Connections between education and health No. 4: School-based drug and violence prevention and mental health promotion
August 2, 2018
As thousands of Ohioans struggle to recover from opiate addiction, policymakers are increasingly aware of the importance of stopping addiction before it starts. Many school-based drug prevention approaches also improve other outcomes of interest to policymakers and educators such as:
- Increased on-task behavior, school engagement and high school graduation
- Decreased school behavior problems and disciplinary incidents
- Decreased depression, anxiety and suicide
- Decreased school violence and bullying
This fourth and final policy brief in HPIO’s Connections Between Education and Health series focuses on policies and programs that support foundational protective factors for children, such as health literacy, impulse control, communication skills, school engagement and opportunities for positive social involvement including:
- Prevention education
- Social-emotional learning and positive behavior programs
- School climate improvement initiatives
The brief describes the extent to which Ohio is implementing these approaches and presents policy options to improve education and health outcomes through school-based prevention.
Additional resources
- HPIO fact sheets describing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and suspensions and expulsions among young children
- Policy brief No. 1 explains the relationship between education and health and describes factors impacting this relationship (Released: January 2017)
- Policy brief No. 2: Health Services in School describes how Ohio schools are providing health services to students (Released: July 2017)
- Policy brief No.3: The importance of early learning describes early learning policies and programs including early childhood education, home visiting and social-emotional development (Released: October 2017)
- “Intersections between education and health” is an extensive online resource page
- Summary of school health service requirements under Ohio law
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