A qualitative study of school professionals’ perspectives about whole-school universal wellbeing screening

Mental health (MH) and well-being in schools remain a contemporary international concern. The Multi-Tiered System of Supports model (MTSS) is a leading model of school-based MH and well-being interventions, which is based on universal screening power for early identification of MH needs and well-being promotion. However few applications of this framework are known in Portuguese schools using universal screening, focused on MH and wellbeing data collection, from pupils to headteachers. The following study aimed to understand the perspective of key school agents (e.g., teaching staff, managers, support service staff) from a secondary state school about the usefulness and acceptability of universal school-based MH screening for pupils and school professionals. Nine individual interviews were conducted with staff members from a secondary school in Portugal (headteacher, school psychologist, year tutor teachers, teachers from different disciplines, and non-teaching staff). This poster will present the initial results of a thematic analysis of these individual interviews which contribute to answering the following specific research questions: 1) How is screening all school staff for mental health and wellbeing perceived by participants? 2) Is it perceived as useful and acceptable? 3) What possible facilitators and barriers are pointed out to implement universal school-based screening for mental health and wellbeing in the participants’ school?.