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A study conducted in London from 2010 to 2011 in a secondary girls-only state school found that the SPARK Resilience Program helped prevent depression and increase self-reported resilience in girls 11-12 years old.
The study led by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) looked at over 400 girls reports on their resilience and depression symptoms throughout the study. The SPARK Resilence Program gave students the tools to identify stressful situations and learn how to control negative behavior reactions.
SPARK, the acronym behind the program stands for how children can break down their responses to stressful situations and be taught by teachers to their students using the five components: Situation, Perception, Autopilot, Reaction, and Knowledge.
School interventions are a perfect setting for health and education to work together, especially for minority populations like Latinas that are dealing with additional stressors like gender role discrepancy and discrimination. In fact, studies show Latina adolescents have the highest rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt compared to their peers.
“Rather than focusing on preventing psychological problems in a few students, this program aims at strengthening the psychological resilience of all children,” Dr. Pluess, first author of the AMUL’s study told Medical Press.
When schools and families work together for the health of the whole child they also empower key stakeholders in the responsibility and purpose of education.
“This research shows that it is possible to promote psychological well-being in middle childhood through an integrated school-based intervention program informed by concepts of positive psychology and cognitive behavioural therapy.” Pluess said.
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Mental HealthBy The Numbers
22
percent
of Latino youth have depressive symptoms, more than any other group besides Native American youth
I know this is a two year old article, but Bias is another reason why some Hispanic people think about or attempt suicide. I’m actually part Filipino, German and English and I ended up looking stereotypically Hispanic and my surname is Spanish due to my Filipino side since the Spanish colonized the Philippines. I’m a woman though and I’ve thought about it for a number of reasons involving my health from a rare disorder that caused learning issues and also I have obvious cancer symptoms Ive tried getting help with. I’ve also been treated poorly and sometimes in very scary situations because of obvious Bias and Prejudice due to my appearance. I’m just saying Bias against people who are Hispanic and “look Hispanic” is a real thing. I apologize if it was in this article but I didn’t notice it, But I do apologize if its in there. I just think it needs to be addressed more. Thank You