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The study aim was to evaluate the preliminary efficacy and acceptability of an e-learning module to increase sports coaches' mental health literacy and intention to engage in mental health promotion. Thirty-five coaches completed measures at baseline and 1-week follow-up. Mixed methods were used to assess the acceptability of the module, including interviews with 15 coaches. Coaches' knowledge, confidence and intention to engage in mental health promotion increased at 1-week follow-up. Coaches found the module to be acceptable with the content perceived to be informative, the design visually appealing, and the module realistic to be implemented more broadly within their sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School-based youth mental health promotion is increasingly recognised as a useful tool to improve mental health knowledge and help-seeking among adolescents. Peer-led initiatives are emerging as a potentially viable mode of delivering this material. Yet, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of these initiatives compared to more traditional, adult-led, forms of mental health promotion. This study aimed to compare improvements in students' mental health knowledge and help-seeking after attending either a peer- or adult-led youth mental health promotion workshop. It also sought to examine differential effects by gender. A within- and between-group comparative design was used to examine secondary school students' (N = 536) mental health knowledge and help-seeking intentions before and after attending a school-based mental health promotion workshop. Students' mental health knowledge and help-seeking intentions significantly improved in both peer- and adult-led groups. Outcomes did not differ across modes of delivery, although the impact of adult-led workshops on mental health knowledge was moderated by gender. Peer-led youth mental health promotion appears to be as effective as traditional adult-led delivery, and seems to be particularly beneficial for male students who respond more favourably to content communicated through their peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• School readiness initiatives would be improved by including children's priorities. • Children's priorities from interviews were compared against trial outcome measures. • Priorities for academic skills and aspects of self-regulation were well measured. • Self-efficacy, social skills, creative thinking and play were partially measured. • School liking, environment and family-school relations were absent from measures. Young children in communities facing socioeconomic disadvantage are increasingly targeted by school readiness interventions. Interventions are stronger if they address stakeholders' priorities, yet children's priorities for early school adjustment are rarely accounted for in intervention design including selection of outcome measures. The Children's Thoughts about School Study (CTSS) examined young children's accounts of their early school experiences, and their descriptions of what a new school starter would need to know. Mixed-method interviews were conducted with 42 kindergarten children in a socioeconomically deprived suburb of Dublin, Ireland. First, inductive thematic analysis identified 25 priorities across four domains: feeling able and enthusiastic for school; navigating friendships and victimisation; supportive environments with opportunities to play; bridging school and family life. Second, deductive analysis compared children's priorities at item level against a school readiness outcome battery. Children's priorities were assigned to three groups: (1) assessed by outcome measures (core academic competencies, aspects of self-regulation); (2) partially assessed (self-efficacy, social skills for friendship formation and avoiding victimisation, creative thinking, play); and (3) not assessed by outcome measures (school liking, school environment, family-school involvement). This analysis derived from children's own perspectives suggests that readiness interventions aiming to support early school adjustment would benefit from considering factors children consider salient. It offers recommendations for advancing conceptual frameworks, improving assessment, and identifying new targets for supporting children and schools. In doing so we provide a platform for children's priorities to be integrated into the policies and practices that shape their early lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• School readiness initiatives would be improved by including children's priorities. • Children's priorities from interviews were compared against trial outcome measures. • Priorities for academic skills and aspects of self-regulation were well measured. • Self-efficacy, social skills, creative thinking and play were partially measured. • School liking, environment and family-school relations were absent from measures. Young children in communities facing socioeconomic disadvantage are increasingly targeted by school readiness interventions. Interventions are stronger if they address stakeholders' priorities, yet children's priorities for early school adjustment are rarely accounted for in intervention design including selection of outcome measures. The Children's Thoughts about School Study (CTSS) examined young children's accounts of their early school experiences, and their descriptions of what a new school starter would need to know. Mixed-method interviews were conducted with 42 kindergarten children in a socioeconomically deprived suburb of Dublin, Ireland. First, inductive thematic analysis identified 25 priorities across four domains: feeling able and enthusiastic for school; navigating friendships and victimisation; supportive environments with opportunities to play; bridging school and family life. Second, deductive analysis compared children's priorities at item level against a school readiness outcome battery. Children's priorities were assigned to three groups: (1) assessed by outcome measures (core academic competencies, aspects of self-regulation); (2) partially assessed (self-efficacy, social skills for friendship formation and avoiding victimisation, creative thinking, play); and (3) not assessed by outcome measures (school liking, school environment, family-school involvement). This analysis derived from children's own perspectives suggests that readiness interventions aiming to support early school adjustment would benefit from considering factors children consider salient. It offers recommendations for advancing conceptual frameworks, improving assessment, and identifying new targets for supporting children and schools. In doing so we provide a platform for children's priorities to be integrated into the policies and practices that shape their early lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of self-regulation for school readiness and success across the lifespan, little is known about children's conceptions of this important ability. Using mixed-method interviews, this research examined kindergarten children's (n = 57) perspectives on self-regulation in a disadvantaged area in Dublin, Ireland. Children depicted school as requiring regulation of their emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses. They characterised school as a dynamic setting, placing emphasis on the regulatory challenges of the outdoor environment. Children also described difficulties associated with navigating complex social interactions, often without assistance from external supports. The results inform strategies to support children's emerging self-regulation abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity to self-regulate is a key developmental ability that has become a focal point for research across multiple disciplines. Yet interdisciplinary collaboration on self-regulation is rare and the term is often applied in different ways across studies. Drawing on literature from psychology, medical sciences, sociology, and economics, this article provides a synthesis of disciplinary approaches to research on self-regulation. A review of search returns from one prominent database per discipline is used to investigate overlap and divergence on the topic. This review argues that interdisciplinary collaboration has the potential to integrate perspectives on self-regulation into a more coherent body of work, resulting in advances that could not be achieved through any one discipline alone. The review also identifies and discusses three current impediments to collaboration: terminology, measurement, and disciplinary conventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the factors influencing participant engagement in a home visiting program. Specifically, it explored the relationship between dosage and the constituent components of psychological resources: mental health, mastery, and cognitive resources. