Understanding and promoting wellbeing within Secondary Schools in Wales The realist evaluation of PauseUP

Johns, Simon 2024. Understanding and promoting wellbeing within Secondary Schools in Wales The realist evaluation of PauseUP. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis examines PauseUP, a bilingual, digital wellbeing programme designed for secondary schools in Wales. Aiming to improve the emotional and psychological health and wellbeing of adolescents in school settings, PauseUP was piloted and assessed during the pandemic through a realist evaluation approach grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory. This theory contextualizes the school environment as a complex microsystem with many factors impacting student development. The evaluation began with a pilot study, which involved 575 students aged 11-15 across four schools, employing a mixture of methods including staff interviews, student surveys, and wellbeing scales. The subsequent main study then focused on a slightly younger cohort of students (ages 11-14, n=376), across four schools, expanding the qualitative data with additional interviews, student focus groups (n=4), and observational site visits, alongside continued use of student surveys and wellbeing scales to obtain an oversight of quantitative trends in engagement with the programme and to explore wellbeing changes. Findings suggest PauseUP's potential in promoting emotional wellbeing among younger adolescents (11–13 years) in supportive contexts, highlighting the necessity for the programme's adaptability to the dynamics of the developing adolescent and the individual school and classroom settings. Key factors influencing the success of PauseUP include a supportive school environment, engaged leadership, and proactive teacher involvement, which it is argued are all needed for the integration of new wellbeing programmes, especially in contexts of significant social disruption like the pandemic. This research contributes to the academic discourse on student wellbeing by offering theoretical insights and exploring practices and conditions that may facilitate the implementation of school-based wellbeing initiatives. The findings have implications for curriculum development, and the design of future programmes aimed at supporting the holistic development of young learners in secondary schools.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 November 2024
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2024 15:23
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/173569

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