How do schools prevent emerging issues with body image?

这个博士项目将探索从小学到中学的过渡，作为可能影响身体形象的关键生活经历，以及调查在这个生命阶段进行早期干预的机会。学校在年轻人的生活中扮演着重要的角色。大多数年轻人的大部分时间都是在学校度过的，而且在几年的时间里都是在相同的环境中学习。最近的政策建议主张加强学校在提供心理健康服务方面的作用。这导致了一种新的方法，实施了以学校为基础的心理健康支持小组(MHST)。消极的自我认知和自我形象是许多心理健康困难的普遍和令人苦恼的部分。自我形象的一个特定方面与心理健康有着既定的联系，那就是身体不满意(Dallas等人，2017年)。身体不满侵蚀年轻人的心理健康，抑郁和焦虑症状水平上升(Sharpe等人，2018年；Neves等人，2017年)。重要的是确定可能影响身体形象的风险因素，以及建立干预机会。对身体形象的成功干预将有助于及早改善痛苦的体验，并有可能预防未来的精神健康问题。该项目是苏塞克斯大学(UoS)和苏塞克斯伙伴关系基金会信托基金(SPFT)，特别是西苏塞克斯学校精神健康支持团队(MHST)研究诊所的合作项目。

This PhD project will explore the transition from primary to secondary school as a key life experience that may influence body image, as well as investigating opportunities for early intervention at this life stage.Schools play an important role in the lives of young people. Most young people spend much of their time at school and attend the same setting over several years. Recent policy proposals have advocated increasing the role of schools in the provision of mental health services. This has resulted in a novel approach with the implementation of school-based mental health support teams (MHSTs). Negative self-perceptions and self-image are a pervasive and distressing part of many mental health difficulties. A particular aspect of self-image that has an established link with mental health is body dissatisfaction (Dallas et al 2017). Body dissatisfaction encroaches on young people's mental health with elevated levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms (Sharpe et al 2018; Neves et al 2017). It is important to identify risk factors that that may influence body image, as well as establishing opportunities for intervention. Successful intervention of body image would allow for early improvement of a distressing experience, with the potential for prevention of future mental health problems.This project is a collaboration between the University of Sussex (UoS) and the Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT), specifically the West Sussex School Based Mental Health Support Team (MHST) Research Clinic.