Promoting Mental Health in School and Community Settings

Dear Colleagues,

Mental health is critically important for human development, but there are insufficient timely services and an inadequate number of professionals to respond to mental health needs worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a global challenge for collective mental health, creating an even bigger gap between needs and responses. From an ecological perspective, schools and communities have been recognized as important settings for mental health promotion and prevention. Although various school- and community-centric approaches, strategies, interventions and services have been developed to promote mental health across cultures and lifespans, it is still unclear what works and what actions and resources should be prioritized in this school- and community-based mental health promotion. The increasing number of tragic events within schools and communities has also raised public concerns about the effectiveness and efficacy of mental health promotion in school and community settings. Furthermore, whether these school- and community-based mental health promotions are culturally sensitive, developmentally appropriate and group-specific also requires more rigorous investigation.  

In this context, this Special Issue is soliciting manuscripts addressing topics related to the policies, initiatives, approaches, strategies and interventions designed to promote mental health in school and community settings. We welcome original articles and reviews encompassing these topics, as well as evaluating their effectiveness, efficacy and sustainability. Papers focusing on various aspects of promoting mental health in school and community settings, such as research, education, policy and advanced practice, are of particular interest. Papers seeking to explore the knowledge and perceptions of stakeholders about promotion, prediction, and prevention of mental health in school and community settings will also be considered. We appreciate papers that consider the roles of engaging various stakeholders at different levels in co-developing mental health promotion programs and platforms in school and community settings, as well as papers that focus on equipping, empowering and transforming mental health professionals, school and community leaders and practitioners, and target users in co-creating stigma-free school and community environments. Additionally, papers that illustrate culturally sensitive and developmentally appropriate international contexts are of relevance to this Special Issue.

This Special Issue aims to provide an updated picture of the current and newly developed policies, initiatives, approaches, strategies and interventions designed for promoting mental health in school and community settings.  Effective and innovative school- and community-based mental health promotions are critically important to address the mental health crisis and fill in the service gaps at both local and global levels, with widespread effects on healthcare services, healthcare professionals’ development, stakeholders’ capacity building, user-centered services, students and community wellbeing.

Prof. Dr. Alex Chi-Keung Chan
Dr. Raymond Chi-fai Chui
Dr. Winnie Wing-yan Yuen
Dr. P. F. Jonah Li
Dr. Anson Chui Yan Tang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• mental health
• school
• community
• research
• intervention
• practice
• stigma-free
• stakeholders
• culturally sensitive
• developmentally appropriate