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A package of interventions to reduce school dropout in public schools in a developing country

A feasibility study

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Abstract

Objective

School dropout rates are staggeringly high in developing countries, even for elementary school children. This study aims to assess the feasibility and initial efficacy of a package of interventions tailored to reduce school dropout in public schools in an urban city in Brazil.

Method

Two public schools with similar high rates of dropout in elementary grades were selected. In one of them, a package of universal preventive interventions was implemented during a school year, including two workshops with teachers, five informative letters to parents, three meetings with parents at school, a telephone helpline at school, and a 1-day cognitive intervention. For children who stayed ten consecutive days out of school without reason, mental health assessment and referral to mental health services in the community were offered. In the second school, no intervention was implemented.

Results

After this 1-year intervention, there were significant differences between the two schools in rates of both dropout (P < 0.001) and absenteeism in the last trimester (P < 0.05; effect size = 0.64). In the intervention school, 18 (45%) youths returned to school after intervention among the 40 at-risk students. Moderate engagement of school staff was the main logistic problem.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that programs combining universal primary preventive strategies and interventions focused on at-risk students can be implemented and useful in developing countries to reduce school dropout.

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Acknowledgements

To Liliane Diefenthaeler Herter, Maria Helena Ferreira, and Paulo Roberto Falcão for their participation in the meetings with the parents. To the staff from the State Department of Education and the state school Nações Unidas, especially Leila Schaan Salis, Rosane Dorneles, and Iara Maria dos Santos Teixeira for their continuous support. To Junior Achievement—Brazil for allowing us to use their manuals. To Goldzstein S.A. for their support to our conducting activities with parents in the school.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2350, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 90035-003

    Ana Soledade Graeff-Martins MD, Sylvia Oswald PhD, Júlia Obst Comassetto CSW, Christian Kieling BA, Renata Rocha Gonçalves BA &  Luis Augusto Rohde MD, DSC ( The Taskforce on prevention of the presidential WPA program on Global Child Mental Health*)

  2. Serviço de Psiquiatria da Infância e Adolescência, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Rua Ramiro Barcelos, 2350, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 90035-003

    Luis Augusto Rohde MD, DSC ( The Taskforce on prevention of the presidential WPA program on Global Child Mental Health*)

Authors
  1. Ana Soledade Graeff-Martins MD
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  2. Sylvia Oswald PhD
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  3. Júlia Obst Comassetto CSW
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  4. Christian Kieling BA
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  5. Renata Rocha Gonçalves BA
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  6. Luis Augusto Rohde MD, DSC
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Additional information

*Other members of the Taskforce are: Profs. E. Caffo (Italy), Prof. T. Dmitrieva (Russia), Prof. M. Flament (Canada), Prof. B. Nurcombe (Australia), Prof. H. Remschmidt (Germany), Prof. P.A. Rydelius (Sweeden), and Prof. A. Seif El-Din (Egypt).

This initiative was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation and the generous support of institutions and individuals participating in the program.

This paper is a product of the World Psychiatric Association’s Presidential Program on Global Child Mental Health and Development carried out in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and allied professions. The program is organized and managed by its Steering Committee chaired by Professor Ahmed Okasha and co-chaired by Professor Norman Sartorius. Its members are Professor Helmut Remschmidt (Scientific Director and Chairperson of the Primary Prevention Task Force), Professor Sam Tyano (Vice Director and Chairperson of the Awareness Task Force), Professor Peter Jensen (Chairman of the Service Development Task Force), Professor Tarek Okasha (Secretary of the Steering Committee), Professor Barry Nurcombe, Professor Myron Belfer and Dr. John Heiligenstein.

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Graeff-Martins, A.S., Oswald, S., Obst Comassetto, J. et al. A package of interventions to reduce school dropout in public schools in a developing country. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 15, 442–449 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-006-0555-2

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