Positive Psychology and Child Mental Health; a Premature Application in School-Based Psychological Intervention?

School-based (SB) interventions currently utilise predominantly Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques. Despite their efficacy, there is an argument to propose the application of Positive Psychology (PP) to address their shortcomings. This paper reviews the efficacy of SB PP interventions by evaluating articles revealing outcomes for well-being. Articles are synthesised according to intervention purpose. The results are varied revealing PP to be effective in improving positive traits and well-being, but a scarcity of data does not support the reliability of these findings for the purpose of introducing large-scale PP SB intervention programmes. Conclusions are made regarding recommendations for future research. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.