Children from migrant or refugee backgrounds, whether first or second generation, can face varying educational, social, emotional, and wellbeing challenges, yet their voices remain underrepresented in research. Drawing on the perspectives of children and parents from both migrant (voluntary migration) and refugee (forced displacement) backgrounds, this study explored daily life challenges of this young population across four socio-ecological levels (individual, family, educational, and social) and identified strategies to address them. Fourteen children (aged 8–12) participated in focus groups, and three mothers engaged in individual interviews. All participants were first or second generation with migrant or refugee backgrounds, primarily from Afghanistan, residing in Melbourne, Australia. An exploratory qualitative methodology with a participatory approach was employed, and data were analysed using inductive, reflexive thematic analysis. Children’s daily life challenges included language barriers, trauma-related memories, unvoiced emotional needs, cultural conflicts, lack of educational support from parents, financial instability, adult-like responsibilities, difficult school experiences, digital media distractions, adjustment difficulties, and social isolation. Recommended strategies included art-based and breathing practices, parental training and engagement with children’s education, fostering belonging through positive teacher-student relationships and inclusive school culture, promoting social support, and finding comfort through digital media. These findings highlighted the interconnected challenges across individual, family, educational, and social levels, requiring collaborative efforts from families, schools, and communities to create inclusive support tailored to children’s needs. Highlighting the voices of children from migrant and refugee backgrounds allowed sharing their lived experiences, respected their agency, and provided relevant practical insights guiding future research, practice, and policy. The study explored challenges faced by children from migrant and refugee backgrounds across individual, family, educational, and social levels. The research highlighted the underrepresented voices of primary-aged migrant and refugee children and their parents using a participatory approach. A Community Researcher was employed to facilitate connecting with families and provide cultural advice to the research team. Challenges included language barriers, cultural conflicts, unvoiced emotional needs, limited parental engagement, and social isolation. Strategies included art-based and breathing practices, fostering belonging, inclusive school culture, parental engagement, and social support. Collaborative efforts among families, schools, and communities are needed to create supportive environments for these children.

While elementary schools are widely recognized as key settings for supporting children’s mental health, limited research has examined parents’ perspectives about how schools do this, particularly in the early years of schooling. Parents are positioned to provide unique insights into how school initiatives impact children and families. Understanding their perspectives can help shape more inclusive and effective system-level and school-based approaches and strategies. This study aimed to explore Australian parents’ views on how elementary schools can support the mental health of students. We designed an online qualitative questionnaire to explore the views of parents (n = 28) of lower elementary school-aged children, recruited through purposive sampling and advertised via social media. We identified four main themes in the data: Foster a school culture that prioritizes children’s mental health; Enhance staff capacity to support student mental health; Promote consistent family engagement, and a shared language around mental health; and Embed curriculum and pedagogy that supports children’s mental health. Our findings offer valuable insights into how parents perceive the role of elementary schools in supporting student mental health. They highlight opportunities for system-level and school-based approaches that go beyond individual mental health programs, instead integrating mental health into school culture, teaching and family engagement strategies. Parents suggest that elementary school culture directly influences children's mental health. Parents suggest more mental health training and supports for elementary school teachers. Parents suggest that elementary school children need less academic pressure and more play and time outdoors. Parents suggest that system-level and school-based changes can foster inclusive, supportive environments rather than adding programs to traditional schools. Parents suggest that school-family collaboration should be embedded in the planning of mental health approaches to support acceptability and sustainability.

Objective Anxiety is a common mental health difficulty among children, with the potential to impact learning and social experiences. Primary school teachers play a crucial role in supporting anxious students, but research suggests that they may feel unprepared for this role. This study aimed to use the Delphi method to determine the most important practices for inclusion in a toolkit for primary school teachers working with children with anxiety in mainstream classrooms in Australia. Methods A three-round Delphi study was conducted with primary school teachers, mental health professionals, and parents with lived experience of raising children with anxiety. 42 participants rated practices, derived from robust systematic searches, on importance for inclusion in the toolkit. Consensus was determined using a pre-defined level of 80% agreement across all three panels. Results From an initial pool of 316 practices, 145 were endorsed. Endorsed practices focused on collaboration with others, supportive classroom environments, addressing avoidance and perfectionistic concerns, and positive teacher-student relationships. Practices that involve teachers applying aspects of psychological therapies (e.g. graded exposure, psychoeducation) were less often endorsed for inclusion. Conclusion This research contributes to the initial stages of development for a toolkit for teachers of children with anxiety and highlights areas for future investigation in school-based mental health support.

