Mid Sweden University

Background: School staffs' views on poor mental health in students is of interest when planning and evaluating mental health promotion in school. The aim of the present study was to explore school staff's views on poor mental health in students.

Methods: The study was carried out in a rural municipality in the northern part of Sweden in 2019-2020. The baseline data presented here was collected prior to a mental health promotion intervention (Youth Aware of Mental Health). Three focus group interviews were conducted with teachers/teacher assistants in grade 7-9 at three different schools, and one with the central student health team. One individual interview was carried out with a psychologist from the student health team. Thematic content analysis was used.

Results: Preliminary analysis resulted in three themes. In To discover and interpret poor mental health, the school staff discussed distribution, signs, and difficulties for school staff and students to detect and handle poor mental health. In The surrounding community, school staff reflected on the impact of students' contexts, including school, home, leisure activities, and social media, in the rural setting. Lastly, in What the school and students can do, school staff elaborated on conditions and possibilities to prevent and manage poor mental health in the local context.

Conclusions: School staff expressed that they and the students had difficulties interpreting and managing students' poor mental health. Students are surrounded by norms, and demands for responsibility, engagement and performance in different contexts. Inadequacies in the school organization put greater responsibility on the individual teacher.

Key messages: There are short comings in school staffs' as well as students’ knowledge of and management of poor mental health. In order to promote mental health among students, the rural school needs to create an organization that takes into account the conditions of sparsely populated areas.