Rates of mental health challenges among children and youth are on the rise. Physical activity has been identified as a promising intervention to improve mental health outcomes for youth. This study aimed to investigate how mental health clinicians perceive and utilize physical activity as a mental health intervention for children and adolescents.…

Background: Technology and its use within mental health services has advanced dramatically over recent years. Opportunities for mental health services to utilise technology to introduce novel, effective, and more efficient means of delivering assessment, and treatment are increasing. Objective: The current rapid-evidence paper reviews evidence…

Background: Excessive worry during adolescence can significantly impact mental health. Understanding adolescent concerns may help inform mental health early intervention strategies. Objective: This study aimed to identify frequent concerns among Australian secondary school students, exploring individual and demographic differences. Whether…

Background: To support student mental health, school staff must have knowledge of evidence-based practices and the capacity to implement them. One approach used to address this challenge is a group-based telementoring model called "Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes" (ECHO). In other applications (e.g., healthcare settings),…

Background: The Social Emotional Distress Scale-Secondary (SEDS-S) is a short measure designed for comprehensive school-based mental health screening, particularly for using very brief self-reported measures of well-being and distress. Whereas prior studies have shown validity and reliability evidence for the English version, there is a lack of…

Background: The Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form (Q-LES-Q-SF) is a well-established, clinically feasible measure of quality of life concerns when assessing relatively severe clinical populations of adult patients. To what degree might the Q-LES-Q-SF facilitate identifying quality of life concerns among parents of…

Background: Self-harm is a significant public health concern during adolescence. Most cases of self-harm do not come to the attention of professional services, however, where adolescents do disclose self-harm, the majority confide in their friends. Objective: Therefore, more needs to be understood about the protective function and risks friends…

Children and youth growing up in contexts characterized by political violence are at high risk of developing mental health impairments. In recent years, a growing interest has been directed to the study of children's well-being after being exposed to political violence in order to develop interventions aimed at preserving and enhancing it. This…

Background: In clinical settings, there is significant need for brief, easily-administered assessment tools for adolescent depression that can be used by mental health clinicians from a variety of training backgrounds. Existing depression screening tools do not assess for duration and consistency of symptoms, two key indicators of pathological…

Background: Youth in foster care may demonstrate high levels of aggression and thought problems. There is a growing trend to consider mental health symptoms of youth involved with the foster care system from a developmental trauma perspective. Objective: The aim of this study was to test if trauma, race, age, and gender predicted variability in…

Background: Youth mental health has declined since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Health coaching and mindfulness-based intervention may support therapeutic processes that promote resilience in the face of risk factors for adverse mental health outcomes. Building Resilience for Healthy Kids (HK) is a school-based intervention designed to support…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on children and families worldwide. Children's mental health has been at the forefront of pandemic research, with several observational studies documenting its decline. Limited person-centred research exists, however, investigating the diverse mental health responses of vulnerable…

Extensive research into wilderness therapy has not explored who benefits the most and who does not thrive in these programs. The present study examined demographic, clinical, and familial characteristics that distinguished adolescents who improve most in wilderness therapy programs from those who deteriorate. Using data collected by the National…

Background: Armed conflicts continue to threaten a vast number of children across the world, especially in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Evidence-based interventions are vital to adequately address the mental health needs in these groups. Objective: This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive update of the most current…

Background: School engagement is a positive, malleable aspect of youth functioning that may be influenced by familial factors. Both risk and protective factors may affect youth's school engagement. Objective: Utilizing an intergenerational transmission of risk framework, the current study examined how maternal factors (i.e., maternal…