Partnerships Between Schools and Public Mental Health Departments: Investigation of Multi-professional Interventions for Children Aged 3 to 8 With Mental Health Issues (Parpsych-Ed)

Overview

Local partnerships between schools (preschool and elementary) and mental health public services are implemented in seven sites in France. They aim to improve recognition of difficulties related to mental health problems and to provide interventions to 3 to 8 years-old pupils in need. Our hypothesis that these local partnerships and interventions enhance the role of school in supporting good mental health and wellbeing of all children and the trajectories of children with mental health service needs. Theses also facilitate community support. One of them, early-interventions involve caregivers. Our objective is to enhance knowledge of the unmet mental healthcare need at school and to explore for whom, in which local context and how partnerships and early intervention work.

Teachers are legitimately concerned about children that encounter mental health problems. Mental healthcare might be indicated. Because of internal and external barriers of treatment, they could remain inaccessible for many children in need. School staff should not try to diagnose conditions. However, collaborative interventions delivered by school and mental healthcare staffs in association with other stakeholders as parents and associations should ensure clear systems and processes in place for identifying possible mental health problems and support children and their parents. Local partnership and early interventions will be elaborated within focus groups bringing together all stakeholders and will be experimented in 7 French sites (preschool, primary school and local public health service) thereafter. These complex interventions will be evaluated through mixed-methods including qualitative case studies and a pragmatic trial. This feasibility study will produce a set of findings that will permit to argue conceptual framework of partnership and early intervention, to provide guidelines to implement these in France considering children needs, local context, all stakeholders acceptance and public health efficacy.