| Title: | Mental Health Education for Left-Behind Children in Rural Yunnan: A Qualitative Investigation of Huaxing Primary School from Teachers’Perspectives |
| Author: | Zhang Naiyuan |
| Advisor: | ดร.จิดาภา ชลธารรัตนพงศ์ – Dr. Jidapa Chollathanrattanapong |
| Degree: | Master of Business Administration |
| Major: | International Business Management |
| Faculty: | บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย (Graduate School) |
| Academic year: | 2569 (2026) |
| Published: | ตีพิมพ์ในวารสาร (Journal Name) International Journal of Sociologies and Anthropologies Science Reviews (IJSASR) Vol. 6 No.3 May-June 2026 pp.151-186 Other database Publication Year: 2569 (2026) View |
Abstract
This qualitative study investigated the dilemmas and influencing factors affecting mental health education for left-behind children in rural China, specifically examining teachers’ perspectives at Huaxing Primary School in Yiliang County, Yunnan Province. Grounded in the Ecological Systems Theory, the research employed a factor analysis framework to systematically identify internal (school-level) and external (social and family-level) constraints that impede effective mental health support implementation. Through reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with eight teachers, this study identified critical implementation barriers across two dimensions. Internal factors include role ambiguity and emotional labor burden, resource scarcity and infrastructure deficiencies, inadequate professional training in mental health competencies, and evaluation systems prioritizing academic achievement over psychological well-being. External factors encompass family dysfunction and guardian limitations, particularly intergenerational care-giving challenges, social support system deficiencies, and economicpolicy pressures driving parental migration.
Findings reveal that teachers observe severe mental health manifestations among left-behind students, including learning anxiety, self-blame cognition, emotional dysregulation, and social withdrawal, yet lack adequate systemic support to address these needs effectively. Teachers extend themselves beyond professional boundaries to provide compensatory emotional care, developing informal adaptive strategies including simplified communication systems, peer support facilitation, and integrated
social-emotional learning. However, these individual efforts prove insufficient without structural reforms.
Keywords: left-behind children, mental health education, internal and external constraints, ecological systems theory, teacher perspectives, Yunnan Province