The development and evaluation of a mental health promotion programme for post-primary schools in Ireland.

Introduction  This chapter describes the development, implementation and evaluation of Mind Out  a curriculum-based module promoting positive mental health amongst 15-18 years olds in the Irish school setting. The health promoting school framework includes the curriculum as one of its three major components (WHO, 1997). Traditional topic-based approaches to health education have, however, been found to be of limited value (Mentality 2001; Lister-Sharp et al., 1999). Instead, multi-component programmes that target multiple health outcomes in the context of a co-ordinated whole-school approach have been found to be the most consistently effective (Patton et al., 2002; Greenberg et al., 2001a). According to this framework, preventive interventions are directed at risk and protective factors rather than at specific problem behaviours, and the focus is on the promotion of resourcefulness and generic coping skills. Such an approach calls for comprehensive classroom-based health education programmes, developing broad-based skills and social competencies that address the predictors of multiple health behaviours in young people. Within this context there is an opportunity to apply generic personal and social skills to defined topics. One such area is mental health.