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Depression, anxiety and stress are common problems among adolescents. Teaching young people coping strategies in school-based intervention programs is one promising approach hoped to remedy the negative consequences of distress in adolescence. The aim of the two pilot studies was to examine the effect of a brief intervention based on the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on depressive symptomatology (Australian study, N = 66) and stress (Swedish study, N = 32) among adolescents screened for psychosocial problems in school settings. In both studies, subjects were assigned to receive the ACT-group-intervention, or a control intervention featuring individual support from the school health care. The Australian study was a planned comparison, with random allocation for girls, plus one replication of a boys group. The Swedish study used a randomized controlled design. The ACT-intervention was an 8-session manualized group program. The Australian study showed significant reductions in depressive symptoms with a large effect, and significant reductions in psychological inflexibility with a medium effect when compared to the control group who received standard care. In the Swedish study, the ACT-intervention group, when compared to the control group, reported significantly lower levels of stress with a large effect size, and marginally significant decrease of anxiety, and marginally significant increased mindfulness skills. Taken together, the ACT-intervention seems to be a promising intervention for reducing stress and depressive symptoms among young adolescents in school and should be tested in full-sized studies. Limitations of these two pilots include small samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the challenges facing Victorian schools in developing an integrated service model to meet the health and welfare needs of young people. Theoretical underpinnings of the Framework for Student Support Services in Victorian Government Schools; Objectives and strategies of the framework; Information on the curriculum approach to student support; Lessons from the United States on welfare reform in schools.

Unlabelled: INTRODUCTION In Australia, rural adolescents still face barriers to obtaining professional psychological help due to poor availability and accessibility of services in rural areas when delay in seeking help for mental health problems can lead to poorer treatment outcomes. The aims of this study were to: investigate the preferences and intentions of rural Australian youth towards seeking help for mental health problems; determine predictors of help-seeking intention among rural adolescents; and verify results from previous qualitative research on the barriers to help-seeking in a rural context., Method: Participants were 201 adolescents recruited from 8 rural schools in the state of Victoria, Australia. Participants ranged in age from 11 to 18 years. Using the Accessibility and Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+), approximately 149 participants were classified as currently living in an inner regional area of Victoria, whereas 52 participants lived in an outer regional area. Participants completed an open-ended survey of help-seeking intention., Results: Overall, 55.7% of the sample indicated that they would seek help for a mental health problem. The majority of participants, regardless of subgroup, indicated that they would seek help for a mental health problem from a school counsellor as their first choice. Gender differences were observed such that males had a higher preference for seeking help from a psychologist than females. Furthermore, older adolescents were more likely to prefer seeking help from a GP than younger participants. A multivariate analysis of help-seeking intentions revealed that ARIA was the only predictor of help-seeking intention; however, when extreme scores of depression and anxiety were also taken into account, these also predicted help-seeking intention. A content analysis of the barriers to help-seeking nominated by participants revealed that perceived limited availability of professional services in towns, perceived social proximity and fear of rural gossip, and difficulties associated with travelling to obtain help were the most significant concerns for these youth., Conclusions: These findings verify previous research on help-seeking among rural youth and reinforce that these young people face additional barriers to help-seeking by virtue of living in a rural environment. The availability of services for rural youth needs to be improved, as do young people's knowledge of service availability and access (especially travel options). It must be taken into account that rural adolescents of different ages and sex may differ in their help-seeking preferences. Finally, mental health promotion work with rural youth should consider the influence of rural culture on help-seeking intentions.

Objective: This study provides normative and clinical levels of problem behaviours from a large community sample of Australian early primary school children., Method: From a large community sample (n = 1928) of children aged 5 to 10 years (mean = 7.70, SD = 0.89) normative data are provided using the teacher-reported version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). A response rate of 88% ensures the data are representative., Results: Mean scores on total difficulties between this Australian sample and UK norms were comparable. Some differences in the clinical cut-off scores are evident in the Australian sample, and adjusted clinical cut-offs are provided. Australian teacher reports of problem behaviour revealed lower clinical levels of emotional problems. Boys had significantly greater problems than girls on the Conduct, Hyperactivity, Peer and Prosocial scales. Overall, 5.3% of boys had scores in the clinical range on four of the five subscales. Comparisons of the factor structure revealed that for boys the Peer scale has two interpretations, with two items loading with Conduct problems and associated with greater problem behaviours. For girls, conduct problems are more strongly associated with poorer prosocial skills., Conclusions: Teachers are able to provide valuable predictive information on externalizing behaviours. Australian normative comparisons reveal minor variations in teacher interpretation of items. The present data is representative of the Australian community and should be used to assess behaviour difficulties in early primary school children. Future studies on older age children are required to understand the developmental progression of problem behaviours in the community.