Research Library

One of the most well-documented sequelae of early maltreatment and institutionalisation is attachment problems, including behaviours under the labels of reactive attachment disorder (RAD) and disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED). Despite growing evidence of the neurobiological effects of institutionalisation, the neural correlates of these behavioural patterns are largely unknown. Authors: Oliveira, P. S., Fearon, P, Belsky, J., Mesquita, A., Sampaio, A., Pinal, D., Soares, I. (2022).

The Mercers’ Wellbeing Evaluation Programme aimed to support Mercers’ Associated Schools and Colleges to evaluate their mental health and wellbeing provision. The programme was delivered in two phases between 2016 and 2022. The final report from the Mercers’ Wellbeing Evaluation Programme is available online. It summarises the learning and achievements of the programme’s second phase, setting these within the context of the programme as a whole.

The Mercers’ Wellbeing Evaluation Programme aimed to support Mercers’ Associated Schools and Colleges to evaluate their mental health and wellbeing provision. The programme was delivered in two phases between 2016 and 2022. The final report from the Mercers’ Wellbeing Evaluation Programme is available online. It summarises the learning and achievements of the programme’s second phase, setting these within the context of the programme as a whole.

An accessible resource on what we know about mental health.

This briefing aims to describe an approach to monitoring and evaluating children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges, as a means to provide better support. The IDEA (Intervention description, Design, Evaluation implementation, Analysis and reporting) approach is described, which gives practical steps to the development of approaches to evaluating support for mental health and wellbeing delivered in educational settings. Three evaluations that have adopted this approach are also summarised.

This briefing draws on learning emerging from research led by the Evidence Based Practice Unit in collaboration with the Child Outcomes Research Consortium, The University of Manchester and Common Room. The Mercers’ Company funded the research. The Mercers’ Company is the Premier Livery Company of the City of London. Authors: Deighton, J., Stapley, E., Lereya, T., Burrell, K., Atkins, L. (2019).

The dual-factor approach to mental health was employed to explore levels and interrelations of protective factors associated with resilience in a dataset of 30,841 schoolchildren aged 11–14 in England. Authors: Jefferies, P., Fritz, J., Deighton, J., Ungar, M. (2023).

The aim of this review was to systematically identify the behavioural change techniques (BCTs) underpinning anorexia nervosa apps for young people. BCTs refer to the “common language” used by researchers to determine the triggers of behaviour change. Authors: Chiang, CP., Hayes, D., Panagiotopoulou, E. (2023).

Universal help-seeking interventions in schools to support young people’s mental health have been widely used, but we know little about their initial impact and longer term follow-up. This systematic literature review aims to explore the impact of these types of programmes across different help-seeking constructs. Authors: Hayes, D., Mansfield, R., Mason, C., Santos, J., Moore, A., Boehnke, J., Ashworth, E., Moltrecht, B., Humphrey, N., Stallard, P., Patalay, P., & Deighton, J. (2023).