Mental Health Education in Beijing Middle School Zhi-jin Hou Ph.D. School of Psychology Beijing Normal University
The development of mental health education in China Beginning in the early 80s Spontaneous exploration stage Experiment and development stage Promotion stage
Who are delivering the mental health education program Class master (teacher in charge of class) Moral education teacher Assistant teacher of Young Pioneer/ Communist Youth League Graduate students of psychology department School doctor Full time counselor
Current forms of mental health education Curriculum (in the grade 7 and grade 10) Individual assessment (mental health database) Group guidance and group counseling Individual counseling (included hotline) School newspaper Referral Consultant
The content of mental health education program Different from school to school Based on instructors experiences Based on text book Based on the implicit understanding of mental health
Influence factors for mental health education --- system explanation Individual system --- mental health education delivers Social contextual system (the other people systems with which the individual interact) Environmental-societal contextual system (less directly related to the individual, but their influences can be profound)
delivers of mental health education colleague parents of students school media Social changes policy geographical location
The problems existed in the present situation The standards, goals and contents of mental health education are not clearly established. It is often mixed with moral education Lack of systematic research and lack of evaluation for the program No enough professional training Do not pay attention to career development Only focus on one aspect Mental health education delivers do not have professional identity and appropriate promotion path
The future direction for mental health education programs (1) Three levels (developmental, prevention, intervention) work should be done Comprehensive school-based guidance program will be needed School teachers should cooperate with other professionals (psychologists and psychiatrists) and fully use the social resources
The future direction for mental health education programs (2) More professional training will be needed to deliver to school teachers Status and identity problems should be resolved Pay attention to assessment of program and related researches will be needed
Individual system – delivers of mental health education Knowledge of psychology and counseling Past educational and teaching experiences Values and attitudes towards to the mental health education Interests Roles Age and career development stages
Social content system School: support from principal; reward system; school culture and school type Media: split or disassociate message Colleague Parents of students
Environmental-societal contextual system Police: attention from central government and local government (national guidance document on mental health education for elementary school and middle school issued by educational ministry in 2002) identity status (including promotion system evaluation systems
Environmental-societal contextual system Social changes only child families in cities increasing divorce and remarried families attitude towards sex has changed big gap between poverty and wealthy groups high competition and high stress in the society
Environmental-societal contextual system Geographical location social resources and access to information different socioeconomic status continuous educational training opportunities
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