Students’ Wellbeing and Social Connections
Tom Strong, Michelle Drefs, Gabrielle Wilcox, Michael Zwiers
& Michael Mu
Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary
Laureen Lailey, Alberta Education
Presented at the Canadian Mental Health Association Nation-Wide Conference
Calgary, Alberta Friday October 24, 2014
Overview
•
CORE – Our Enthusiasm
•
The Current State of Student Wellbeing in Schools
•
Traditional School Responses to Student Wellbeing/Resiliency
•
CORE’s Process Model to Support Student Wellbeing
•
How we Research CORE in Process/Outcome Ways?
•
Discussion
Enthusiasm for CORE?
 Our background as educators and psychologists
 Whole school cultural (caring) transformation
 A focus on enhancing connections and resiliency
 Not a curriculum but a heuristic
 Done in school-decided problem-solving ways
More enthusiasm
 Beginnings in Australia (the Gatehouse Project) and
initial success in Alberta schools
 Mobilizes school communities to enhance social
engagement and pursue wellness
 Gives us a chance to study to how school communities
transform themselves, and what comes from these
transformations.
The Current State of Students Well-Being In Schools
 Drs. Gabrielle Wilcox & Michelle Drefs
Mental Health
Academics
Anxious
Bullied
Social
Connection
LD
Drop Out
Child
Microsystem
Exosystem
Macrosystem
Teacher Burnout
McGill (Jon Bradley)
U of A
30%-50% leave in
first 5 years
In Alberta, 40%
leave in first five
years
US Dept. of Ed
U of Regina
3rd year = 33%
5th year =50%
Inner city; 3rd year =
50%
61% of teachers ill due
to work-related stress
Diversity
 Less than 20 years, seniors will out number
children under 15.
 By 2017, our population will be approaching 40
million – 22% will be immigrants and members
of visible minorities
 Variety of immigrant groups is greater than any time
in our history
 Increased political & public desire for inclusive
practices
Source: Andrews, J. J. W. & Lupart, J. (2015). Diversity education: Understanding and
addressing student diversity. Toronto, ON: Nelson.
Child
Microsystem
Exosystem
Macrosystem
Traditional Responses – Intervention
 Responses have been more reactive than proactive
 “Wait-to-fail” approach
 Only support those with highest needs
 Packaged intervention programs (some are research-based)


Pull-out service targeted to isolated problems (e.g., depression, reading)
Delivered either individually (e.g., mental health worker, reading specialist) or in
groups (e.g., school psychologist, school counsellor)
 Pull-out individualized, highly specialized (e.g., Student Health
Partnership)
Does This Approach Work?
 Services are idiosyncratic and not coordinated
 The Senate report on Mental Health (2006) found that
“Business as Usual” wasn’t working for Canada’s children
and youth
 The report recommended that mental health programs be
coordinated and based in schools:
“That mental health services for children and youth be provided in
the school setting by the school-based mental health teams…” (p.
140)
“That provincial and territorial governments encourage their
health, education and justice institutions to work closely together in
order to provide seamless access to mental health services for
children and youth.” (p. 152)
Mental Health Commission of Canada
• Coordinated services
• Evidence-informed
practice
• Systematic professional
learning
• Evaluation of untested
approaches
• Utilization of communityschool partnerships
Continuum of supports
from Mental Health
Promotion to Prevention to
Intervention services
Continuum of Supports
• Specialized
Intervention
• Known risk children
Proactive /
Prevention
• Targeted
• At-risk children
Health
Promotion
• Universal
• Healthy children
• Evidence-based
• Effective
• Accessible
• Evidence-based
• Skill-based
• Effective screening for
identification
• Evidence-based
• Educational
• Strength & Resilience
model
Prevention Programs





Built into existing curriculum (often
health and wellness curriculum)
Limited content (1 to 6 lessons)
Focus often on risk behaviour
prevention, prosocial skills
development & mental health literacy
Limited grade span (often high
school)
Limited generalization
Alberta Mental Health Capacity Building Project
 Real-World:
 Funded ($3.6 + 25.8 million) for early intervention + prevention initiatives
 No coordinated follow-up either locally or provincially (not sustained)
 All 26 funded studies developed their own programs rather than using
existing research-based programs. (haphazard; costly development;
limited or study of effectiveness)
 Why did they not using research-based programs?
 Cost, limited scope of many programs, limited generalization
 Prepackaged programs don’t often meet the unique local needs / needs of
the local community.
 They are rarely implemented with fidelity to the original design
Population Health Approaches
Comprehensive School Health
– Alberta Health Services
“A healthy school community is one
that supports the wellness of all its
members (students, teachers, staff,
and parents) and strives to be a
healthy setting for living, learning,
and working.”
http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/csh.asp
Community Development
Process based on 4 Pillars of
Comprehensive School Health
Domains of Wellness
Social
Creative
Physical
Child
Spiritual
Intellectual
Emotional
Building On Success
Gatehouse Project – Organizational Development
over 2 years
Entry
Survey
Feedback
Priority setting
Actions
Implementation
Evaluation
Action team (staff, students, parents)
Part time facilitator
Curriculum
Professional learning relevant to the context
The Gatehouse Project: changes in health risk
behaviour in grade 8 students after 2 years
120
% of group
100
80
Comparison schools
Intervention
60
40
20
0
Smoking
Regular
smoking
Binge
drinking
Cannabis
Weekly
Cannabis
All analyses
adjusted for
previous level of
substance use in
the school
Components of CORE






