Patient Centered Enhancements in School Behavioral Health (PSW)

University of South Carolina

Status: Completed

Conditions: Mental Health

Treatments: Behavioral: Wellness; Behavioral: Partnership

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03901274

Pro00085951

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study will evaluate whether the evidence-based Wellness framework paired with an evidence-based Partnership compared to Wellness alone will improve middle school students' social, emotional/behavioral, and academic functioning.

Full description

The mental health needs of children and youth are well-documented as an under-addressed and significant public health need in the United States. A number of barriers prevent children, youth, and families from accessing behavioral health services in standard clinic settings, including lack of sufficient transportation, cost, and stigma related to receiving services. School behavioral health (SBH) programs-in which community mental health providers join school teams to better address the social, emotional/behavioral, and academic needs of students-are growing in the United States because of their ability to reach youth who need, but may not otherwise receive, services. However, these efforts are limited by a lack of patient and stakeholder engagement. This has commonly resulted in SBH programs not being implemented, implemented inconsistently, or underutilized. The study will compare an evidence-based Patient-Centered Enhancements (i.e., Partnership) intervention added to an evidence-based framework termed Wellness in a three-year intervention for students in middle schools. Investigators predict the addition of the Partnership intervention will improve school climate and enhance SBH services, resulting in significantly improved social, emotional/behavioral, and academic outcomes in students. The study has three aims:

1. Investigators will evaluate the extent to which Partnership increases the number of students and families receiving school behavioral health services and expressing satisfaction with services received.
2. Investigators will evaluate the impact of Partnership on students' social, emotional/behavioral, and academic outcomes throughout the course of the intervention period (sixth through eighth grade).

Enrollment: 2,558 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Middle school student
• Receives school-based behavioral health services
• Parent of a middle school student
• Parent of a student receiving school-based behavioral health services
• Enrolled in a participating school

Exclusion criteria

• Not a middle school student
• Not receiving school-based behavioral health services
• Not a parent of a middle school student
• Does not have a child receiving school-based behavioral health services
• Not enrolled in a participating school

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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2,558 participants in 2 patient groups

Wellness Condition

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants in this condition will receive school-based behavioral health services from clinicians who are trained in the evidence-based Wellness Framework.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Wellness

Partnership

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in this condition will receive school-based behavioral health services from clinicians who are trained in the evidence-based Wellness framework. The clinicians in this condition will receive additional training on patient-centered enhancements called the Partnership intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Partnership