Periodic Reporting for period 3 - UPRIGHT (Universal Preventive Resilience Intervention Globally implemented in schools to improve and promote mental Health for Teenagers)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31
Early adolescence (10-14 years) is a time of many physical, mental, emotional and social changes. Few periods of development are characterised by so many changes on so many different levels. It is a time when children face the biological transformations of puberty, the educational transition from primary to secondary school and the psychological changes that accompany the emergence of sexuality. The literature shows an increase in the incidence of mental health problems in adolescents over the last decade.
However, not all young people who experience disadvantage, adversity or exposure to risk factors experience negative mental health outcomes. The concept of resilience provides a possible explanation for the ability of some individuals to maintain positive mental health despite difficulties. Resilience research provides an overview of protective and facilitating factors for reducing the mental health impact of risk factors and achieving lasting positive effects on a range of educational, social and economic outcomes. Research in this area is limited, but suggests that high levels of resilience can prevent the development of mental health problems in adolescents.
At present, there are several unmet needs in this field, including lack of evidence-based programmes covering prevention and promotion of mental health in adolescents. Universal Preventive Resilience Intervention Globally Implemented in Schools to Improve and Promote Mental Health for Teenagers (UPRIGHT) project aims to deploy and evaluate an integrative intervention in a school environment. Thus, UPRIGHT general objective is to promote mental well-being and prevent mental disorders by enhancing resilience capacities in youths, through a whole school approach addressing early adolescents, their families and education professionals. UPRIGHT conceptual framework is structured in four different domains (coping, efficacy, social and emotional learning and mindfulness practice).
In addition, the UPRIGHT project pursues the following objectives:
- To co-create an innovative resilience whole-school programme in schools for the promotion of mental health in youths- between 12 and 14 years.
- To provide evidence of specific resilience factors promoting positive mental well-being longitudinally and acting as moderators of positive mental well-being outcomes.
- To demonstrate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and predict future impact of an intervention in terms of improvement of quality of life, mental well-being and academic performance, and reduction of absenteeism and bullying cases.
- To transfer the programme to EU and beyond by disseminating the results and learning and enabling the definition of innovative action plans for mental well-being in the youth.
However, not all young people who experience disadvantage, adversity or exposure to risk factors experience negative mental health outcomes. The concept of resilience provides a possible explanation for the ability of some individuals to maintain positive mental health despite difficulties. Resilience research provides an overview of protective and facilitating factors for reducing the mental health impact of risk factors and achieving lasting positive effects on a range of educational, social and economic outcomes. Research in this area is limited, but suggests that high levels of resilience can prevent the development of mental health problems in adolescents.
At present, there are several unmet needs in this field, including lack of evidence-based programmes covering prevention and promotion of mental health in adolescents. Universal Preventive Resilience Intervention Globally Implemented in Schools to Improve and Promote Mental Health for Teenagers (UPRIGHT) project aims to deploy and evaluate an integrative intervention in a school environment. Thus, UPRIGHT general objective is to promote mental well-being and prevent mental disorders by enhancing resilience capacities in youths, through a whole school approach addressing early adolescents, their families and education professionals. UPRIGHT conceptual framework is structured in four different domains (coping, efficacy, social and emotional learning and mindfulness practice).
In addition, the UPRIGHT project pursues the following objectives:
- To co-create an innovative resilience whole-school programme in schools for the promotion of mental health in youths- between 12 and 14 years.
- To provide evidence of specific resilience factors promoting positive mental well-being longitudinally and acting as moderators of positive mental well-being outcomes.
- To demonstrate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and predict future impact of an intervention in terms of improvement of quality of life, mental well-being and academic performance, and reduction of absenteeism and bullying cases.
- To transfer the programme to EU and beyond by disseminating the results and learning and enabling the definition of innovative action plans for mental well-being in the youth.
The UPRIGHT project consists of 4 main building blocks:
1) Co-creation and validation of the intervention in EU regions. The overarching objective was to adjust a universal whole-school resilience program to different socio-economic and cultural contexts of the different EU regions. By hearing the voices of the stakeholders, who confirmed the accuracy, the credibility and the validity of the program by incorporating their knowledge and experiences, especially those from the adolescents in UPRIGHT, the resilience-based UPRIGHT program was developed by experts in the Consortium.
2) Deployment of an innovative school-based resilience intervention. The intervention comprises two programmes, Well-being for US and Well-being for ALL, to be deployed in two consecutive school years. As a whole school approach, it uses the internal (i.e. school staff, school buildings, school funding) and external (school contacts, community services, other departments, families) resources to create a culture of well-being in the school.
