Mental Health Sensitive School Concept: Focus Group Discussions

Background: The ongoing war has exacerbated mental health challenges among students and educators in Ukraine, placing increased strain on the psychological support system within schools. While school-based psychological services have been integrated into Ukraine’s education system since 1993, they remain underfunded, understaffed, and structurally isolated from broader school policies and external healthcare services. This study explores the development of a Mental Health-Sensitive School Concept (MHSS), which seeks to integrate mental health considerations into educational environments using a systemic and participatory approach.

Objective: This study aims to develop and refine the MHSS framework by gathering stakeholder perspectives through focus group discussions (FGDs). It seeks to identify key principles, challenges, and implementation strategies to enhance mental health support in Ukrainian schools.

Methods: A qualitative research design was employed, using 12 FGDs with 205 participants across five Ukrainian regions. The participant pool included school administrators, teachers, psychologists, social pedagogues, and students. Discussions focused on mental health awareness, intervention feasibility, implementation barriers, and stakeholder roles. Thematic analysis was applied to synthesise key findings.

Two datasets are available for the Open Access:

• The file "Participants FGDs.xlsx" contains demographical information about FGD participants (EN language).
• The file "FGI Report Aug 2022.docx" contains FGDs direct results (UA language).
• The file "Annex 1 Topic Guide.docx"  contains the FGD Topic Guide (EN language).
• The file "Annex 2. FGDs participants distribution.docx" contains a summary table of participants' demographics (EN language).