Implementation Supports for Improving Identification and Delivery of School-based Mental Health Supports for Middle Schools Students (E-IMPACTS)

University of Virginia

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Mental Health Issue

Treatments: Behavioral: EIS Only; Behavioral: EIS + ECHO

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06047041

5320

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 21,350 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 10 to 99 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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21,350 participants in 2 patient groups

EIS Only

Active Comparator group

Description:

EIS Only (active comparator) condition schools involve technical assistance to support the implementation EIS.

Treatment:

Behavioral: EIS Only

EIS + ECHO

Experimental group

Description:

EIS + ECHO (experimental) condition involves all of the activities included in the "EIS Only" condition and will include enhanced implementation supports. Enhanced implementation supports involve 1) monthly collaborative learning ECHO sessions for school student support team staff to support implementation of EIS and evidence-based mental and behavioral health practices and 2) individual school teams will also receive follow-up supports to promote the implementation strategies presented during ECHO sessions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: EIS + ECHO