Abstract

Objective

This systematic review will examine the effectiveness of existing school-based mental health interventions for students in elementary schools and consider any implications for occupational therapists. 

Methods

A systematic review was conducted using the PICO framework to analyze and synthesize data. The following databases were used to identify relevant studies: JSTOR, EBSCO, PubMed, NYU Library, and ResearchGate. Following PRISMA guidelines, we established our eligibility criteria and refined our search based on factors such as student age, grade level, and publication year. Nine studies were included in the systematic review (Arbesmman et al., 2013; Bakosh et al., 2015; Black et al., 2013; Carboni et al., 2013; Lechner et al., 2022; Lin et al., 2022; Pfiffner et al., 2014; Ritter & Alvarez, 2020;Sciutto et al., 2021). Of the included studies, two were classified as level 1 evidence, two were classified as level 2 evidence, and six were classified as level 3 evidence.

Results

A total of nine studies met the inclusion criteria of the study. The collective findings from these studies demonstrated the impact of school-based mental health interventions across multiple domains of function. Specifically, improvements were observed in teacher-rated classroom behaviors, parent-rated behavior, organizational skills, peer relationships, academic performance, executive functioning and social skills.

Conclusion

Results of this review support the effectiveness of mental health interventions in school settings and provides valuable insights for OT practitioners, policymakers, educators and researchers in optimizing mental health interventions that are tailored to this specific population in school settings.