Implementation of a national mental health intervention in educational communities: What do successful teams do differently?

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the elements that characterize local teams which implement a nationwide preventive mental health intervention in schools and achieve better results. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was conducted in two phases: (a) teams were characterized according to their level of achievement in the preventive intervention through latent class analysis; and (b) case studies of three teams with different implementation results were conducted by performing content analysis on interviews, observations, and documents. It was established that the more effective teams have better planning, the more they are familiar with the intervention, and more aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This team also implement culturally pertinent actions aimed at increasing knowledge about the intervention, which causes schools to experience it as part of their community, since they include the intervention in their regular dynamics. Lastly, the importance and relevance of these elements when working in educational communities is discussed.