Digital technologies help to assess the state of emotional well-being of primary school students in the frontline regions
The mental health of children in education is a priority at the level of physical well-being, which is reflected in the National Strategy for Creating a Safe and Healthy Educational Environment in the New Ukrainian School. At the same time, the war and the global COVID-19 pandemic, which preceded the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, are among the main factors affecting the state of mental health, and this places it in the list of the greatest global challenges for the next 20 years.
Experts of the project “Digital tools for overcoming learning disabilities, social and emotional development and assessing the state of mental health of the most vulnerable 35,000 children” presented for the first time the technology of digital screening of emotional well-being of students in grades 1-4 of all 6 frontline regions. In April-June 2024, more than 2,200 students from 165 schools in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and Kherson regions took part in testing the new tool. By the beginning of September, more than 7,600 schoolchildren had already received level psychological assistance.
Specialists of the educational team of the NGO “Ukrainian Smile”, who introduced the technology of digital screening, found out that among students of grades 1-4 the behavioral factor has the highest number of indicators of stress reaction, and the emotional factor is the next most pronounced.
The Emotional Well-Being Screening is a digital diagnostic tool designed to identify a range of symptoms associated with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in primary school students. The screening questionnaire, called the “Friendship Questionnaire,” is integrated into the eKidz.eu digital tutorial for catching up on knowledge, which helps to assess basic indicators of emotional well-being, such as emotional, behavioral, emotional-evaluative, emotional-cognitive, emotional-behavioral. The results of the survey are stored in the student’s profile in the application and are available only to a small group of specialists involved in the development of the psychological support program and to parents upon request. The system provides for referral and identification of the level of psychological support that the child needs: at the level of a school psychologist or referral to a family doctor or specialist.
In times of war, limited human resources, teacher overload and lack of specialized knowledge and skills to assess the emotional well-being of the child, the availability of available rapid screening tools helps school psychologists determine the level of stressful experiences in students and refer them to specialized care if necessary. Thanks to digital solutions, it is possible to reach a large number of students at the same time and not miss cases that need special attention.
“We see how the use of digital solutions extends the competence of the psychologist in matters of psychological support for students. Assessing the state of emotional well-being with a referral system allows to share the responsibility for the student’s emotional state and to involve specialists, which helps to level the student’s emotional state. This is a child-centered approach where the teacher is the guide, both to knowledge and to the necessary psychological and emotional support. The results of the project can be a starting point for the rapid expansion of digital screening approaches among primary school students,” says Iryna Martynenko, Doctor of Psychology.
The project “Digital tools for overcoming learning disabilities, socio-emotional development and mental health assessment for the most vulnerable 35,000 children” is being implemented to overcome educational losses and support the mental health of primary school children in the frontline rural areas of Ukraine. The project is implemented as a response to the challenge of overcoming the educational backlog of children in rural areas of the frontline regions, is implemented by the CO “100% Life” in partnership with the NGO “Ukrainian Smile” with the support of the Humanitarian Fund for Ukraine. The project contributes to reducing social and educational inequalities among Ukrainian children. Frontline students gained access to digital education, social and emotional development.
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The NGO “Ukrainian Smile” is a non-governmental organization that seeks to support the future of a free Ukraine by providing the next generation with access to education, welfare and health care. The organization is part of the Coalition of Devices, an association of organizations, businesses, governments and philanthropists that will provide devices for online learning to Ukrainian students and teachers who need to conduct the educational process online.
CO “100% Life” is the largest patient organization in Ukraine, working in public health for more than 20 years, implementing national humanitarian aid projects with the support of international donors.
