Conducting universal school-based mental health research in the South African context: Challenges, opportunities, and methodological considerations
Date: 18 July 2024
Time: 12:00 to 13:00
Platform: Teams
With a focus on prevention and early intervention, universal school-based mental health interventions show promise in meeting the mental health need among children and young people (CYP) in South Africa. Yet, few culturally relevant and contextually appropriate interventions of this kind have been delivered in low- and middle-income settings. While schools are considered ideal settings for delivering intervention support, given this is where young people spend most of their time, not much is known about delivering such interventions in the South African context. Given the need, we piloted such an intervention in 2021 in partnership with a local NGO called Community Keepers, called Four Steps to My Future (4STMF). We aimed to determine outcomes related to feasibility, acceptability, and the utility of secondary outcome measures. We also conducted Ripple Effects Mapping in 2023, to explore the wider unintended outcomes of this work. Our findings showed that 4STMF can flexibility and feasibly be delivered to fit in with school context, evidenced by high session attendance and pre- post measure completion rates as well as exit focus group data. In this webinar, I will talk about the challenges, opportunities, and methodological considerations of conducting universal school-based research in a South African setting.
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Prof Bronwynè Coetzee is an Associate Professor of Psychology and National Research Foundation (NRF) Y1-rated researcher. She is a member of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) and an executive member of the PsySSA’ s Division for Research and Methodology. In 2023, she received the Stellenbosch University award for research excellence and innovation as an emerging researcher. Her teaching focuses on child and adolescent development and mental health, and she conducts research in these areas. In terms of research, Prof Coetzee’s research is broadly located within the fields of health psychology and mental health. In terms of health psychology, her research focuses on factors affecting treatment adherence amongst children, adolescents and their caregivers living with HIV in South Africa. Secondly, in terms of mental health, her research also focuses on the promotion of psychological well-being amongst children, adolescents, and their caregivers in South Africa through prevention and early intervention, with a focus on universal interventions. Prof Coetzee has published more than 50 academic papers in peer reviewed and accredited journal related to her fields of research. She has graduated 18 honours students (with three ongoing), 15 master’s students (with 9 ongoing) and 3 doctoral students (with 3 ongoing).