Using Implementation Science to Optimize School Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Publication: Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
7 November 2022
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has provoked a turbulent and uncertain time, especially for young people. Globally, schools have responded to the evolving pandemic using the best available insights, data, and practices. This response has included a renewed focus on the importance of school mental health as a protective and stabilizing influence. In Ontario, strategic investments in school mental health, inclusive of foundational infrastructure, scalable evidence-informed interventions, and embedded implementation supports, allowed school boards to mobilize quickly during Covid-19, and to act within the context of an overarching multi-tiered strategy. In this article, we describe foundational elements that contributed to rapid mobilization and response in school mental health service provision in Ontario schools during Covid-19.
Résumé
La pandémie de Covid-19 a entraîné nombre de bouleversements et d’incertitudes, en particulier chez les jeunes. En général, les écoles ont réagi à l’évolution de cette pandémie en utilisant les meilleures informations, données et pratiques disponibles. Cette réponse s’est accompagnée d’une vision renouvelée de l’importance de la santé mentale en milieu scolaire comme élément protecteur et stabilisateur. En Ontario, les investissements dans la santé mentale en milieu scolaire, les « infrastructures » inclusives et fondamentales, les « interventions » évolutives fondées sur les données probantes ainsi que les supports intégrés de « mise en œuvre » ont permis aux conseils de direction scolaires de se mobiliser rapidement durant la pandémie de COVID-19 et d’agir dans un contexte stratégique à la fois global et multiniveaux. Dans cet article, nous décrivons les éléments fondamentaux qui ont contribué à une mobilisation et une réponse rapides des services de santé mentale en milieu scolaire disponibles dans les écoles ontariennes pendant la pandémie de Covid-19.
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Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Volume 41 • Number 3 • July 2022
Pages: 5 - 21
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Version of record online: 7 November 2022
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Using Implementation Science to Optimize School Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic
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Kathy H. Short, Heather L. Bullock, Claire V. Crooks, and Katholiki Georgiades. 2022. Using Implementation Science to Optimize School Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health.
41(3): 5-21. https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2022-021
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