The Preschool as a Health-Promoting Arena - A Co-Created Approach to Strenghtening Children's Mental Well-Being
The project develops and evaluates a co-created health-promoting approach in preschools to strengthen children’s mental well-being by enhancing engagement, improving the pedagogical atmosphere, and building preschool capacity for collegial learning and collaboration with external actors.
Start
2026-01-01
Planned completion
2029-12-31
Main financing
Co-financing
Project manager at MDU
An increasing number of children in Sweden show signs of mental health problems, and inequalities in health are growing. Preschools, which reach almost all children early in life, have a unique opportunity to promote mental well-being. However, long-term and systematic health-promoting approaches are often lacking, and current efforts tend to be reactive rather than preventive.
This project develops and tests a new approach in which researchers, preschool staff, principals, and external partners such as child health care and social services co-create health-promoting practices. The focus is on children’s engagement in play and learning as a clear and observable indicator of mental health. When children are engaged—actively participating, showing curiosity, and finding meaning in their daily activities—their well-being and social development are strengthened.
The project involves several preschools and combines observations of children’s engagement and the pedagogical atmosphere with surveys and interviews. A series of co-creation workshops will also lead to the development of a self-reflection tool that supports professional learning and strengthens preschools’ capacity for sustainable health promotion.
The overall goal is to reinforce the preschool’s role as a health-promoting arena by enhancing collaboration, collegial learning, and a shared understanding of how children’s mental well-being can be supported in everyday life. In the long term, the project aims to ensure that all children, regardless of background, are given better opportunities for mental health and well-being.
Project objective
The project aims to promote children’s mental well-being by developing, testing, and evaluating a health-promoting approach in preschools through a co-creation process. The process also seeks to strengthen the preschool’s capacity as a health-promoting arena through enhanced collaboration and collegial learning.
