ReviewChild and adolescent mental health2025
Debate: Where to next for universal school-based mental health interventions?
Review in Child and adolescent mental health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Debate: Where to next for universal school-based mental health interventions? Can research led by young people shape universal solutions for mental health and suicide prevention in school settings?Child and adolescent mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of a Whole-School Prevention Program Targeting Mental Health and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Swedish Adolescents: A Cluster-Randomized Experimental Study with Longitudinal Follow-Up.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Trial
- A randomised controlled implementation trial of the feasibility and effectiveness of school staff delivery of a selective substance use and mental health program during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- School-Based Universal Mental Health Prevention Programs for Children Aged 6 to 9 Years in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Annual Research Review: Improving school climate to improve child and adolescent mental health and reduce inequalities.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Review
- Potential harm from universal school-based mental health interventions: Candidate mechanisms and future directions.Current opinion in psychology · 2026Review
- Barriers and facilitators of mental health help-seeking behaviours among school-going adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa: A qualitative evidence synthesis.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Transdiagnostic prevention in youth mental health, Part II: interventions.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Behavioral pathways and psychosocial determinants of adolescent mental health: positioning nutrition health literacy as a candidate upstream target.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- The fine line between the cure and the illness: the risks of prescriptive emotionality and sociality for youth mental health.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Review
- Return on investment from interventions to prevent common mental disorders among adolescents in Australia: A modelling study.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Optimising the implementation of a universal web-based mental health service for Australian secondary schools: a cluster randomised controlled trial.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- Efficacy of a school-based, universal prevention programme for depression and anxiety in adolescents (OurFutures Mental Health): a two-arm cluster-randomised controlled trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Commentary: Where to next for universal school-based mental health interventions? Don't through the baby out with the bathwater.Child and adolescent mental health · 2025Article
- Debate: Where to next for universal school-based mental health interventions? Tensions in prevention - To build better school-based programming, we must start with what we know.Child and adolescent mental health · 2025Article
- Debate: Where to next for universal school-based mental health interventions? The value of student voices in informing the design and implementation of universal school-based mental health interventions.Child and adolescent mental health · 2025Article
- Debate: Where to next for universal school-based mental health interventions? Addressing the mental health crisis among young people in low- and middle-income countries.Child and adolescent mental health · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this article, we evaluate the current state of universal school-based mental health prevention. We argue that the field is at another pivotal turning point, with many unanswered questions. As youth mental health issues rise in prominence and prevalence, schools increasingly adopt mental health and well-being programmes. However, recent large-scale trials have reported varied effects, raising questions about their effectiveness. We critically analyse these findings and place them in a global context. We contend results in high-income countries should not be seen as a failure of universal prevention overall and unpack key learnings from trials that have not found significant preventive effects. A comprehensive perspective of the data reveals both negative and positive aspects, as well as some signposts for the way forward. We advocate for programme adaptation based on feedback, embracing proportionate universalism and exploring alternative prevention strategies without discarding universal prevention. We urge continued research with stakeholder involvement, emphasising a nuanced approach to universal school-based mental health prevention, is urgently needed to move the field forward.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.