Ilaria Grazzani

Promoting mental health in the school context can occur through social and emotional learning, resilience and the prevention of behavioural problems. The present study aims to identify teachers' perceptions of changes in children and adolescents' social and emotional competencies, resilience and the prevention of behavioural problems after the implementation of a school‐based mental health curriculum called PROMEHS (Promoting Mental Health at Schools). A total of 61 teachers from kindergarten to high school implemented the curriculum in their classes and subsequently shared their perceptions of changes in students' social and emotional competencies, resilience and reduced behavioural problems. A qualitative content analysis was conducted through a deductive approach. For this analysis, teachers' written guided reflections after implementation were used. The findings indicate that teachers perceived changes across all three domains. The most salient changes were reported in students' social and emotional learning, particularly in relationship skills, self‐regulation, self‐awareness and social awareness, followed by perceived gains in resilience and a reduction in behavioural problems. The study also highlights intra‐thematic relationships among categories, especially in the social and emotional learning domains. Inter‐thematic relationships between domains were also found, with a higher prevalence between social and emotional learning and resilience. The present study reinforces existing evidence on the benefits of school‐based mental health programmes for students. It highlights the value of teacher‐based qualitative evaluations in capturing the impacts of such programmes. Future studies employing similar methodologies are recommended to further identify context‐specific improvements and enhance the understanding of program outcomes across diverse educational settings. Context and implications: Rationale for this study: Quantitative evaluations of school‐based mental health programmes often show modest or mixed effects, providing limited insight into how change occurs in everyday school contexts. Why the new findings matter: This qualitative study addresses this gap by examining teachers' perceptions of student change, offering a nuanced understanding of mechanisms, influences, and cross‐domain effects beyond measurable outcomes. Implications: For teachers, the results emphasize the importance of teacher involvement in school interventions and reflective observation to promote social‐emotional learning, resilience, and prosocial behaviours. For researchers, the study demonstrates the value of qualitative methods in complementing outcome‐focused evaluations, providing insights into the processes of change. For policymakers, results support sustained investment in school‐based mental health promotion aligned with whole‐school and preventive frameworks. It also highlights how curriculum‐based interventions can yield meaningful benefits within educational practices.

Introduction: Several studies, in the context of the debate on early implicit theory of mind, have investigated whether infants and toddlers are able to attribute false beliefs concerning the identity of an object. As a result, there is a lack of consensus regarding whether young children are able to understand others' belief about an object's identity when it can be represented in different ways. In the present study, we address this issue by using for the first time a close adaptation of a test originally devised by Butterfill and Apperly to advance the theoretical debate on early theory of mind. Given that this novel identity task could not be completed based on a minimal theory of mind, its use can play a significant role in such a debate. Method: Employing an eye tracking system and based on the violation-of-expectation-paradigm, we explored how the participants (50 toddlers aged 20–24 months) performed in the true belief condition and in the false belief condition on a new identity task with a dual-identity object. Results: Statistical analyses showed that the looking times and number of visits were not significantly higher in the TB condition than in the FB condition, supporting the claim that toddlers of this age don't demonstrate an implicit understanding of false belief. Discussion: We discuss these outcomes in relation to the need for new studies operationalizing Butterfill and Apperly's test in order to advance the theoretical debate on one-system vs. two-system accounts of early theory of mind.

Background/Objectives: In light of the concerning research data on students’ mental health, it is essential to provide high-quality programs that support children and young people in strengthening their psychological well-being. To address this need, the three-year Erasmus+ KA3 international project PROMEHS: Promoting Mental Health at Schools was developed. The project involved universities and education policy representatives from seven European countries, Italy (project leader), Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, and Romania. Its core activities included the development of the PROMEHS curriculum, grounded in three key components: social and emotional learning, resilience, and the prevention of behavioral problems, alongside a rigorous evaluation of its implementation. The main research aim was to test the effect of PROMEHS on students’ and teachers’ mental health. Methods: In Croatia, the curriculum was introduced following the training of teachers (N = 76). It was implemented in kindergartens, and primary and secondary schools (N = 32), involving a total of 790 children. Using a quasi-experimental design, data were collected at two measurement points in both experimental and control groups by teachers, parents, and students. Results: The findings revealed significant improvements in children’s social and emotional competencies and resilience, accompanied by reductions in behavioural difficulties. These effects were most evident in teachers’ assessments, compared to parents’ ratings and student self-reports. Furthermore, teachers reported a significantly higher level of psychological well-being following implementation. Conclusions: Bearing in mind some study limitations, it can be concluded that this study provides evidence of the positive effects of PROMEHS in Croatian educational settings. Building on these outcomes and PROMEHS as an evidence-based program, a micro-qualification education was created to ensure the sustainability and systematic integration of the PROMEHS curriculum into Croatian kindergartens and schools.

