The Importance of Ongoing Mental Health Monitoring in Schools
Mental health challenges among students have become a significant concern for schools across Australia. Research indicates that half of all adult mental health issues begin before the age of 14, and over 50% of children experiencing these challenges are not receiving professional help. As a result, schools are increasingly being tasked with identifying students who may be struggling and providing early support.
One common approach is through mental health screening, where students complete questionnaires to assess their emotional wellbeing. However, traditional screenings often rely on a single point in time, which may not capture the full picture of a student’s mental health.
The Need for Longitudinal Assessments
Our research aimed to explore whether repeated assessments could offer a more accurate understanding of students’ emotional experiences. We followed 767 students aged 11-15 from schools in Australia and the UK over six to seven weeks. Each week, they completed a brief check-in that took about one to two minutes. These check-ins used a structured measure of emotional wellbeing, asking students to rate emotions like happiness, calmness, worry, or sadness.
In addition to emotional experiences, students also reported on aspects of their daily functioning, such as sleep, concentration, exercise, and relationships. This allowed us to track changes in both emotional wellbeing and everyday functioning over time, rather than relying on a single snapshot.
Addressing Concerns About Screening
There is often concern that mental health screening might feel burdensome or intrusive, especially in school settings. To address this, we asked students about their experience with the process. What we found challenged some common assumptions about mental health assessments.
First, we discovered that students’ scores were not as stable as single screenings assume. In our study, 17% of students moved above and below the low wellbeing threshold during the monitoring period. This means that a single-time-point assessment could easily give an inaccurate impression of how a student is truly doing, depending on whether it captured a “better” or “worse” day.
A student who has a “good day” during a one-off screening might be missed entirely, while another having a particularly bad day might be flagged when they would not typically need support. In both cases, decisions are made based on incomplete information.
Understanding Patterns Over Time
Looking at patterns over time provided a clearer and more reliable indication of students’ mental health. Repeated observations helped distinguish between temporary fluctuations and more persistent difficulties. This distinction is crucial when deciding who may need additional support.
In our research, when focusing on a single time point, about 12% of students scored below a threshold and would be flagged for follow-up. This aligns with other recent school-based screening research, which has identified around 10–20% of students as at risk and needing follow-up at any given time.
However, when we instead looked at students who were consistently below this threshold over time, that figure dropped to around 5%. This suggests that repeated assessments can provide a more accurate basis for decision-making.
Student Perspectives on Check-Ins
As with any self-report measure, responses depend on students answering honestly. While some may under-report or over-report their experiences, brief and repeated check-ins may help reduce the impact of any single biased response by focusing on patterns over time rather than one-off answers.
Students in our study were generally receptive to regular check-ins. More than half reported that the process helped them better understand how they were feeling. Rather than being seen as an added burden, the process appeared to allow some students to reflect on their emotions. This kind of regular reflection may support emotional awareness, which research shows is an important part of maintaining wellbeing.
Moving Forward
Our research suggests that brief, repeated check-ins can provide a more accurate basis for decision-making around students’ mental health. It also suggests that we could potentially reduce the number of students flagged for further support. This finding is especially important when schools say they often do not begin mental health screening because they don’t have enough resources to provide any follow-up required.
Check-ins do not need to be expensive or labour-intensive. They can be done via a short survey on phones or tablets. More broadly, we need to shift how we think about emotional wellbeing in schools. Mental health is not static; it changes over time. Our methods for assessing it should reflect that.
