mood, anxiety, or externalizing behaviours. These are services which provide knowledge on pro-social skills development, conflict resolution, and stress or anger management. Training as well is provided on peer identification, response training, family support, and developing the ability to seek necessary help.

Bullying Prevention

Bullying Prevention Programs involve the school reinforcing classroom discipline, parent and teacher education and training, introducing and applying a whole-school policy on anti-bullying, and the use of instructional videos.

Obesity Prevention

Programs directed at obesity prevention provide knowledge on beneficial dietary practices, exercise, and parental involvement. It informs students of nutritional education sessions, importance of reducing percentage of fat to less than 30%, dietary practices with low-fat foods, fruits, and vegetables, and brings in healthier alternatives to school cafeterias. The program educates students on how exercise leads to a healthier lifestyle. Parental involvement applied in this prevention plan includes notifying parents or caregivers of the concepts taught in class which they can reinforce outside of school.

Suicide Prevention

In “The Supportive classroom: Why school-based suicide prevention programs?”, Buttery Interviews Dr. Jennifer White on School-Based Suicide Prevention Programs from her opinion as an expert in this field. Dr. Jennifer White describes how it is important to provide School-Based Suicide Prevention Programs in the school environment since it is where they spend a majority of their days It opens the topic up for discussion between peers because they are more comfortable with their own age group. Many Canadian schools do not have official mandated suicide preventions but White gives advice to ensure programs are strong and lead to success. Her recommendations include ensuring policies and procedures are followed for responding to at-risk students or students that have previously attempted suicides and developing approaches that are easily comprehensible to students, proper age groups, faculty, parents or service providers. All students should be screened and provided with prevention methods (especially for at-risk youths) and they should have access to useful and quality information on how to help a person in distress. There should be a goal or main messages portrayed such as all suicide talk is serious.White states that parents and faculty should be knowledgeable about the risk factors, signs, and preventative measures. Access to links should be available that connect with other resources including community based or child and youth mental health services. She believes that programs should be introduced to children as young as possible and even though earlier implementation may require changing the format or how the information is portrayed in order to make it more age appropriate, it should still include skill building, awareness, and importance of well-being.

Strategies for beneficial implementation

According to Abigail Fagan(2003), there are strategies to increase success of introducing and maintaining all types of Prevention-Based Programs in school settings. It includes assigning highly committed individuals as project directors or coordinators; encouraging support and cooperation from school administrators, community members and principals; motivating and gaining the support and enthusiasm of teachers; training which will provide knowledge, skills, and desire to continue further; retraining a few years after to reinforce knowledge and continue the commitment of the teacher or school; and gathering feedback to provide instructors with how to improve their skills. The program should have clear goals, specific procedures, and portray information in an easy, clear, attractive manner.