Despite evidence of the positive impact of school-based mental health promotion interventions, there remains a need for robust studies, particularly to evaluate newly developed programs, in order to promote the adoption of best practices and identify effective intervention strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of implementing the PROMEHS curriculum in Portugal in a school setting, using a sample of children and adolescents (N=1,764). A longitudinal quasi-experimental design was adopted with an experimental group and a waitlist control group, assessed at the pre- and post-test phases of implementation. Data were collected from teachers, parents/guardians, and students using a set of instruments: the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Social-Emotional Skills (SSIS-SEL Brief Scales), Academic Competence, Resilience (CD-RISC10), and PROMEHS impact. The results indicate a significant impact on students’ socioemotional competencies and academic outcomes, as well as a reduction in difficulties, according to teacher assessments. No statistically significant results were found in the assessments of parents/guardians or the students. However, the evaluation of the program impact across all three informant sources was highly positive. Overall, the findings demonstrate the effectiveness of PROMEHS in promoting students’ socioemotional development and highlight the importance of this type of program in Portuguese schools.

Resumo Apesar da evidência do impacto positivo das intervenções na área da promoção da saúde mental nas escolas, existe a necessidade de realizar estudos robustos, em particular quando novos programas são desenvolvidos, de forma a promover a adoção de boas práticas e a identificação de estratégias eficazes de intervenção. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o impacto da implementação do currículo PROMEHS em Portugal, em contexto escolar com um grupo de crianças e adolescentes (N=1764). O estudo utilizou um desenho quase-experimental de caráter longitudinal no grupo experimental e no grupo em espera nas fases pré e pós-teste da implementação. Foram coletados dados com professores, pais/responsáveis pelos alunos e alunos, através de um conjunto de instrumentos: nomeadamente, o questionário das Capacidades e Dificuldades (SDQ), Competências Socioemocionais (SSIS-SEL Brief Scales), domínio académico, resiliência (CDRisc10) e impacto do PROMEHS. Os resultados apontam para um impacto significativo no aumento das competências socioemocionais e resultados académicos dos alunos, bem como na redução das dificuldades, de acordo com a avaliação dos professores. Na avaliação dos pais/responsáveis pelos alunos e dos alunos não se obtiveram resultados estatisticamente significativos. No entanto, a avaliação do impacto pelas três fontes foi muito positiva. De um modo geral, os resultados apontam a eficácia do currículo PROMEHS na promoção do desenvolvimento socioemocional dos alunos e destacam a importância desse tipo de programa nas escolas portuguesas.

Introduction: This new exploratory study is part of a larger ongoing follow-up project. Its specific aim was to verify whether an innovative European Program, primarily designed to enhance children’s social and emotional learning, led to gains in theory of mind and emotion understanding when implemented in preschool settings.Methods: Thirty-four children (mean age: 56.4 months; SD: 10.1; range: 40–70 months) participated in the study. They were randomly and equally divided into a training group and a control group. The training sample completed eight linguistic-conversational activities drawn from the Program, in groups of 5 to 6 children, over 8 weeks. The activities were based on listening to stories and/or watching videos and then thinking and talking about the inner world (thoughts and emotions) of the story characters as well as the participants’ own inner states. During the training phase, the children in the control group engaged in drawing or free play activities. At both the pre-test and post-test phases of the study, all the children completed a language test, a battery of theory of mind (ToM) tasks (including ‘change of location’ and ‘unexpected content’ tasks), and the Test of Emotion Comprehension which evaluates nine components of emotion understanding (EU). The validated national versions of the tests were administered in all cases.Results: Significant differences were identified between the training and control groups. Indeed, the participants in the Program training activities, which were based on conversational exchanges between an adult and a group of children, as well as among the children themselves, outperformed the control participants on both overall theory of mind and overall emotion understanding. A more detailed analysis showed that the training group outperformed the control group in relation to both specific components of EU and the ‘change of location’ ToM task.Discussion: The results of this exploratory study suggest that the Program is effective at enhancing preschoolers’ social understanding and thus merits implementation in preschool settings.