Health, demographic change and wellbeing - RefugeesWellSchool
Introduction
The RefugeesWellSchool is an international project that was made possible thanks to the support of the European Commission, Horizon2020. Seven leading universities in six European countries will work together to develop and implement five preventive, school-based interventions promoting refugee and migrant adolescents’ mental well-being. A particular emphasis is placed on interventions promoting social support and cohesion. The multi-country study will shed light on how the interventions can be implemented in diverse education settings. The project starts in January 2018 and runs for four years under coordination of Prof. dr. Ilse Derluyn (Ghent, University).
Project description
Today, European societies face the challenge of promoting the integration of growing numbers of refugee and migrant adolescents. Supporting the mental well-being of these young newcomers is herein pivotal, with recent scholarly work emphasizing the preventive role of schools in promoting mental well-being. Yet, there is still little robust evidence on how preventive school-based interventions may impact newcomers’ well-being. This project therefore aims to further the evidence-base on the role of preventive school-based interventions in promoting refugee and migrant adolescents’ mental well-being, and on how they can be implemented in diverse educational contexts. We specifically look at interventions furthering social support and social cohesion, since these factors are known to be highly beneficial for newcomers’ well-being. Five interventions –school-mediation intervention, classroom drama therapy, social support groups in refugee classes, support networks on school level, and teachers’ training– will be implemented in six European countries. We will assess the interventions’ long-term impact on newcomers’ well-being (n=3,000), particularly their impact on mental health problems, resilience, academic achievements, school drop-out and social support. A mixed-methods longitudinal approach will combine questionnaires completed by adolescents, parents and teachers, focus groups with these groups, data on adolescents’ academic achievements, and an economic assessment of the costs related to the implementation. Additionally, focus groups and national committees with other stakeholders will evaluate the impact of contextual factors (e.g., educational system) in order to design models to implement the effective interventions in other contexts. As such, this study will lead to a solid evidence-base on the impact of preventive school-based interventions on young newcomers’ mental well-being and the possibilities to implementing these interventions in differing contexts.
Objectives
These are the objectives of REFUGEESWELLSCHOOL:
The overall objective of RefugeesWellSchool is to further the evidence-base on the role of preventive, school-based interventions in promoting refugee and migrant adolescents’ mental well-being, and on how they can be implemented in diverse educational settings. We herein put a specific emphasis on those interventions furthering social support networks and social cohesion.
- Objective 1 - Developing and adapting several types of preventive school-based interventions to increase refugee and migrant adolescents’ mental well-being, in close collaboration with refugee and migrant adolescents and relevant stakeholders
- Objective 2 - Developing culturally and contextually adapted assessment instruments to document the mental well-being of refugee and migrant adolescents and the impact of preventive school-based mental health interventions
- Objective 3 - Increasing refugee and migrant adolescents’ mental well-being through the implementation of different types of preventive, school-based mental health interventions in six European countries (i.e., Norway, Belgium, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Finland)
- Objective 4 - Evaluating the effectiveness of different preventive, school-based interventions in relation to refugee and migrant adolescents’ mental well-being (from different perspectives: adolescents, parents and teachers), the implementation processes of these interventions and the contextual factors impacting this implementation, and performing an overall economic evaluation of the interventions
- Objective 5: Developing, in close collaboration with all relevant stakeholders, including policy-makers, different models to implement preventive school-based mental health interventions in different EUcountries, in relation to contextual factors (e.g., educational system, available resources)
- Objective 6: Disseminating the developed school-based interventions and the implementation models to integrate the interventions in different contexts and countries.
Role of Ghent University
Ghent University, as the project coordinator, will ensure the overall management and project coordination over the different intervention types and intervention settings.
Website
Contact
Prof. dr. Ilse Derluyn
Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy
Phone number: +32 9 264 64 02
E-mail