BACKGROUND:The development of socio-emotional competencies is essential for school readiness. Children with behavioural, emotional or social difficulties, upon entering the school, are often at an increased risk of poorer academic and health outcomes. Whilst children largely learn early emotion regulation skills and self-regulation through parental observation and modelling, a known benefit of mindful parenting, an understanding of how mindful parenting and child emotional regulation relate to one another during these important early years of schooling remains limited. This study aimed to determine if there is a bi-directional relationship between mindful parenting and child emotion regulation. METHODS:A cross-lagged panel structural equation model (SEM) was used to examine the bi-directional associations with data obtained from a single staged cluster sample drawn from the Minds@Play study cohort. Parents (N = 676, Mage = 35.52 years, SD = 5.40) completed questionnaires including the Affective Reactivity Index (ARI) and the Interpersonal Mindfulness in Parenting (IEM-P) scales at two timepoints. RESULTS:There was a small significant relationship between levels of mindful parenting at T1 with child's irritability at T2 (β = -0.166, p = 0.023), whilst the relationship between child's irritability at T1 and levels of mindful parenting at T2 were non-significant (β = -0.099, p = 0.160). These findings indicate a unidirectional relationship between mindful parenting and children's emotion regulation, suggesting that a child's ability for emotion regulation does not predict their parents' ability to adopt a mindful parenting approach. CONCLUSION:Findings suggest that supporting parents to implement mindful parenting strategies may be a promising approach to supporting a child's long-term emotional regulation and wellbeing.

BACKGROUND:Children's mental health is a global issue of concern, and schools are a key site for identifying and supporting children's mental health needs. Children are active agents in their mental health. Their unique perspectives offer valuable insights that can inform how their schools can support the mental health of their students. There is a lack of research exploring the views of young children. AIMS:This study sought to explore the views of elementary school-aged children (aged 5-8 years) regarding how they imagine elementary schools could support student mental health. METHODS:This study was conducted in Victoria, Australia. We undertook 17 semi-structured interviews with children aged between 5 and 8 years employing developmentally appropriate techniques that supported children's assent and choice. We employed reflexive thematic analysis to identify and report themes. RESULTS:Analysis generated four themes from the data: the benefits of enabling play through school design and routines; fostering a culture of kindness and belonging; promoting mental health literacy; and cultivating teaching practices that prioritize children's mental health. CONCLUSIONS:Our findings provide children's views on how elementary schools can better support student mental health. They suggest we explore how children's views could be better integrated into school and policy initiatives and review existing priorities that may have unintended negative effects. Promoting play-based learning could support children's social-emotional learning and foster participation in learning. Considering the design of school environments that support children's physicality and sense of belonging could support student mental health.

ABSTRACT Primary schools can provide early intervention for students with internalising difficulties (e.g., anxiety), who can be less likely to receive classroom support than students experiencing externalising difficulties. However, an overview of what supportive classroom strategies could be used for students with internalising difficulties has not been established. This scoping review examined the existing literature on teacher practices for supporting these students. 6592 articles were screened by title and abstract, with 23 articles aligned with screening criteria. 473 practice statements were identified and classified under 15 categories. Six meta‐themes of practices were identified: Academic and Instructional Adjustments, Building a Positive Classroom Ecology, Teaching Coping Strategies, Relational Practice, Building Collaborative Support Networks and Identifying Internalising Difficulties. The literature comprised primarily recommendations and qualitative studies. Key areas for future research include addressing the paucity of practices reported for students who present with less common internalising difficulties and establishing an evidence‐base for the use of practices.

Mindfulness-Based Art Interventions (MBAIs) have demonstrated potential in promoting psychosocial well-being in individuals. This review systematically investigated MBAIs in younger populations to explore participant demographics, intervention components, adaptations to participants’ characteristics, and mental health and well-being outcomes. A systematic review was conducted across 18 electronic databases to identify both published and unpublished studies in English from January 2000 to August 2024 focusing on MBAIs for children and adolescents under 18. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria and were selected for analysis. The reviewed studies illustrated the adaptability and positive impact of MBAIs for children and adolescents facing diverse psychosocial challenges across various socioeconomic statuses and settings, guided by facilitators with different trainings. The lack of a standardized MBAI protocol led to varied practices, structures, and durations among studies, complicating direct comparisons. Moreover, limited efforts were made to tailor interventions to participants’ characteristics. Despite this heterogeneity, core practices were identified across programs. Quantitative data predominantly showed significant reductions in internalizing symptoms and PTSD, along with improvements in attention. Qualitative findings also indicated improvements in psychosocial well-being among participants. The review suggests that a variety of MBAI activities can be successfully designed and implemented, underscoring the program’s multidimensional nature, broad applicability, and potential impact across childhood and adolescence. Selecting, tailoring, and structuring the activities can be guided by the specific needs of the population by employing methods such as participatory approaches and co-design.

