Valuable Teacher Resources for Aiding in Program Implementation

Strategic Planning Tools

Education sector implementation science and best practices.

Implementation Science and Practice in the Education Sector Brief

Implementation Science and Practice in the Education Sector Brief by Aaron R. Lyon, PhD for SAMHSA’s Project AWARE grantees. This brief is written for education agency leadership, school administrators, and school mental health staff who are involved in driving the implementation of evidence-based programs (EBPs) and innovative practices. Its purpose is to increase understanding of implementation principles and processes, and how they fit into school mental health efforts. It includes a description of key implementation concepts and strategies and practical guidance for improving use of research evidence surrounding social, emotional, and behavioral interventions in schools.

National School Mental Health Best Practices: Implementation Guidance Modules for States, Districts, and Schools

To help states, districts, and schools advance comprehensive school mental health, as well as engage in a planning process around implementation of services, the MHTTC Network Coordinating Office and National Center for School Mental Health developed the National School Mental Health Best Practices: Implementation Guidance Modules for States, Districts, and Schools (formerly known as the National School Mental Health Curriculum).

The School Mental Health Quality Guide Mental Health Promotion Services & Supports (Tier 1)

The School Mental Health Quality Guide Mental Health Promotion Services & Supports (Tier 1) is one in a series of guides developed by the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH) for The School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation (SHAPE) System. This resource provides guidance to school mental health systems to advance the quality of their services and supports. The guide contains background information, best practices, possible action steps, examples from the field, and resource guidance. In particular, Pages 12- 13 cover best practices for increasing student mental health literacy.

Selecting Evidence-Based Practices for Schools

The Selecting Evidence-Based Practices for Schools guide, developed by the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention in partnership with the National Center for School Mental Health, provides detailed, practical information about EBP selection in schools. It includes worksheets and tools for your team to assess any prospective or current EBP in terms of its relevance to your student population, intervention target, tier of service, mode of delivery, readiness and impact evaluation capacity.

Evidence-Based Module Series

Evidence-Based Module Series (National Center for Healthy Safe Children). The National Center for Healthy Safe Children (NRC) hosts self-paced learning modules and online learning events to support and provide training on a wide range of topics related to mental health promotion, youth violence prevention, evidence-based programs, and collaboration. The online learning events are archived, along with supporting training materials and related resources, following each event.

Technical Guide for Alignment of Initiatives, Programs and Practices in School Districts

Technical Guide for Alignment of Initiatives, Programs and Practices in School Districts from the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior Interventions and Support. The purpose of this technical guide is to provide a structured alignment process with concrete steps to assist educational leaders as they examine current practices across educational units and systems (instruction, support, improvement, special education, mental health, justice), consider the extent to which current practices are implemented with fidelity and produce meaningful academic and social/behavioral outcomes, and establish support systems to select install and implement new practices.

The Hexagon Discussion and Analysis Tool

The Hexagon Discussion and Analysis Tool helps organizations evaluate new and existing programs and practices. This tool is designed to be used by a team to ensure diverse perspectives are represented in a discussion of the six contextual fit and feasibility factors. The Hexagon Tool can be used at any stage in a program’s implementation to determine its fit with the local context. It is most commonly used during the Exploration stage: the period when a site is identifying possible new programs or practices to implement.

The Interconnecting School-Mental Health and School-Wide PBIS Implementation Guide

The Interconnecting School-Mental Health and School-Wide PBIS Implementation Guide provides step by step process with examples, activities, and resources for district and school teams to install and implement an Interconnected Systems Framework. ISF is a deliberate application of the multi-tiered PBIS Framework for all social-emotional-behavioral (SEB) interventions. ISF helps teams create a single system of delivery.

Citation:
Eber, L., Barrett, S., Perales, K., Jeffrey-Pearsall, J., Pohlman, K., Putnam, R, Splett, J., & Weist, M.D.(2019). Advancing Education Effectiveness: Interconnecting School Mental Health and SchoolWide PBIS, Volume 2: An Implementation Guide. Center for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education). Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Press.

The Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) Series Resource Guide

The Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) and Pacific Southwest MHTC, in collaboration with the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and the National ISF Leadership Team, developed set of resources that support the ISF Monographs. This set of resources includes ISF Fact Sheets, recorded learning sessions, and commonly used resources to install school mental health within a Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Framework.

Evaluation Tools

Tools to help evaluate and select the curriculum or program that’s right for your school.

Health Education Standards

The Washington State OSPI Social-Emotional standards for high school students related to Mental Health Literacy may be found on the Health Education Standards under Social Emotional Health (So).

