Clinical trial NCT06047041: Implementation Supports for Improving Identification and Delivery of School-based Mental Health Supports for Middle Schools Students
Official title: Evidence-Informed Mental Health Prevention, Assessment, Collaboration, and Treatment in Middle Schools
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Mental Health Issue
Keywords: Schools
Adolescent Health
Lead sponsor: University of Virginia
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of South Carolina
name: University of Missouri-Columbia
First posted: 2023-09-21
Enrollment: 21350
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 10
Maximum age (years): 99
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: School-level randomization to treatment arm.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This study will assess how different types of training and support influence the way that school staff understand, and respond to, the mental and behavioral health needs of middle school students. Researchers will work with middle schools using a developed screening system (called the Early Identification System; EIS) and compare how staff and student outcomes change when schools receive two different types of training and support: 1) standard onboarding/training versus 2) participating in professional learning communities and coaching.

Detailed description: The "Evidence-Informed Mental health Prevention, Assessment, Collaboration, \& Treatment in Middle Schools" (E-IMPACTS) project will evaluate how different implementation supports promote the ability of school staff to identify, and support, the mental and behavioral health needs of middle school students.

The project will involve researchers from the University of Virginia, University of Missouri, and University of South Carolina and middle schools (i.e., grades 6-8) that have elected to use a brief, universal tool, called the Early Identification System (EIS). The EIS assesses mental and behavioral health of students and connects these data to intervention recommendations. The EIS is a fully developed and validated tool that was developed to help school staff to identify, and address, the mental or behavioral health needs in their school building. The EIS system was developed as a low/no cost system to 1) be administered fully online and 2) present school staff with actionable next steps for supporting youth mental health needs.

Using a school-level randomized controlled trial (RCT) design, this project will test if/how two different types of implementation support changes 1) the way school staff use EIS recommended practices and 2) student outcomes. Half of schools in the RCT will receive standard implementation supports for using EIS. This treatment condition, called "EIS only", involves the existing technical assistance and on-boarding provided to any school already choosing to use EIS. Schools in the other treatment condition, called EIS+ECHO, will receive additional professional development and implementation support. This will involve participating in 1) online professional learning communities following the "Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes" (ECHO) model and 2) follow-up coaching. The E-IMPACTS ECHO model (a) connects student support teams (e.g., interdisciplinary groups of school staff) across schools with each other and with content experts (e.g., university faculty specializing in school mental health) to collaboratively problem solve challenges they may be experiencing related to supporting student mental and behavioral health needs, and (b) provides schools with follow-up supports to facilitate the implementation of strategies discussed in ECHO sessions.

The purpose of the RCT is to determine the "value-added" of the EIS + ECHO, compared to the EIS alone (EIS Only) in Virginia, Missouri, and South Carolina middle schools located in rural areas or small suburbs/cities (i.e., an active comparison condition). Researchers hypothesize that, relative to EIS Only, the EIS + ECHO condition will be associated with greater improvements in: (a) student emotional/behavioral and academic outcomes, (b) staff knowledge, self-efficacy, and practice outcomes, and (c) school-level implementation outcomes.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Public middle schools (must include grades 6-8) planning to implement the EIS
* Located in rural areas, towns, \& suburbs / cities (NCES locales)
* All children attending the schools and staff employed by the schools are eligible for inclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

* Previous use of EIS (i.e., use of all screening data and intervention hub)
* \<70% response rate on pre-intervention implementation of EIS

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in youth mental health measured by the Early identification System
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 9 months)
measure: Change in staff knowledge of evidence-based school mental health practices as measured by the Perceptions of Response To Intervention Skills Survey
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 9 months)
measure: Change in staff behaviors of evidence-based school mental health practices as measured by the Perceptions of Practices Survey
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 9 months)
measure: Change in staff burnout as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 9 months)
measure: Change in schoolwide school mental health implementation outcomes as measured by the School-wide Evaluation Tool
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 9 months)
measure: Change in schoolwide school mental health implementation outcomes as measured by the Individual School-wide Evaluation Tool
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 9 months)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Number of students with disciplinary referrals
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 12 months)
measure: Student grades
timeFrame: 2 time points (over 12 months)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Columbia
country: United States
facility: University of Missouri
state: Missouri
city: Columbia
country: United States
facility: University of South Carolina
state: South Carolina
city: Charlottesville
country: United States
facility: University of Virginia
state: Virginia
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Virginia
name: Michael D Lyons, Ph.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: