Knowledge Access to Action: Care Extender Models to Promote Youth Mental Health in Under-Resourced Schools.

Abstract

One school psychologist is recommended for every 500 students; in practice there is ~one school psychologist for every 1,500-2,000 students. Care extenders can help decrease the number of students needing one-on-one support by implementing universal mental health prevention and promotion practices. Their impact and success relies on empirically informed models for workforce support. The present study extends partnership with City Year Miami, an education non-profit that supports students in low-performing public schools to stay on-track and on-time to graduation. We delivered four weekly 1-hour sessions of Cognitive Triangle training (i.e., brief training applying the Triangle to promote staff and youth emotional well-being) to their AmeriCorps Members (ACMs, n = 19) and collected three sources of data: (1) pre-training quantitative survey data (n = 14 to inform qualitative inquiry), (2) training-generated data (e.g., attendance, text nudge replies), and (3) post-training semi-structured interviews with ACMs (n = 13, ~60 min). We used theoretical thematic analysis to explore, "What will it take to infuse mental health knowledge into routine practice?" informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research emphasis on provider characteristics and perceptions of mental health knowledge. Results illustrate the interplay between innovation and individual characteristics for infusing knowledge into student support routines. Discussion points to findings advancing the science of transportability and workforce support.