Schools are complex settings that can be leveraged to support the promotion of students’ mental health. The Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) initiative and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator (MHWC) role were developed in Victoria, Australia, in response to a reported need for improved capabilities in elementary schools (referred to as ‘primary schools’ henceforth) to support children aged 5–12 years with mental health challenges. The MHWC role and the wider initiative aimed to address some of the common barriers to supporting children’s mental health, including lack of confidence in teaching staff, difficulties accessing and navigating community-based services, and the growing number of children with mental health challenges. The current study aimed to gather initial evidence for the feasibility and acceptability of the MHWC role in primary schools in Victoria, Australia, as a key component of the MHiPS initiative. Quantitative and qualitative results from surveys and a focus group with 10 pilot schools in metropolitan and rural/regional Victoria suggested the role was feasible and acceptable, and that study procedures were appropriate. However, clarification of the MHWC role scope and improving school leadership support could help support the role’s implementation. Further refinements to study procedures are also required. Initial findings warrant the expansion of the developmental feasibility pilot into a larger quasi-experimental trial.

Aims The past decade has seen an increase in policy initiatives and school-based interventions aimed at improving children's mental health. However, to know if an intervention or policy is making an impact, to support data comparisons across interventions, and to enable schools to track student mental health, we need to identify instrument(s) that can detect change. This study seeks to identify instruments that have been shown to detect change in child mental health when implemented universally in schools. Methods We conducted a systematic review of instruments measuring mental health symptoms or skills in randomised controlled trials of schools-based universal mental health interventions in primary (elementary) schools published between 2012 and 2023 in English. The aim was to synthesise evidence on instruments’ ability to detect change. Risk of bias assessment was conducted using the RoB-2 tool. Results Forty-two instruments were identified across the 39 included studies and captured a range of dimensions of mental health. Only one study was found to be at low risk of bias, 27 studies were at some risk of bias, and 11 studies were at high risk of bias. Nine instruments were used in more than one study. The teacher-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was the most commonly used instrument and showed statistical evidence of its ability to detect change arising from interventions addressing children's mental health. Conclusions The teacher-reported SDQ shows promise as an instrument that could be used universally in primary schools to evaluate interventions and monitor changes in child mental health.

‘Well-being’ and ‘child well-being’ are broad terms with little consensus amongst numerous definitions. Applications of the term, particularly for children aged birth to six, are vague due to the lack of conceptual clarity. The aim of this scoping review is to synthesise the recent literature on young children’s well-being, drawing on perspectives across disciplines to propose relevant considerations for promoting child well-being in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) contexts. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s methodological framework for scoping studies, 55 articles gathered and published between 2018 and 2024 were reviewed. Two key themes emerged from qualitative analysis of the articles: (1) ambiguity in conceptualisations of the concept stemming from varied discourses guiding definitions and different approaches towards supporting and assessing child well-being; and (2) increasing consensus on the need for multidimensional conceptualisations. Main considerations for applying understandings of child well-being to ECEC were proposed, including: contemplating education as contributing towards the goal of child well-being and well-being as necessary for effective learning; adopting a balanced and multidimensional approach towards promoting children’s well-being in the present and in the future; and recognising that children’s well-being is influenced by and supported within dynamic contexts, systems and processes.

Introduction Building the capability of primary schools to support children’s mental health needs is important in the face of the increasing prevalence of mental health difficulties in children. The Mental Health in Primary Schools (MHiPS) initiative has shown promising results in the pilot phase, increasing the confidence of teachers in supporting student mental health and well-being. Delivering the project at scale presents implementation, monitoring and evaluation challenges. An open cohort (mix of longitudinal and cross-sectional data), non-randomised stepped-wedge design, will be used to evaluate the implementation, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of MHiPS as it expands state-wide. In this paper, we outline our protocol and monitoring and evaluation framework for a statewide expansion of the MHiPS initiative.Methods and analysis All government and low-fee, non-government primary schools in the state of Victoria, Australia, will be included in the MHiPS initiative over a 4-year period from 2023 to 2026. The design incorporates mixed methods data collection (eg, surveys, focus groups and case studies), conducted with multiple informants (eg, school staff and Department of Education staff) over multiple years to reflect the staged state-wide rollout.Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval for this project was received through the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Human Research Ethics Committee (#65924), DE RISEC (#2020_004332) and relevant Catholic diocese. Dissemination of findings will be through annual government reports, publications and national and international conferences.

