The effectiveness of the PROMEHS project: A comprehensive multi-component curriculum to promote mental health in schools

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community. Mental health problems among children and adolescents have been increasing over the past decades especially as a consequence of COVID-19 Pandemic. This underlines the urgent need for early intervention, with schools providing a unique opportunity for the promotion of mental health of students. This poster presents the goals, the methodology and the results of PROMEHS, a European project aimed to develop an evidence-based curriculum to promote mental health at school. PROMEHS has been implemented in six European Countries (Croatia, Italy, Greece, Latvia, Romania and Portugal) involving more than 10000 students and their teachers, using the training study methodology. The research design includes the collection of pre- and post-test data among students and their teachers from kindergarten to secondary school. Comparisons between the experimental group and the control group over time have been carried out in order to assess the impact of the PROMEHS curriculum on a number of outcomes including social and emotional learning, resilience and mental health problems. The findings will serve to improve national and international educational policies in the Member States working collaboratively with public authorities.