The Provision of Psychosocial Support to Students in Jordan: Teachers' Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills, Practices, and Perceived Barriers

Sara Abu Khudair; Yousef Khader; Mohannad Al Nsour; Eizaburo Tanaka

doi:10.1111/josh.13459

The Provision of Psychosocial Support to Students in Jordan: Teachers' Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills, Practices, and Perceived Barriers

J Sch Health. 2024 May 6. doi: 10.1111/josh.13459. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sara Abu Khudair¹, Yousef Khader², Mohannad Al Nsour³, Eizaburo Tanaka⁴

Affiliations

¹ Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET), Amman 11196, Jordan, and Health Sciences Unit, Tampere University, 33100, Tampere, Finland.
² Department of Community Medicine, Public Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, 22110, Jordan.
³ Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET), Amman, 11196, Jordan.
⁴ Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba Meguro Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo, Japan.

PMID: 38711339
DOI: 10.1111/josh.13459

Abstract

Background: Psychosocial support provision in schools is a promising strategy for overcoming barriers to accessing mental health care. This study aimed to assess teachers' knowledge, attitudes, practices, skills, and perceived barriers in providing psychosocial support to students in Jordan.

Methods: The sample included teachers working in public schools, private schools, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools, and Zaatari camp schools, as well as non-formal education centers. The study utilized a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling technique to select a nationally representative sample.

Results: A total of 549 teachers were included, and only 25.2% have ever received mental health training. Most teachers reported a high level of good and acceptable knowledge of psychosocial support and had a positive attitude toward the provision of psychosocial support, however, about a quarter (25.5%) agreed on feeling nervous in discussing students' psychosocial problems with their parents or school administrators. The least enacted practice was the systematic engagement with parents, school administration, and other community resources in students' well-being (sometimes, 31.6%; rarely, 20.4%). Gaps in skills were mainly in communicating with external resources and parents. The main barriers included parents' misunderstanding of teachers' role in providing psychosocial support to students (56.8%), lack of integration of psychosocial support in the curriculum (55.6%), and challenges in identifying students with psychosocial problems due to large class sizes (54.3%).

Conclusion: The results show that gaps extend beyond the individual level of teachers to the community level. School-based psychosocial support interventions must consider the multiple factors that influence their implementation at multiple levels, including the individual, relational, community, and societal levels.

Keywords: mental health; psychosocial; schools; teacher interventions.