Carla L.

Dacuba April 27, 2019

2008-42516 EDH 201

The Effects of Peer Counselling on the Mental Health of Fifth Grade Students

Compared to other developing countries, there has been very little research on child mental health in the

Philippines. There are few existing reports shown in case studies, literature reviews, intervention research,

and surveys and studies on Filipino immigrants in other countries. Based on the data presented by the

World Health Organization (WHO) Seven Nation Collaborative Study (2007), the Philippine study

showed that 16% of children had mental disorders. Although the Philippines has a national health policy,

Filipinos are not able to make use or take advantage of existing mental health services. In this state, the

onset of mental illness in childhood and adolescents can be missed without appropriate screening and

services. This data clearly indicates a need for broad planning that supports innovative program aimed at

the prevention of mental illness or the promotion of mental health of Filipino children and youth.

Furthermore, this suggests the need for more, and perhaps different, pools of manpower trained for new

roles in relation to both treatment and prevention.

In most Philippine schools, especially in the public schools, having inadequate school personnel has been

a usual scenario. Most schools lack guidance counsellors, who are some of the most significant persons in

the school when it comes to supporting the mental health of the children. In order to address this

consequence, a pool of carefully selected students can be deployed and trained as peer counsellors.

Although the idea of having students counseling other students can create some understandable hesitation,

according to nearly every piece of research, the key is to use peer-counseling in the appropriate situations,

under the guidance and tutelage of an adult trained to handle the more serious issues.
In this study, the effects of peer counselling to the mental health of students will be explored.

Furthermore, the following research questions will be answered:

 What are the different roles of a grade school peer counsellor?

 What are the effects of peer counselling to the general mental health status of fifth grade

students?

 How can peer counselling and other related mental health programs be strengthened and

developed in order to promote mental health and prevent mental illnesses in the grade school

level?