The impact of Bounce Back on resilience, connectedness and wellbeing on children and teachers in Perth

1
The impact of Bounce Back on resilience,
connectedness and wellbeing on children and
teachers in Perth Kinross Sarah Axford, Kirsty
Blyth Perth and Kinross Educational Psychology
Service
2
Protective processes and resources that promote
resilience and wellbeing

• Environments
• School connectedness
• Peer connectedness
• Teacher connectedness
• Positive family-school links
• Family connectedness
• Caring adult outside family
• Community connectedness
• Religious involvement

• Personal skills and attitudes
• Helpful and positive thinking skills
• Resourcefulness and adaptivity
• Social skills
• Emotional literacy skills
• Sense of personal competence

3
Bounce Back Aims

• To assist in creating positive, pro-social and
  resilient classrooms and schools
• To provide resources to enable staff to help
  their pupils develop the skills of resilient
  behaviour

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Bounce Back and Curriculum for Excellence

• Resilience is key for becoming a successful
  learner, confident individual, responsible
  citizen and effective contributor.
• Helps schools create learning environments where
  children are nurtured, safe, respected, achieving
  and included and helps staff build positive
  supportive relationships with children
• Uses varied, active, cross-curricular,
  cooperative approaches
• Directly links to many HWB experiences and
  outcomes , especially those relating to mental,
  emotional and social wellbeing

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Bounce Back-Applying positive psychology in
education through 10 curriculum units

• 1. Core values
• honesty, fair, responsible
• Caring, kindness
• Acceptance of difference
• Respect
• Friendliness
• cooperation
• 2. Elasticity
• 3. People bouncing back
• BB acronym
• 4. Looking on Bright Side
• Optimistic thinking
• Positive tracking
• 5. Courage
• Everyday courage
• Appropriate risk taking
• 6 Relationships
• Making keeping friends
• Conflict resolution

• 7. Emotions
• Positive emotions (broaden build)
• Managing negative emotions
• empathy
• 8. Success
• Knowing strengths/limitations
• Goal setting, persevering, organising their work
• Meaning purpose
• 9. Anti-bullying
• Bystander support
• Peer pressure
• Assertive responding
• 10. Humour
• seeing the funny side
• shared laughter

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Evidence-base for School Wellbeing Initiatives

• Are preventative (whole school)
• Start early (early primary years)
• Combine 2 general strategies
• Focus on whole school climate change and
  respectful supportive relationships
• Teach social-emotional skills coping skills
• Coordinated multi-year (long term) programs
  rather than short term
• Delivered by teachers/embedded in curriculum
• Revisit key concepts, values skills every year
  in age appropriate ways
• Evidence-based psychological principles
  (CBT/positive psychology)
• Evidence-based teaching strategies

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Bounce Back in Perth and Kinross

• Jan 2008. Perth and Kinross Council agreed
  support for introduction and evaluation of Bounce
  Back
• Sept 2008. Offer made to schools to sign up for
  research project. 17 schools opted to take part
• Sept 2008- June 2010. EPS carried out research
  into impact of Bounce Back
• Sept 2008- August 2010. Staff of 50 primary
  schools provided with half day introductory
  training in Bounce Back by EPS
• June 2010. Visit of BB author Toni Noble to Perth
  and Kinross
• June 2010. Perth and Kinross EPS co-present with
  Toni Noble at European Conference of Positive
  Psychology in Copenhagen

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Research Questions

• Whether Bounce Back had an impact on the sense
  of connectedness of pupils
• Whether Bounce Back had an impact on resilience
  of pupils
• Whether Bounce Back had an impact on the
  resilience and wellbeing of staff using the
  programme
• Which factors influenced the successful
  implementation of Bounce Back as a whole school
  programme

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Data Collection

• Child Data
• Connectedness Questionnaire
• Resilience Questionnaire
• Focus Groups
• Qualitative data from staff and children
• Teaching Staff Data
• Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale
• Resilience profile
• Structured Interviews
• Ongoing research journal ( links with schools)

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Connectedness results

• Graph 1 Percentage of pupil responses pre and
  post evaluation for the statement Students in
  this class are kind towards each other

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Connectedness

• Graph 2 Percentage of pupil responses pre and
  post evaluation for the statement No one feels
  left out and lonely in this class

12
Connectedness

• Graph 3 Percentage of pupil responses pre and
  post evaluation for the statement This is a safe
  class to be in because no-one tries to hurt you
  or your feelings

13
Connectedness

• Graph 4 Percentage of pupil responses pre and
  post evaluation for the statement I feel like I
  belong and am accepted in this class

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Peer relationships connectedness (contd)

• Its made it a better school because everyone is
  being kinder
• We are a Bounce Back school and its made us a
  happier school
• Makes the school a better place to teach get
  teached
• It helps me build and keep my friendships
• The class as a whole is more of a team
• Pupils are more appreciative of the times when
  someone else helps them
• Helps us to solve problems together

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Resilience

• Graph 5 Percentage of pupil responses pre and
  post evaluation for statement Feelings just
  happen to you and theres nothing you can do
  about them

16
Resilience

• Graph 6a Percentage of negative coping skills
  responses reported by Primary 5 pupils pre and
  post evaluation

17
Resilience

• Graph 6b Percentage of positive coping skills
  responses reported by Primary 5 pupils pre and
  post evaluation

18
Resilience

• Bounce Back changes the way you act
• You can use the skills you learn anywhere
• Pupils have a greater range of ways of moving on
  from problems
• Now they can be more self reliant
• Rather than asking a teacher for help we have
  the skills to solve the problem ourselves
• Children are showing that they can sort
  playground upsets for themselves
• When children fall out they are trying to notice
  the positive things because they realise the
  negative things are less helpful
• it helps us think well
• Bounce back helps you feel better when you are
  down

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Staff wellbeing and resilience

• Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS)
• Mean score in Sept 2008 49.76
• Mean score in May 2009 53.16
• I am more aware of my own thinking, I try to
  find positives
• Lots of optimistic thinking in the staff room
• I use the acronym when I have worries too

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Factors influencing the successful implementation
of Bounce Back

• Whole school initiative using Bounce Back
  language across school
• Time for planning, organisation and ongoing
  discussion and support
• Bank of resources especially literature
• Leadership
• Key co-ordinator
• Flexible use of resources
• Revisiting and re-evaluating progress
• Commitment to values underpinning the programme
• Stable and mutually supportive staff
• Timing and goodness of fit with other initiatives
• Linking with home?
• Support from Perth and Kinross council