Efficacy and Effectiveness of Universal School-Based Wellbeing Interventions in Australia: A Systematic Review

Harshi Gunawardena (), Alexander Voukelatos, Sham Nair, Shane Cross and Ian B. Hickie
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Harshi Gunawardena: Brain and Mind Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown 2050, Australia
Alexander Voukelatos: Sydney Local Health District, Camperdown 2050, Australia
Sham Nair: Curriculum and Reform Directorate, NSW Department of Education, Sydney 2001, Australia
Shane Cross: Orygen, Parkville 3052, Australia
Ian B. Hickie: Brain and Mind Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown 2050, Australia

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 15, 1-22

Abstract: The World Health Organisation defines health in terms of wellbeing, and wellbeing has become both a construct and a measure of impact in early intervention and prevention programs in schools. In Australia, schools report on their wellbeing initiatives and there is a plethora of government-funded wellbeing programs already in place in schools. However, education systems and stakeholders worldwide are facing significant challenges with mixed evaluation results of program impact and intervention effect. To better support students, schools, school-based healthcare workers, and community, it is important to know about the effectiveness of school-based programs; yet in the last decade, there has been no national appraisal of these programs in Australia. This systematic review aims to report on the effectiveness of Australian school-based wellbeing programs through a search of 13 databases. Out of 2888 articles, 29 met inclusion criteria. The results found that seventeen interventions comprising 80% of the total number of participants reported no statistically significant intervention effect on wellbeing outcomes. We argue that supporting wellbeing through robust program intervention is important as wellbeing presents both an indication of later onset of more serious mental health issues, and an opportunity for early intervention to break the trajectory leading to full disorder.

Keywords: wellbeing; mental health; school; effectiveness; early intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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