The role of preschool in promoting mental health: collaboration for attendance and engagement

Research idea and purpose: This planning project aims to build a collaboration network of researchers, preschool staff, municipal and regional officers, and representatives from social services and child healthcare.

The goal is to identify research questions for a future research project focusing on increasing children´s attendance in preschool and promoting engagement in pedagogical interactions.

Through shared frameworks and collaboration, the project seeks to enhance children´s mental health and equitable living conditions.

The project uses co-creative program logic (SAMP), which research shows improves the likelihood of developed practices being utilized effectively.Work plan, methods, and project realization: The project starts with recruiting key participants from the Stockholm and Mälardalen regions. Around 60 people will be invited to two workshops in each region, followed by a joint final conference.

The workshops focus on identifying and analyzing barriers and opportunities for increased attendance and engagement in preschool, with an emphasis on collaboration between different stakeholders.

Researchers will use the SAMP method to facilitate co-creation processes that combine participants´ experiences with theoretical insights. Workshop materials will be collected and analyzed to develop a joint research proposal.

The project will conclude with the production of two podcast episodes about children´s mental health.Societal relevance and utilization: Children´s mental health is a critical societal issue, and early interventions in preschool have the potential to improve children´s life conditions.

The project addresses two key challenges: increasing preschool attendance and strengthening engagement in pedagogical interactions.

By building a collaboration network and combining experiential and evidence-based knowledge, the research aims to contribute to the development of national strategies where preschools are reinforced as health-promoting institutions.

In this way, the project can lead to improved policy decisions and practices that benefit children´s mental health, equality, and long-term societal well-being.