Abstract

Adolescents face many challenges at home and at school which impact various areas of their lives, including their academics. Schools have worked to ensure better student mental health outcomes by hiring school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers. School wellness centers can be an additional resource that students utilize to address mental health challenges during their school day. The purpose of this study is to understand adolescent perceptions of a school-based wellness center. Perceptions of populations who utilize the wellness center and those who do not utilize the wellness center were studied within one high school to understand how schools can better meet the mental health needs of students. This qualitative study employed the use of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) focus groups. IPA card sorting questions were used during the focus groups to facilitate discussion. Results suggest that students across the four focus groups see benefits of the wellness center, notice barriers to using the wellness center, and have advice for how to improve the wellness center. Within all four focus groups, the following implications were addressed. In terms of benefits, students felt that the wellness center helped individuals feel better and that the center was a safe space. In terms of barriers, students reported that fear of missing class and stigma were obstacles to attending. Finally, in terms of advice, students hoped there would be more awareness of the wellness center and that teachers would make it easier to visit the wellness center.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Counseling Psychology and Special Education

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2024-03-04

Document Type

Dissertation

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd13118

Keywords

adolescents, high school students, mental health, wellness center

Language

english

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