Child wellbeing and mental health continues to be a significant public health issue, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals are uniquely positioned to monitor and support young children’s wellbeing and can thus provide important insights to inform early interventions and support. This qualitative study sought to explore Australian ECEC professionals’ perspectives about supporting young children’s social–emotional wellbeing in early learning settings. Twenty participants participated in six online focus groups, with five key themes conceptualised from the data: (1) escalation in child and educator wellbeing needs; (2) discrepancies in educator experience and skills; (3) access to high-quality professional development; (4) prioritising relationships and continuity of care; and (5) nurturing children’s agency, identity, and belonging. The findings encompass concerns about children’s wellbeing and educators’ capacity to support it, as well as suggested strategies to strengthen the support for children’s wellbeing in early learning settings. The implications of the study findings are discussed.

BackgroundChild mental health conditions in Australian children continue to be a major concern with high prevalence rates, and amplified by the COVID pandemic. Given a minority of children receive professional help, universal platforms such as primary schools are increasingly recognized as having an important role in supporting children's mental health. International studies suggest that schools are largely ill-equipped to support children's mental health, and little research explores the views of primary school staff.PurposeThis qualitative study aims to examine the challenges faced by primary school staff in identifying and supporting students with mental health difficulties.MethodsWe carried out interviews and focus groups with 56 school staff, including teachers, well-being officers, leadership staff and departmental psychologists, from 25 primary schools across the state of Victoria, Australia. All interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsThe key theme that emerged was that teachers lack the capacity, skills, confidence and resources to recognize and support children with mental health difficulties. A lack of staff resourcing and onsite support from mental health professionals, together with contributing student family issues, imposes a major challenge in addressing children's mental health needs.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that teachers, and primary schools more broadly, are struggling to support children with mental health difficulties. There is a pressing need to consider how to build the capacity of primary school teachers and schools to enable them to play an active role in supporting children's mental health and well-being.

There is emerging evidence that teachers in non-tertiary educational settings that are “ready for change” are more likely to successfully implement change programs. However, what to measure, and how often to measure, to determine teacher readiness for change remains contested, as does how such data might be used by implementation practitioners, researchers, and educational settings. This review presents the findings of a scoping review conducted in May 2023 that evaluated instruments used to measure teacher readiness for change. For the twenty-eight instruments where the assessment items were available, each instrument was evaluated against the Conceptual Model for Readiness and Factors Affecting readiness for change (CMRFAR) to determine if the four domains of the CMRFAR are included. Additionally, the instruments are reviewed to determine if data is collected at multiple timepoints. This review also examines the fifty-six included studies to determine how often the study collected readiness for change data and how the collected data was utilized. Whilst one comprehensive instrument is identified, the review illustrates that many of the instruments which have been used do not assess all the domains which influence teacher readiness for change. Collected readiness for change data is typically used by researchers to identify barriers and facilitators to readiness for change and/or implementation progress. Additionally, in contradiction of emerging readiness for change best practice, educational researchers commonly collect readiness for change data at a single timepoint. The review proposes an updated model of domains that influence teacher readiness for change, the DIT-RFC. Drawn from evidence outlined in this review, the DIT-RFC recognizes a fifth domain which affects teacher readiness for change, View of Implementation, and presents a model aligned with current terminology and conceptualization of the components of readiness for change. The review concludes that it is likely that educational settings, researchers and implementation practitioners would benefit from the development of a multi-timepoint instrument which includes assessment items across the five domains of the DIT-RFC and can be tailored for common educational change scenarios.

Background: Unidentified childhood mental health difficulties increase the risk of mental disorder in adulthood. Improving mental health literacy for supporting children (MHLSC) of adults can improve early identification. There is limited use of validated measures to evaluate MHLSC programs. This systematic review aimed to identify measures of MHLSC, the components of MHLSC they assess, and their psychometric properties. Methods: A research protocol was registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42022352615. A systematic review was conducted according to COSMIN guidelines. The review included studies published in peer reviewed journals, concerning development, adaptation, or validation of a measure of MHLSC associated with primary school children. Study identification was through a comprehensive literature search in Medline, PsychINFO and EMBASE (OVID), CINAHL (EBSCO), and Web of Science, last conducted June 2024. The COSMIN risk of bias checklist was used, and each reported measurement property outcome was assessed against COMSIN criteria for good measurement properties. The COSMIN-modified GRADE approach was used to assess overall quality of evidence. Results: From 399 records, Twelve studies from ten reports were included in the review, with ten self-report questionnaires identified. Studies were primarily conducted in the USA, with predominantly female populations. The quality of evidence for measurement property outcomes ranged from high to very low. Attitudinal components of MHLSC were assessed more frequently than knowledge components. Conclusion: Findings indicate a lack of comprehensive and valid measures of MHLSC. There is a need for a comprehensive measure of MHLSC, including knowledge components, specific to children aged 5-12 years, to accurately assess MHLSC.