Resource/Manuscript: “The Feasibility of a Mental Health Curriculum in Elementary School”. doi: 10.1177/070674370404900309.

Authors/Developers: Bianca A Lauria-Horner, Stan Kutcher, Sarah J Brooks

Francophone MHL Curriculum for Grades 1-7: Rural Nova Scotia

This mental health literacy curriculum was developed for a linguistically and geographically isolated francophone community in rural Nova Scotia to assess and enhance 158 schoolchildren’s (Grades 1-7) mental health knowledge and attitudes. Only grades 4-7 students’ data were analyzed to determine the program's impact on knowledge and attitudes.

The literature outlining this program is merely a brief communication in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. As such, the academic manuscript does not provide adequate evidence of effectiveness or readiness for dissemination. This may change depending on future publications assessing the impact of this Francophone MHL curriculum.

Key Findings

This novel Mental Health Curriculum in Elementary School receives a rating of 5. We cannot yet find an acceptable level of evidence speaking to its effectiveness or readiness for dissemination.

This intervention was shown to have statistically significant effects on the following key-pillars of Mental Health Literacy, but these findings may be conditional or limited by the study design. Please continue reading for more information:

  • Knowledge
  • Help Seeking
  • Stigma
  • Obtaining & Maintaining Positive Mental Health
  • Recognition of Mental Disorders

Help Seeking, Obtaining & Maintaining Positive Mental Health, and Recognition of Mental Disorders were not measured in the study evaluating this program. Thus we have no insight into the program’s efficacy with respect to these key-pillars.

As mentioned, the results of this study are detailed in a ‘brief communication’ - a limited description of research that provides scant details about the intention, background, process, and results of a study. This is a cause for reservation when evaluating the effectiveness of this study. However, we hold additional reservations about the validity of  outcome measures (tools that measure levels of MHL) used in this study.

This program is a worthwhile academic pursuit to improve Mental Health Literacies in rural francophone students in Canada - an underrepresented demographic in Canadian MHL literature. We recommend the expansion of this research effort, including the creation and publication of full-scale peer reviewed journal articles to support evidence of effectiveness of this, and similar Francophone MHL programs.

Francophone MHL Curriculum for Grades 1-7 - Rural Nova Scotia Rating: 5

(Ratings of 4-6 are not scored for dissemination readiness)

evalutation rating guide 5

For more information on our scoring system, criteria, and outcomes for the Francophone MHL Curriculum for Grades 1-7: Rural Nova Scotia, please see the Evaluation Process & Scoring page