Elements to promote a successful relationship between stakeholders interested in mental health promotion in schools

Objective: An evaluation of a mental health promotion program called iCARE which depended on collaboration between multiple partners.

Design: A qualitative exploratory evaluation that involved purposeful sampling of a range of stakeholders in the School settings.

Setting: Two Secondary Schools in Tasmania. Intervention iCARE stands for Creating Awareness, Resilience and Enhanced Mental Health and is a structured six-week program in which trained facilitators engage Year 8 students in learning about mental health and developing resilience. The collaboration involved university researchers, child and youth mental health clinicians, and education staff. It required investment in time and resources as well as intellectual effort and good will from each of the key players.

Results: Successful elements of collaboration were distilled from the interview data, indicating that for a mental health promotion program to succeed in schools, highly tuned negotiation and communication skills are required.

Conclusion: Nurses are increasingly working within the community to promote the health and wellbeing of many groups. To work effectively with young people in schools, and to share the impact of that work with the professional community, requires collaboration between health, education and university stakeholders. This evaluation found that success in this interdisciplinary connection requires respect, communication, negotiation and appreciation for disciplinary differences.