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Evaluation ViewAttendees 4

Child / Adolescent - School-Related Issues
Symposia

Symposium 117 - School-Based Prevention: Multi-Method Perspectives on Youth Mental Health Needs and Services in this Front-Line Setting

Sunday, November 17, 2024
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
Location: Franklin I, Level 4, Downtown Marriott
CE: 1.5

Keywords: School, Prevention, Community-Based
Level of Familiarity: Basic to moderate
Recommended Readings: Young, J. F., Mufson, L., & Schueler, C. M. (2016). Preventing Adolescent Depression: Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training. New York: Oxford University Press.,   Duong, M. T., Bruns, E. J., Lee, K., Cox, S., Coifman, J., Mayworm, A., & Lyon, A. R. (2021). Rates of mental health service utilization by children and adolescents in schools and other common service settings: A systematic review and meta‑analysis. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 48, 420-439. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-020-01080-9,  

<    Eiraldi, R., Wolk, C. B., Locke, J., & Beidas, R. (2015). Clearing hurdles: The challenges of implementation of mental health evidence-based practices in under-resourced schools. Advances in school mental health promotion, 8(3), 124-140.

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Up to 50% of youth meet criteria for at least one mental health condition, yet unmet youth mental health needs remain high. Of those who do receive mental health services, care is often accessed in schools. Indeed, schools represent a key service setting by addressing known barriers to care, such as transportation challenges, caregiver schedule restrictions, and stigma. Research supports mental health programming delivered in schools to be effective and well-received, particularly among diverse youth. Thus, research and clinical efforts have increasingly focused on schools as an important setting to provide evidence-based mental health programs to address well-documented disparities in mental health access and service utilization.

The current symposium details the substantial need for mental health services in schools and provides an overview of the landscape of available school-based mental health services from multiple perspectives of impacted community partners. Specifically, the first presentation, “ Identifying key needs and priorities for implementing evidence-based prevention and early intervention mental health programming in schools”, sets the stage by detailing mental health concerns and associated priorities for prevention and early intervention programming, as reported by school and district partners speaking to the mental health needs of their students. Presenters also outline reported barriers and facilitators to evidence-based program implementation. Input represents diverse perspectives from a novel research-community partnership intended to enhance dissemination and implementation of evidence-based programming in local schools.

The second presentation, “The kids aren’t alright: High level of need for mental health services identified during a school-based depression prevention trial”, anchors audience members to the prevalence and severity of mental health concerns reported by 9th and 10th grade students and school staff enrolled in a school-based depression prevention trial (School Adolescent Mood Project [SAM]). Quantitative and qualitative findings highlight high levels of student symptoms and the urgent need for school-based services. The third presentation, “Exploration of school-based services within a depression prevention randomized control trial”, summarizes counselor-reported school-based services received by youth enrolled in the services-as-usual arm of the SAM trial.

Looking towards enhancing internal capacity to implement, evaluate, and sustain school-based mental health services, the final presentation, Counselor perceptions of evidence-based mental health programming in schools”, details school counselors’ perceptions of evidence-based school counseling interventions broadly, and the adolescent depression prevention program delivered via the SAM study specifically.
The symposium will conclude with a summary of the presentations and discussion of how findings relate to next steps in school-based clinical care.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. List priorities for mental health programming as reported by school and district personnel.
  2. Discuss prevalence rates of depression symptoms and suicide risk per 9th and 10th graders in a school-based depression prevention trial.
  3. Describe availability and cadence of current services received in schools.
  4. Summarize the clinical skills used most often by school-based providers.
  5. Recite barriers and facilitators of implementation of evidence-based practices in the school setting.

Presentations:

  • 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
    (SYM 117) Identifying Key Needs and Priorities for Implementing Evidence-based Prevention and Early Intervention Mental Health Programming in Schools

    Speaker: Andrew Orapallo, Ph.D. – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Jami Young, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Katherine Kellom, BA – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Diya Nag, MPH, CHES – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Lanelle Quzack, MSW, LSW – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Sara Christianson, M.A., M.S. – Delaware County Intermediate Unit

    Co-author: Aviele Koffler, PhD – Montgomery County Intermediate Unit

    Co-author: Siobhan Leavy, Ed.D. – Chester County Intermediate Unit

    Co-author: Brittany Lourea-Waddell, PhD – Montgomery County Intermediate Unit

    Co-author: Kimberly Mecca, M.A., Ed.S. – Delaware County Intermediate Unit

    Co-author: John Reid, M.Ed. – Delaware County Intermediate Unit

    Co-author: Gwendolyn Lawson, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

  • 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
    (SYM 117) The Kids Aren't Alright: High Level of Need for Mental Health Services Identified During a School-based Depression Prevention Trial

    Speaker: Jason Jones, Ph.D. – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

    Co-author: Molly Davis, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Karen T. G. Schwartz, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Gillian Dysart, BA – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Amy So, B.S. – Montclair State University

    Co-author: Rebecca Kanine, PhD – Children's Hospital of Chicago

    Co-author: Sara Reagan, BS – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Jane Gillham, PhD – Swarthmore College

    Co-author: Jami Young, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

  • 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
    (SYM 117) Exploration of School-based Services Within a Depression Prevention Randomized Control Trial

    Speaker: Laura Strachan, None (she/her/hers) – Swarthmore College

    Co-author: Jane Gillham, PhD – Swarthmore College

    Co-author: Jason Jones, Ph.D. – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

    Co-author: Molly Davis, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Jami Young, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Amy So, B.S. – Montclair State University

    Co-author: Gillian Dysart, BA – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Rebecca Kanine, PhD – Children's Hospital of Chicago

    Co-author: Karen T. G. Schwartz, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

  • 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM EST
    (SYM 117) Counselor Perceptions of Evidence-based Mental Health Programming in Schools

    Speaker: Molly Davis, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Courtney Benjamin Wolk, PhD – University of Pennsylvania

    Co-author: Amy So, B.S. – Montclair State University

    Co-author: Gillian Dysart, BA – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Karen T. G. Schwartz, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

    Co-author: Jason Jones, Ph.D. – Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

    Co-author: Jami Young, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia