Promoting mental health with programs for social and emotional learning: children’s experiences according to a qualitative evidence synthesis

Mental health is a challenge for many children globally. Universal programs for social and emotional learning (SEL) have convincing evidence for improving mental well-being and academic achievement. In a recent qualitative evidence synthesis, teachers showed appreciation of these programs. This study explores the children’s experiences through a qualitative synthesis consisting of five studies. Riks for bias and confidence in the findings were assessed. The results showed that children experienced that SEL programs improved their self-esteem and self-confidence, fostered their close relationships and enhanced their socialisation and conflict management skills, which in turn improved the school environment. Although most participants had positive experiences of the SEL-programs, some of the participants perceived the programs as rigid, boring and repetitive. It is thus important to involve the students, making them co-creators when implementing a SEL-program, to minimize risks of negative experiences. In all, there are scientific evidence from both quantitative and qualitative research supporting the dissemination of universal school-based SEL interventions.