Background: Mental disorders most likely manifest during adolescence, providing opportunities for schools and professionals to implement standardized mental health literacy (MHL) interventions to support improvement of mental health outcomes. Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an MHL intervention (the Guide) on knowledge, stigma,…

This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of Healthy Minds, Healthy Schools (HMHS), a universal school cognitive-behavioral therapy program aimed at improving anxiety and emotion regulation. Using a quasi-experimental design with open assignment to groups, elementary students were assigned to either the intervention (n = 186) or comparison…

The present study sought to assess the ability of teachers to identify emerging mental health disorders through a novel vignette measure. Canadian certified primary grade teachers (N = 101) completed a survey that included a novel vignette measure. Participants rated the severity of fictitious student behaviors depicted in several vignettes and…

This study examined pathways from prosocial behaviour in the beginning of the school year to emotional health and academic achievement in the end of the year, taking into account the mediating role of peer acceptance. Participants were 734 grade 4 to 7 students in public elementary schools (51% female) in Western Canada. As expected, pathway…

Background: Several studies conducted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic have shown its harmful effects on young people's mental health. In Québec and Canada, few studies have focussed on adolescents, and even fewer of these studies have examined this subject using a methodology that involved comparisons of data obtained before and…

COVID-19 has put additional stress on teachers, whose levels of psychological distress are concerning. However, studies that look at teachers' work experiences and their association with psychological distress during the pandemic are lacking. This study aims to draw a portrait of psychological distress (i.e., symptoms of depression and anxiety)…

This study employed a qualitative content analysis of provincial policy documents, following deductive methods, to examine academic resilience and education policy developments across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, the study explicates the nature and scope of provincial policy responses to the global pandemic that address…

Despite data increasingly being used to advance equity in education, students with and seeking refugee protection (SWSRP) are largely invisible in education data. To equitably include SWSRP in national education systems as envisioned by global refugee education policy, data on their needs are required. The purpose of this study was to source,…

The COVID-19 crisis has affected everyone, especially elementary school-aged children who might be too young to fully understand the sudden changes in familiar social norms as well as the unprecedented pandemic-induced educational context. This article is based on a case study that explores the perspective of the experiences of ten parents of…

Research examining the rates, frequency, and impact of harassment and violence that elementary school educators experience from students, parents, colleagues, and administrators is sparse. Over 1000 educators from publicly funded elementary schools in Ontario completed surveys assessing the rate, frequency, and impact of various forms of…

There is growing concern about the mental health and resilience of today's children and difficulties with self-regulation are implicated in educational outcomes, cognitive problems, internalizing problems such as depression and anxiety, externalizing problems such as aggression, and physical health problems. Self-regulation is a growing topic of…

The primary research question which drove this analysis asked: What is Mental Health Literacy (MHL) and how is this accomplished in elementary schools in Ontario, given the new directives within the 2019 Health and Physical Education curricular document? Utilizing a qualitative research mode, the understanding of MHL was investigated through a…

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented disruption to education and schooling at the end of the 2019-20 school year. Operating in a context of great uncertainty, education leaders were tasked with making key decisions with potentially far-reaching impacts on the educational and mental and physical health of students and families. Drawing on…

We examined how emotional and communication functioning at kindergarten predicted the academic trajectories of refugee children. Drawing from a population-based Canadian cohort, the study followed 629 refugee children from age 5 to 13 and (i) modeled kindergarten, Grade 4, and Grade 7 academic trajectories via group-based trajectory modeling and…

The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the preliminary effects of a curriculum resource on elementary school children's social and emotional skills. In total, 98 Grade 3 children were randomly allocated to either a control or experimental group and evaluated before and after a 3-month implementation period. Experimental group showed…