Publications

KidsMatter Primary regularly develops and contributes to a range of publications. We want to promote all the great work schools are doing to support the mental health and wellbeing of their students.
These publications inform the general public and wider research community about the success of KidsMatter, and influence new mental health initiatives and services for children around the world.

KidsMatter Primary evaluation

The KidsMatter Primary pilot was evaluated by Flinders University of South Australia. Their findings show KidsMatter Primary had a positive impact on schools, children, parents and carers.
The Executive Summary [938KB]Executive Summary [KB] [Word] provides an overview of the findings with more information provided in the Full Report [3MB]Full report [KB] [Word].

General publications

• KidsMatter for students with a disability evaluation report KidsMatter for Students with a Disability: Evaluation Report [667KB} [Word] 
  This report has been written and prepared as a complement to the KidsMatter Primary Evaluation Final Report (Slee et al., 2009).

• Promoting mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous children in Australian Primary Schools [2MB] PDF
  Promoting mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous children in Australian Primary Schools [2MB] [Word] 
  A review of the mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australian children and their families, and the associated implications for schools. © Commonwealth of Australia 2011. Online ISBN: 978-1-74241-521-5

• The KidsMatter school psychologists' survey: Report of findings (2011) [744KB]
  The KidsMatter School psychologists' survey - Report of findings [240KB] [Word]
  An outline of findings from a survey of school psychologists for their views on promotion, prevention and early intervention initiatives in primary schools, and KidsMatter Primary.

• Impressive evaluation results lead to significant expansion of KidsMatter (2009) [142KB]
  Impressive evaluation results lead to significant expansion of KidsMatter (2009) [117KB] [Word]
  Background on how the KidsMatter initiative was up-scaled following successful pilot evaluation. © 2009 The Australian Psychological Society Limited. InPsych, 31(6):22-24. Reproduced with permission.

• KidsMatter national expansion: a partnership between education and health (2009) [108KB]
  KidsMatter national expansion: a partnership between education and health (2009) [108KB][Word]
  An overview of attempts to build and strengthen partnerships between the health and education sectors to support further implementation of KidsMatter Primary. © 2009 The Australian Psychological Society Limited. InPsych, 31(3):35. Reproduced with permission.

Peer-reviewed

KidsMatter Primary has published a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals as part of the pilot evaluation.

• KidsMatter: A population health model to support student mental health and wellbeing in primary schools (2008) [109KB]
  KidsMatter: A population health model to support student mental health and wellbeing in primary schools (2008) [78KB] [Word]
  An overview of KidsMatter Primary during the pilot evaluation of the initiative.

• Early challenges in evaluating the KidsMatter national mental health promotion initiative in Australian primary schools (2008) [353KB]
  Early challenges in evaluating KidsMatter national mental health promotion initiative in Australian primary schools (2008) [341KB] [Word] 
  An analysis of the challenges of planning and conducting the evaluation of KidsMatter Primary during the first year of the 2 year pilot.

These articles have been reproduced with the permission of the International Journal of Mental Health Promotion.

• Venturing into schools: Locating mental health initiatives in complex environments (2009) [139KB]
  Venturing into schools: Locating mental health initiatives in complex environments (2009) [212KB] [Word] 
  Investigates the environments of participating KidsMatter Primary schools, with a focus on the schools' achievement in the social and emotional learning of students.

This article has been reproduced with the permission of The International Journal of Emotional Education.

• Implementation Quality of Whole-School Mental Health Promotion and Students' Academic Performance (2011) [444KB]
  Mental Health Promotion and Students' Academic Performance  [253KB] [Word]]
  Argues for giving explicit attention to the quality of implementation of school-wide mental health promotions and examines the impact of implementation quality on academic performance in KidsMatter primary. Dix, K. L., Slee, P. T., Lawson, M. J. and Keeves, J. P. (2011), Implementation Quality of Whole-School Mental Health Promotion and Students' Academic Performance. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 16: no. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-3588.2011.00608.x

Conference papers

• Different measures, different informants, same outcomes? Investigating multiple perspectives of primary school students' mental health (2008) [844KB]
  Different measures, differnt informants, same outcomes?Investigating multiple perspectives of primary school students' mental health [Word] 
  A national snapshot of the mental health status of Australian primary children, and comments on measures used to assess student mental health during the evaluation of KidsMatter Primary.