A new study is calling on schools to move away from one-off mental health screenings, warning that single assessments may give an incomplete – and sometimes misleading – picture of how students are actually doing.
The research, led by Shane Rogers, a senior lecturer in psychology at Edith Cowan University, tracked the emotional experiences of 767 students aged 11–15 from schools in Australia and the United Kingdom over six to seven weeks.
Students completed brief check-ins, taking roughly one to two minutes each, in which they rated emotional states such as happiness, calmness, worry, and sadness. They also reported on day-to-day factors, including sleep, concentration, exercise, and the quality of their relationships.
The findings challenge a core assumption behind how most schools currently screen for mental health concerns. Screening is typically conducted at a single point in time, but the study found that 17% of students moved above and below the low-wellbeing threshold during the monitoring period. This suggests a one-off check could capture a student on an unusually good or bad day and produce an inaccurate result.
When researchers examined students who were consistently below the wellbeing threshold across the full monitoring period, that figure dropped to around 5%, compared with the 12% flagged under a single-point assessment. The study notes this gap has practical consequences for schools already stretched for resources.
More than half of the students surveyed said the regular check-ins helped them better understand how they were feeling, suggesting the process may also support emotional awareness, not just data collection.
The research comes against a backdrop of growing concern about youth mental health. In Australia, half of all adult mental health conditions emerge before the age of 14, and more than 50% of children experiencing these conditions are estimated to be without professional help.
Rogers noted that conducting these check-ins does not have to be costly or labour-intensive and can be carried out through short surveys on phones or tablets.
“Mental health is not static,” the study concluded. “It changes over time. Our methods for assessing it should reflect that.”
The authors say their findings point to a need for a broader shift in how emotional wellbeing is understood and monitored in school settings.