TOPLINE:
From 2008 to 2020, US schools reported significant increases in emotional/mental health education (from 83.8% to 89.8%) and suicide prevention programs (from 70.1% to 81.8%), while substance use prevention declined from 94.5% to 88.6%, particularly in middle schools.
METHODOLOGY:
Analysis included seven cycles (2008-2020) of the School Health Profiles, a cross-sectional, biennial national surveillance system of US middle and high schools (grades 6-12).
A total of 76,826 schools participated, with 9865-12,387 schools responding annually from 2008 to 2018, achieving 70%-94% response rates per state.
Researchers utilized systematic, equal-probability sampling with random starts to produce representative samples for each state, with one lead health educator per school completing self-administered questionnaires.
Data analysis focused on weighted proportions for affirmative responses regarding school programming and teacher professional development in emotional/mental health, suicide prevention, and substance use prevention.
TAKEAWAY:
According to the researchers, teacher professional development in emotional/mental health increased significantly from 36.1% in 2012 to 67.7% in 2020 (P < .001 for trend).
The authors reported that suicide prevention training for teachers rose from 29.4% in 2008 to 61.1% in 2020 (P < .001 for trend).
Middle schools experienced a steeper decline in substance use programming compared to high schools, dropping from 92.5% in 2008 to 83.2% in 2016 (P < .001 for interaction by school level).
Researchers found that teacher professional development for substance use prevention remained unchanged at 45.3% in 2008 and 46.3% in 2020 (P = .90).
IN PRACTICE:
“Substance use during early adolescence is associated with risk for long-term addiction, and middle schools may be underused for prevention,” wrote the authors of the study.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Chloe Gao, BHSc, Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston. It was published online on December 12 in JAMA.
LIMITATIONS:
The researchers noted several key limitations, including potentially inaccurate self-reporting, use of prepandemic data, lack of school characteristics, and questions overlooking informal/elective courses. Additionally, the cross-sectional nature of the study meant that the same schools may have been sampled multiple times across years.
DISCLOSURES:
Scott Hadland, MD, MPH, MS, reported receiving grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. No other disclosures were reported.
Note: This article originally appeared on Medscape.
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