From leadership research to district action: School mental health promotion in Indonesia: a quantitative survey from Surabaya

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. Proposed district actions are separate from the original authors’ findings and recommendations. Independent peer review of this guide is not asserted.

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Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: research-article. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

Introduction Most young people live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), yet little is known about the implementation of school mental health promotion strategies in resource-poor settings. This study describes the extent of school mental health promotion and its drivers in junior high schools in Surabaya, Indonesia. Methods Data were obtained from a sample of 161 schools (63 public schools (100% participation), 74 private schools (28.79% participation), and 24 madrasas (42.85% participation)) using an online survey supported by the Department of Education. Descriptive statistics (ANOVA and Chi-square tests) were used to analyse data. Results Most programs addressed mental health as part of comprehensive school health strategies derived from national and local policies. Implementation was reported through five key programs: 1) health-promoting school strategies through the school health unit, 2) safe and healthy school environments through child-friendly schools, 3) support through peer counsellors, 4) mental health as an extra-curricular health education module, and 5) mental health risk assessments to inform school interventions. Public schools reported the highest success in implementing these programs. Madrasas scored lower across all programs. Discussion While school mental health promotion is acknowledged through national policies, its implementation in Indonesia appears to be challenging. The development of national standards, investment in school leadership, and support for broader collaboration, especially among ministries of education, religion, and health, could enhance the implementation of school mental health promotion in Indonesia.

Study methods

The city of Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province, spans inner urban and suburban areas with families of varying socio-economic backgrounds. Surabaya has 378 Junior high schools (Sekolah Menengah Pertama, SMP) that provide education to 118,849 students aged 11–16 years old (Badan Pusat Statistik Provinsi Jawa Timur, 2018). Junior high schools can be categorised into public and private, as well as Islamic religious schools, known as Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs). In total, 107,346 students are listed as studying in junior high schools under the national authority of the Ministry of Education (MoE) and managed through the Department of Education (DoE) at the Municipality of Surabaya. At the same time, 11,503 students are reported to be studying in MTs under the national-level administration of the Ministry of Religion (MoR) and through municipality-level management by the Department of Religion (DoR) of Surabaya Municipality.

Limitations

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A 90-day district inquiry

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
Days 16–30 · Design. Choose one school improvement question with teachers. Protect a short shared planning cycle, agree an instructional change and use a common rubric for examining student work. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Review implementation fidelity, teacher time and independently scored student work against a recorded baseline. Examine access differences and competing explanations before attributing changes to leadership. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Margaretha Margaretha; Peter S. Azzopardi; Jane Fisher; Susan M. Sawyer. School mental health promotion in Indonesia: a quantitative survey from Surabaya. Frontiers in Psychology (2026-02-16). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1680302

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.