(PS9-34) Bridging the Training Gap: State Incentives to Boost Evidence-based Training Participation Among Youth-serving Mental Health Providers

Abstract Text: The considerable increase in youth mental health challenges over the past decade has highlighted the critical need to train the public mental health workforce in effective, evidence-based interventions. This need for continuing education (CE) is balanced with a host of challenges for providers in publicly funded facilities such as grappling with limited time, limited funding for training and the often considerable time necessary to search for CE opportunities that satisfy licensure requirements.  Despite the fact that close to half of states state that they are implementing youth-focused Evidence-Based Treatments (EBTs), the actual use of these EBTs remains extremely low, with only approximately 1-3% of youth receiving an EBT (Bruns et al., 2016). The failure of EBTs to spread is, in part, due to a lack of information on how to increase clinician participation in EBTs training.  Recognizing this problem and seeking to increase the proportion of the public mental health workforce trained in EBTs, the New York State (NYS) Office of Mental Health (OMH) implemented initiatives to boost agency participation in EBTs offered through the NYS-funded Evidence-Based Treatment Dissemination Center (EBTDC) starting in 2005. Since 2015, the NYS OMH has funded various initiatives to enhance provider participation in Evidence-Based Treatment (EBT) trainings. These efforts commenced with the provision of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for social workers, psychologists, LMHCs, LMFTs, and LCATs. Additionally, as of December 2022, agencies have received funding to alleviate clinicians' training attendance costs. We examined the impact of these initiatives on attendance at trainings. There was a statistically significant difference in attendance at EBT trainings for clinicians requesting CEUs compared to those who did not across three training modalities (Managing and Adapting Practices (MAP): χ² = 18.48, df = 1, p < .001; Mini MAP: χ² = 9.20, df = 1, p < .001; Focused Clinical Webinars (FCWs): χ² = 304.99, df = 1, p < .001). This suggests that CEUs are a robust motivator for attendance. Funding to agencies sending at least three trainees to specific EBT trainings increased both the number of agencies that participated and the number of clinicians who attended. There was a 40% increase in total enrollment after funding was offered. Although not achieving statistical significance (χ²: 2.66; p = .10), clinicians from agencies that did not receive funding compared to those from funded agencies, were twice as likely not to complete training. Additionally, funding increased geographic spread of the clinicians who enrolled in trainings. Following funding, clinicians attending the EBT trainings were more likely to practice in agencies located in Western NY and Central NY as compared to prefunding (χ² = 11.37; p = .02).  These results suggest that states can develop effective strategies to increase the training of the public mental health workforce in EBTs with the goal of delivering these EBTs to a larger proportion of youth with mental health challenges.