A systematic review of school-based mental health and wellbeing interventions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australia (2015–2024)

Abstract

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people’s wellbeing is grounded in culture, identity, and connection to community and Country. Schools offer unique opportunities to support wellbeing through culturally safe environments, trusted relationships, and community partnerships. Despite a range of school-based wellbeing programs, there has been a lack of comprehensive reporting and synthesis of existing programs. This review synthesised peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify Australian school-based wellbeing programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and examined design, delivery, and reported outcomes. Database searches identified 1,853 records; 71 studies met inclusion criteria. Primary school programs emphasised culture through play-based and physical activities. Secondary programs targeted mental health, academic engagement, and leadership. Remote programs centred on culture and language; urban programs addressed broader wellbeing domains. Cultural grounding, relationships, community participation, and holistic design were the key features most commonly reported across programs associated with positive outcomes. Most evaluations reported favourable findings; however, confidence in these findings is limited by heterogeneous evaluation designs, an absence of comparison groups, reliance on self-reported and practice-based assessment, inconsistent outcome measurement, and limited longitudinal follow-up. No formal quality appraisal was undertaken, and this review therefore describes features of promising programs rather than establishing intervention effectiveness.