Mental Health Research in K-12 Schools: Translating a Systems Approach to University-School Partnerships

Researchers from university and community systems often report numerous challenges in gaining access to and partnering with K-12 school systems (Bullough, Draper, Smith, & Birrell, 2004; Owens & Murphy, 2004; Palladino, 2005; Powers, 2007; Rowell, 2005; Thorkildsen & Stein, 1996). K-12 school members have an understandable history of being suspicious of university-generated mental health research (Bullough et al., 2004; Mayers & Schnorr, 2003; Owens & Murphy, 2004; Rowell, 2005). Traditionally, the relationship has been hierarchically structured, with the university researcher in a position of authority as one who holds the power obtained through capital such as grant funding and support, expert knowledge, and needed resources (e.g., mental health services; Crawford, Roberts, & Hickman, 2009; Mayers & Schnorr, 2003; Stinchfield & Zyromski, 2010). In addition, the university-school partnership has been structured according to the interests of the researcher, with the school often serving merely as a provider of research participants (Owens & Murphy, 2004). In the context of this framework, the preferences and goals of the school are not cocreated or incorporated into the research process (Chinman et al., 2005; Miller & Shinn, 2005; Owens & Murphy, 2004). Moreover, researchers oftentimes collect data but fail to provide results of the study or feedback regarding the issues under investigation. This history has resulted in university researchers being viewed as outsiders imposing their research agendas upon the schools. Thus, K-12 school members are often reluctant to grant university researchers access to and partnership with their school systems (Bullough et al., 2004; Powers, 2007; Rowell, 2005, 2006; Thorkildsen & Stein, 1996). Disentangling how to establish and sustain successful, authentic partnerships with K-12 schools is important because these schools can serve as rich contexts for conducting mental health and health-related research (Crawford et al., 2009; Hooper & Newman, 2011; Mayers & Schnorr, 2003; Owens & Murphy, 2004). Reaching out to and connecting with various and diverse school systems to form successful partnerships require thoughtful conceptual models and strategies (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Hudson, Windham, & Hooper, 2005). In this article, we offer suggestions related to this long-reported problem: What models exist to assist university researchers on how to partner with K-12 schools successfully and thoughtfully? We argue that systems theory--both family and ecological--provides a useful and meaningful conceptual model to buttress ethical and culturally tailored methods to successfully partner with the K-12 school community when conducting research in those schools (Hooper, 2009). * Models to Guide University-School Partnerships The organizational system of K-12 schools is similar to that of families. For example, similar to and parallel with family systems, school systems are often organized by a hierarchical structure of interrelated and interdependent subsystems (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1986; Palladino, 2005; Stinchfield & Zyromski, 2010). Szapocznik's Brief Strategic Family Therapy (BSFT; Szapocznik, Hervis, & Schwartz, 2003), an evidence-based counseling model undergirded by family systems theory, was originally developed to address the uniqueness of each family system while targeting common organizational and hierarchical structures to facilitate change in adolescents with a range of behavioral (conduct disorder) and mental health concems (substance use disorders) and their families (Szapocznik & Williams, 2000). BSFT strategies may inform the process through which university researchers and K-12 schools engage and partner, while simultaneously fostering respect for the unique culture of each K-12 school (i.e., culturally tailoring each collaboration and research effort with each K-12 school). Just as BSFT therapists acknowledge and address the influence of a family's prior experiences with and beliefs about therapy (Muir, Schwartz, & Szapocznik, 2004), university researchers should acknowledge the historical relationship between universities and K-12 school systems (Powers, 2007). …