Promoting Teacher Mental Health: A School-based Risk Management and Health Promotion Intervention for Teachers

A pragmatic design will be used for a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which clusters (i.e., schools) are randomly assigned to receive the intervention in year 2021 or 2022. Although the larger project comprises a total of four intakes, only schools allocated in the first and third intakes constitute the RCT of interest in this application. Schools allocated to the intervention condition (i.e. Intake 1 schools) will receive the intervention described below in Terms 1-2 in 2021. The intervention approach and content is based on the principles of risk management and well-being promotion to proactively address health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace, as well as the PERMA (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement) theory of well-being (from the work of Dr Martin Seligman). The intervention consists of two key components, with one component targeted at the school (organisational) level, and one targeted at the teacher (individual) level. First, well-being ‘coaches’ will guide school leaders and health and safety representatives to understand the intervention approach, identify gaps in their mental health provisions and health promotion activities, and assist them in developing a mental well-being action plan for school staff. School leaders will also receive a brief eLearning program on psychological health and safety via a digital platform (the FlourishDx app). Second, teachers will receive access to a brief eLearning program on mental health awareness and positive psychology via the FlourishDx app. While teachers and school leaders would have access to the eLearning program and other features on the app up till 31 December 2022, the active intervention where contact with key school personnel in the form of reviews and consultations is for 6 months (2 school terms). At the school level (first component of the intervention), the school leadership team at each school will first receive a 1.5-hour virtual briefing on the intervention approach and support in identifying gaps in their mental health provisions and health promotion activities. School leaders will then be invited to complete an eLearning program on psychological health and safety on the FlourishDx app at their own pace within a two-week period. Further, their school's health and safety representatives and/or well-being champions will receive one half-day virtual workshop aimed to equip school personnel with knowledge and skills to better understand key risks and identify improvement strategies at their workplaces, and to develop a mental well-being action plan. The workshop may either be at individual participating schools, or several groups of schools together. Subsequently, each school’s project implementation is supported by phone consultations and other asynchronous communication. All briefings and consultations will be conducted by well-being coaches with extensive experience in applying positive psychology in education. Adherence to intervention, including attendance at consultations/workshops and eLearning program completion will be assessed and monitored by attendance lists and app analytics. At the teacher level (second component of intervention), participating teachers will receive access to an eLearning program via the FlourishDx app and are encouraged to complete the 1.5-hour eLearning program in a self-paced format within a two-week timeframe during the intervention period for their school. Topics covered in the eLearning program include anxiety, depression, resilience, relaxation, diet, sleep, exercise, positive emotions, positive relationships, meaningfulness and accomplishments. Components of this eLearning program include a series of animated 2-5 minute videos and breathing exercises and short quizzes. Further, the FlourishDx app includes optional surveys for assessing one's wellbeing, character strengths and work design, with immediate feedback for self-monitoring. These surveys are designed to be part of the intervention. The app has also a “mental fitness coach bot” that identifies user needs (based on survey results) and interests, and then sends notifications to users to encourage specific practices tailored to the individual in a conversational manner. All topics in the eLearning program and optional features are available on the app from the commencement of the intervention period for their school to 31 December 2022. Teachers can choose how to engage with the content and features on the app. Adherence to intervention and intervention engagement will be assessed by app analytics.