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted utilising implementation data from a sample (n = 95) of participants in an Irish home visiting program. Psychological resources significantly predicted dosage, yet an investigation of each component found that only cognitive resources remained significant. Furthermore, when considering types of cognitive resources, verbal ability was found to significantly predict the number of home visits but not the average duration of visits. Conversely, perceptual reasoning was found to predict the average duration of home visits but not the number of home visits. These results suggest that cognitive resources may be the driving component behind previous findings that link psychological resources and level of dosage in home visiting programs. Practice and policy implications are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Evaluating service quality and satisfaction is central to the provision of accessible and developmentally appropriate youth mental health services. However, there are limited suitable measures and a lack of published evidence on the psychometric properties of measures to assess young people's satisfaction with youth mental health services. The headspace Youth (Mental Health) Service Satisfaction Scale (YSSS) was designed and implemented to assess young people's satisfaction with headspace mental health services in Australia. This study examined the reliability and factor structure of the YSSS in a youth mental health service in Ireland. Methods: The sample comprised 1449 young people (66.2% female) aged 12–25 years (M = 16.48, SD = 2.97). Participants completed the YSSS after their final brief intervention session through Jigsaw—The National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on one‐ and four‐factor models to test findings from previous studies. Reliability was also examined. Results: CFA supported a single‐factor structure of the YSSS, and all items were suitable for inclusion. The internal consistency of the measure was deemed acceptable (α = 0.89). Conclusions: Findings suggest that the YSSS is a reliable measure for monitoring satisfaction with youth mental health services in an Irish context. The measure demonstrated a unidimensional construct of satisfaction. These findings support the broader application of the YSSS and add to existing knowledge on measuring satisfaction within youth mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer support, defined as the social and emotional support offered and received by individuals with a shared experience of mental health difficulties, is gaining popularity in youth mental health settings. This systematic scoping review aimed to collate and synthesise the evidence on key aspects of peer support interventions within integrated youth services and educational settings. Specifically, it synthesised evidence on the (1) assessed mental health outcomes in peer support interventions, (2) key characteristics and associated roles of peer support workers (PSWs) and (3) barriers and facilitators to implementation. A search of peer reviewed articles from January 2005 to June 2022 across five electronic databases (PsychINFO, Pubmed, Scopus, ERIC and CINAHL) was conducted. A total of 15 studies retrieved in the search met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. This review supports previous research indicating that peer support has potential for improving recovery related outcomes. While a variety of interventions and PSW roles were reported, studies could be strengthened by providing more in‐depth information on intervention content. Examples of barriers to implementation included staff concerns around confidentiality of peer support relationships as well as PSWs' confidence in their roles. Facilitators included positive support from staff members and role clarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poor body image is prevalent among adolescents and associated with several negative outcomes for their physical and psychological health. There is a pressing need to address this growing public health concern, yet there are few evidence-informed universal programmes for older adolescents that address contemporary body image concerns (i.e., social media). BodyKind is a four lesson, school-based, teacher led, universal body image programme that incorporates empirically supported principles of cognitive dissonance, self-compassion, compassion for others and social activism, to support positive body image development. Building on previous pilot trials in the USA, this paper outlines the protocol for a cluster randomised control trial (cRCT) and implementation evaluation of the BodyKind programme which was culturally adapted for the Irish cultural context. Methods: We aim to recruit 600 students aged 15-17 years in Transition Year (4th year) across 26 second-level schools in Ireland. Using minimisation, schools will be randomly assigned to receive BodyKind (intervention condition, n=300) or classes as usual (waitlist control, n=300). Teachers in intervention groups will receive training and deliver the programme to students over four weeks, at a rate of one lesson per week. Primary outcomes of body appreciation, body dissatisfaction and psychological wellbeing and secondary outcomes of self-compassion, compassion for others, body ideal internalisation, social justice motives and appearance-based social media use will be assessed at pre-, post- and 2 month follow up. Mediation and moderation analyses will be conducted to identify how and for whom the intervention works best. An implementation evaluation will assess the quality of programme implementation across schools and how this may influence intervention outcomes. Waitlist control schools will receive the programme after the 2-month follow up. Conclusion: This study will be the first to implement a cRCT and an implementation evaluation to assess the impact of this multicomponent school-based body image programme designed to support healthy body image development. If shown to be effective, BodyKind will have the potential to improve adolescent body image and wellbeing and inform efforts to implement sustainable and scalable programmes in schools. Trial registration: The trial was retrospectively registered on 10/10/2023 on ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06076993. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children from economically disadvantaged communities frequently lack the socio-emotional, cognitive and behavioural skills needed for successful early school adjustment. Assessments of early school experience often rely on parent and teacher perspectives, yet children’s views are essential to design effective, resilience-promoting school ecologies. This mixed methods study explored children’s appraisals of potential stressors in the first school year with 25 children from a disadvantaged suburban community in Ireland. School scenarios were presented pictorially (Pictorial Measure of School Stress and Wellbeing, or PMSSW), to elicit children’s perspectives on social ecological factors that enable or constrain resilience. Salient positive factors included resource provision, such as food, toys and books; school activities and routines, including play; and relationships with teachers. Negative factors included bullying; difficulties engaging with peers; and using the toilet. Drawing on these factors, we indicate how school psychologists can develop resilience-fostering educational environments for children in vulnerable communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]