Our Evidence Base

The Marshman Foundation is an independent research, development and evaluation not for profit organisation specialising in personal leadership programs, the cornerstone of mental health and wellbeing.

We have a 25-year history of demonstrating significant wellbeing outcomes using internationally recognised, valid and reliable pre- and post-test measures demonstrating up to 50% reductions in psychological distress in young people. Core measures of the student program are Kessler Psychological Distress scale and the PERMA based, EPOCH scale of adolescent wellbeing.

The program concepts are rooted in a range of psychological underpinnings including motivation theory, positive psychology, social learning theory and cognitive behaviour approaches. The program is listed in the BeYou initiative for effective mental health and wellbeing programs after rigorous examination of the evidence-base by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the University of Melbourne with strong ratings:

The original content is aimed at middle to upper secondary school students and program content remains faithful to the evidence base when contextualised to other audiences, for example young adults with Generation Thrive programs and primary program version for younger children. The outcome measures vary but maintain rigour and integrity. For example, the pre- and post- core measures for adults include the Mental Health Continuum (MHC-SF) and Levenson’s Locus of Control.

The program is uniquely curated to follow a formula that ensures the content is accessible through symbolism and metaphor, translating complex constructs into simple, memorable language. This process of mentally representing objects and experiences through the use of symbols enables an abstract idea to be more readily received and retained. In addition, the program framework groups sets of tools into key themes (using the four Big Decisions) that capitalise on the brain’s use of schema to make sense of the world, effectively chunking information and attracting new information that is consistent with positive habit formation.

The evidence base for the individual tools can be found in the Marshman Foundation Program Overview document and an independent study has been published – An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Personal Leadership Program Designed to Promote Positive Outcomes for Adolescents. Contact the Marshman Foundation for further information or copies of the study.