3) Overview of results. More than 4100 adolescents, 2700 families and 550 teachers participated in the evaluation in 5 European countries (Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark and Iceland). Both groups of adolescents, the intervention and control, showed a deterioration in their mental well-being over time. From one side, it is common for the mental well-being of adolescents between the ages of 12-14 to deteriorate. From the other side, COVID-19 erupted in March 2020, which impacted on the level of perceived stress and increased the complexity of adapting positively to a changing and uncertain context. However, adolescents who received the UPRIGHT intervention reversed this negative trend of deterioration and slowly approached the well-being levels they had at the beginning, before the pandemic. This represents the effect of resilience on them. The qualitative analysis showed that all stakeholders presented a high level of satisfaction, with skills related to emotional management, self-awareness and social awareness standing out. UPRIGHT promoted more positive social relationships, both at family and school level.
4) Exploitation and dissemination: The UPRIGHT Consortium has been active in disseminating the project, with a number of presentations in conferences, workshops, one book chapter and 6 scientific articles published so far. The UPRIGHT intervention is published on School Education Gateway website as part of the European Toolkit for Schools, an initiative of the European Commission. In addition, all the materials and the resilience programs will be available, free, in the website: www.uprightproject.eu. Several initiatives are ongoing in the different regions of the participating countries to maintain and extend the use of the intervention in other schools. Also to include UPRIGHT as part of the teachers’ university education. All, as a result of the communications with the Education Authorities and the Universities, are part of the exploitation plan.
1) Co-creation and validation of the intervention in EU regions. The overarching objective was to adjust a universal whole-school resilience program to different socio-economic and cultural contexts of the different EU regions. By hearing the voices of the stakeholders, who confirmed the accuracy, the credibility and the validity of the program by incorporating their knowledge and experiences, especially those from the adolescents in UPRIGHT, the resilience-based UPRIGHT program was developed by experts in the Consortium.
2) Deployment of an innovative school-based resilience intervention. The intervention comprises two programmes, Well-being for US and Well-being for ALL, to be deployed in two consecutive school years. As a whole school approach, it uses the internal (i.e. school staff, school buildings, school funding) and external (school contacts, community services, other departments, families) resources to create a culture of well-being in the school.
3) Overview of results. More than 4100 adolescents, 2700 families and 550 teachers participated in the evaluation in 5 European countries (Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark and Iceland). Both groups of adolescents, the intervention and control, showed a deterioration in their mental well-being over time. From one side, it is common for the mental well-being of adolescents between the ages of 12-14 to deteriorate. From the other side, COVID-19 erupted in March 2020, which impacted on the level of perceived stress and increased the complexity of adapting positively to a changing and uncertain context. However, adolescents who received the UPRIGHT intervention reversed this negative trend of deterioration and slowly approached the well-being levels they had at the beginning, before the pandemic. This represents the effect of resilience on them. The qualitative analysis showed that all stakeholders presented a high level of satisfaction, with skills related to emotional management, self-awareness and social awareness standing out. UPRIGHT promoted more positive social relationships, both at family and school level.
4) Exploitation and dissemination: The UPRIGHT Consortium has been active in disseminating the project, with a number of presentations in conferences, workshops, one book chapter and 6 scientific articles published so far. The UPRIGHT intervention is published on School Education Gateway website as part of the European Toolkit for Schools, an initiative of the European Commission. In addition, all the materials and the resilience programs will be available, free, in the website: www.uprightproject.eu. Several initiatives are ongoing in the different regions of the participating countries to maintain and extend the use of the intervention in other schools. Also to include UPRIGHT as part of the teachers’ university education. All, as a result of the communications with the Education Authorities and the Universities, are part of the exploitation plan.
UPRIGHT project ambition is to be the first school based primary intervention programme that will create a real culture of promotion of mental health and well-being, targeting adolescents of 12-14 years of age. Co-creation methods ensured that the intervention took into account the diversity of the different regions in Europe to adapt to the different cultural needs. It aims to be integrated into daily practice through a well-planned implementation process in the schools of Europe and beyond. The aim is to achieve noteworthy progress in adolescent’s mental well-being.
The UPRIGHT intervention is cost-effective in all the scenarios analysed and dominant in the majority of them, i.e. it generated more quality-adjusted life years at a lower cost. From the societal perspective, potential benefits that the UPRIGHT intervention can generate among different stakeholders far overcome the intervention costs. Universal preventive interventions in schools to improve the mental health and prevent mental disorders can be implemented as a Public Health policy based on a sustainable economic assessment.
The UPRIGHT intervention is cost-effective in all the scenarios analysed and dominant in the majority of them, i.e. it generated more quality-adjusted life years at a lower cost. From the societal perspective, potential benefits that the UPRIGHT intervention can generate among different stakeholders far overcome the intervention costs. Universal preventive interventions in schools to improve the mental health and prevent mental disorders can be implemented as a Public Health policy based on a sustainable economic assessment.