Journal article

Pilot evaluation of an innovative school-based mental health literacy program for teachers and students: The Decode Mental Health and Wellbeing Program

E Habgood, S Gandhi, R Smith, S Hearps, H Hiscock, F Oberklaid, M Raniti, S Darling

Australian Educational Researcher | SPRINGER | Published : 2025

Open access

Abstract

Mental health literacy interventions in school settings are growing in number and scope, yet challenges in user engagement and real-world implementation persist. The Decode Mental Health and Wellbeing Program (Decode) is a novel and innovative mental health literacy program for teachers and students that harnesses the power of social media platform-style content delivery and lived experience influencers to engage young people. Using a multi-site, multi-informant, pre-post cohort study design over a 4-week implementation period, Decode was evaluated in five Victorian government and Catholic primary and secondary schools (years 5–8) in Victoria, Australia. Data collected using surveys (teacher..

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Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

We thank the team at Matterworks and Education Perfect for their support with the implementation of Decode within schools. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Bella Laidlaw (Yarra City Council) for contributions to this project. Finally, we greatly appreciate the involvement of all teachers and students who participated in the evaluation activities.