Survey-feedback-action cycles
Part time facilitator/change agent
Organizational change/leadership coaching
Teaching and learning (teachers/support staff)
Parent education
Review and improve existing SEL and mental health literacy
interventions to evidence-based standards
Continuous Improvement
A Facilitated Whole School Change Process
“A facilitator is best when people
barely know he exists, when his work
is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say:
We did it ourselves.”
Lao Tzu
OBJECTIVES
Break down staff/teacher
barriers
Increase familiarity with each
other
STRATEGIES
Invite support staff to
professional learning, staff
meetings, equalize
incentives for participation
Introduce small group work in
PD. Mix up groups
Hold professional learning
weekly (1hr sessions) instead
of 8 full day sessions/year
Have photo board
Increase recognition for good Monday memo from Principal
work done
Staff “post-it” appreciation
board
OBJECTIVES
Increase socialising
STRATEGIES
Hold more events, different
formats and occasions.
Encourage more people
to take lead roles
Increase problem solving
Create new task groups with
high levels of responsibility
(workload group to examine
structural ways to reduce
stress)
Increase student voice in the Monthly mtg with Teacher
school
Advisor student reps and
Administration.
Photo voice project
Intentional Change
What is Social Network Analysis?
Social network analysis is the study of social structure.

It maps relations among people (or organisations)

It quantifies position e.g., density, centrality, 2-step reach

A person’s position in a structure determines the opportunities or
constraints that the person will encounter
-information,
- help
-viewpoints
-approval/disapproval
- affirmation of worth
- material resources
Social Network Analysis
Students. The talk-to-when-upset network at Time 1
One elementary classroom
Take a Moment
Who in the network could potentially be at
risk socially? Why do you believe this to be
true?
Students. The talk-to-when-upset network at Time 2,
same class
Using Networks Theory/Thinking in Our Classrooms!
Every Friday afternoon Chase’s teacher asks her
students to take out a piece of paper and write down
the names of four children with whom they’d like to
sit the following week…………
CORE Research
Who did CORE study?
Participants
• Six elementary and junior high schools
• 1904 students
• Grade 5-9
• 9-16 years old
CORE Research
What did CORE study? Key Components of CORE Data
•
•
•
Social Network Analysis (SNA)
Cortisol Level
Health, Behaviour, and Wellness (HBW) Survey
Survey for Elementary School Students (76 questions)
Survey for Junior High School Students (99 questions)
 Demographics
 Dietary questions for saliva screening
 Social support from family, friends, and important adults
 School connections and neighbourhood connections
 Family worries, family affluence, and family time
 School safety, bullying, and delinquency
 Depression, anxiety, and self-esteem
 Substance use, delinquency, and risk behaviours
 Physical activity, screen time, weight concern and weight behaviours
CORE Research
Preliminary findings
(relationship between wellbeing and social connections)
• Social connections
 Within the school boundary: staff support and peer relations
 Beyond the school boundary: neighbourhood connections
•




Wellbeing
Anxiety
Depression
Self-esteem
Academic engagement
CORE Research
Correlation matrix
Anxiety
Depression
Self-esteem
Academic
engagement
Staff support
r=-.18, p<.001
r=.01, p=.838
r=-.07, p=.018 r=.38, p<.001
Peer relations
r=-.30, p<.001
r=-.03, p=.279 r=.01, p=.850
r=.29, p<.001
Neighbourhood
connections
r=-.24, p<.001
r=-.33, p<.001 r=.33, p<.001
r=-.04, p=.253
• Stronger staff support and peer relations in school tend to be associated
with lower level of anxiety and higher level of academic engagement.
• Stronger neighbourhood connections tend to be associated with lower
levels and anxiety and depression, and higher level and self-esteem.
Resiliency?
 Character traits (e.g., hardiness) / fund of wellbeing?
 Stress adaptive coping? Purpose? Sense of self?
 Social connections (support, responsiveness)
 Resilient school cultures/resilient communities?
Resiliency – self-reflection?
 Think back on an occasion when you were flourishing in
terms of your own resiliency
 Describe that time in terms of what made it stand out with
respect to your (a) physical wellbeing,(b) your emotional
wellbeing, (c) your sense of purpose and self, and (d) your
sense of social and community engagement (e) other
relevant details?
 How do we help others be resilient?
CORE future research directions
 Resilient kids and schools post-disaster
 Working with schools to identify best practices that
facilitate social connection and resilience
 CORE as part of a continuum of care in resilient schools,
while maintaining normal mental health services for kids
needing extra assistance
 Resilient school-communities? (teachers, parents, others?)
It’s your turn to talk
Contact us!
Dr. Tom Strong:
strongt@ucalgary.ca
Dr. Michael Mu:
mgmu@ucalgary.ca
Dr. Gabrielle Wilcox:
gwilcox@ucalgary.ca
Laureen Lailey:
laureen.lailey@gov.ab.ca
Dr. Michael Zwiers:
mzwiers@ucalgary.ca
Dr. Michelle Drefs:
madrefs@ucalgary.ca
References
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student diversity. Toronto, ON: Nelson.
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http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.
Leitch, K. K. (2008). Reaching for the top: A report by the advisor on healthy children &
youth. Health Canada, Ottawa, ON.
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from the survey of the work life and health of teachers in Regina and
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