Teacher Mental Health Literacy and Child Development in Australian Primary Schools: A Program Evaluation

Teacher Mental Health Literacy and Child Development in Australian Primary Schools: A Program Evaluation

Primary school teachers play a significant role in the support of children with mental health and developmental concerns, which can be comorbid or share similar symptomology. The literature suggests there is a deficiency in teacher mental health literacy (MHL), indicating that teachers often lack the knowledge and confidence to support childhood mental health. This study evaluated the success of the Mental Health Literacy for Educators Training Program for a subset of Queensland (QLD) primary school teachers, with a focus on the developmental areas of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Speech and Language Disorders, and Sensory Processing Disorders. The aim was to evaluate whether knowledge and confidence improved on training completion and to evaluate the satisfaction of the training. This research used a longitudinal design (pre- and post-training) with a sample of 81 QLD primary school teaching staff over a three-year period (2013–2015). The results showed that knowledge and confidence improved on training completion and were strongly correlated. The satisfaction with training was high and positively correlated with knowledge acquisition and confidence attainment. In respect of complex effects, a moderated mediation model showed that confidence mediated the relationship between satisfaction and knowledge, and years of teaching experience as a moderator had no effect directly on confidence or in producing a conditional indirect effect on knowledge. This study considers limitations such as ceiling effects, participant and self-selection biases, and sample representation, which limits the interpretation of the findings. At last, it also recommends additional longitudinal follow-up periods to assess knowledge maintenance, teacher helping behaviours, and benefits to children as key directions for future research.