Planning Checklist for Monitoring Fidelity of Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs)

The Planning Checklist for Monitoring Fidelity of Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) is a basic fidelity monitoring checklist developed by the NCSMH in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research that can be used to plan for the monitoring of fidelity for a specific practice or program. The intention of this checklist is to provide a quick reference for different considerations during the planning process, including the identification of fidelity monitoring tools, determining how often to collect fidelity data, setting an “acceptable” benchmark, and monitoring and documenting changes or adaptations that are occurring in the school setting.

The Mental Health Literacy Scale

The Mental Health Literacy Scale is a 35 item, univariate scale that is easily administered and scored. The MHLS can be used in assessing individual and population level differences in MHL and in determining the impact of programmes designed to improve MHL. The MHLS displays good psychometric and methodological properties. The measure also demonstrated good internal and test–retest reliability.

Citation: O’Connor, M., & Casey, L. (2015). The Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS): A new scale-based measure of mental health literacy. Psychiatry Research, 229(1), 511–516. https://www.sciencedirect.com/...

National School Mental Health Best Practices: Implementation Guidance Modules for States, Districts, and Schools

The Mental Health Literacy questionnaire is a practical, valid and reliable tool for identifying gaps in knowledge, beliefs and behavioural intentions, in large samples, allowing the development an evaluation of interventions aimed at promoting mental health in young people. The MHLq consists of 33 items with 3 subscales (Help seeking and first aid skills, Knowledge/stereotypes on mental health problems, and Self-help strategies). The questionnaire was tested in two samples of students (study 1 n=239; aged between 12 and 15 years old; study 2 n=737; aged between 11 and 17 years old) to determine its psychometric properties. The questionnaire showed good internal consistency and excellent test-retest reliability.

Citation: Campos, L., Dias, P., Palha, F., Duarte, A., Veiga, E. (2016). Development and psycho-metric properties of a new questionnaire for assessing Mental Health Literacy in young people. Universitas Psychologica, 15(2), 61-72. https://revistas.javeriana.edu...

Cultural Adaptation Considerations

Available programs are not always culturally appropriate to the needs of a specific community. These tools can help you adapt programs to meet your community’s needs.

A Framework to Evaluate the Cultural Appropriateness of Intervention Research

In this article, we applied Bernal, Bonilla, and Bellido’s Ecological Validity Model to examine the cultural appropriateness of asthma self-management interventions. The Ecological Model (framework) incorporates eight dimensions: (a) language, (b) persons, (c) metaphors, (d) content, (e) concepts, (f) goals, (g) methods, and (h) context. The authors of this article believe these dimensions can be applied as a framework with criteria to evaluate the cultural appropriateness of interventions designed for diverse groups.

Citation: Crowder SJ, Broome ME. A Framework to Evaluate the Cultural Appropriateness of Intervention Research. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2012;34(8):1002-1022. https://journals.sagepub.com/d...

Cultural Adaptation of Interventions in Real Practice Settings

This article provides an overview of some common challenges and opportunities related to cultural adaptation of behavioral interventions. Cultural adaptation is presented as a necessary action to ponder when considering the adoption of an evidence-based intervention with ethnic and other minority groups. It proposes a roadmap to choose existing interventions and a specific approach to evaluate prevention and treatment interventions for cultural relevancy. An approach to conducting cultural adaptations is proposed, followed by an outline of a cultural adaptation protocol. A case study is presented, and lessons learned are shared as well as recommendations for culturally grounded social work practice.

Citation: Marsiglia, F. F., & Booth, J. M. (2015). Cultural Adaptation of Interventions in Real Practice Settings. Research on Social Work Practice, 25(4), 423–432. https://journals.sagepub.com/d...

The Cultural Adaptation of Prevention Interventions: Resolving Tensions Between Fidelity and Fit

This paper examines this complex programmatic issue from a community-based participatory research approach for program adaptation that emphasizes motivating community participation to enhance program outcomes. Several issues, key concepts, and implementation strategies are presented under a strategic approach to address issues of fidelity and adaptation.

Citation: Castro, F.G., Barrera, M. & Martinez, C.R. The Cultural Adaptation of Prevention Interventions: Resolving Tensions Between Fidelity and Fit. Prev Sci 5, 41–45 (2004). https://link.springer.com/arti...

Other School-Based Mental Health Resources

Additional resources to aid in training and the implementation of evidence-based practices

National Mental Health Technology Transfer Center’s School Mental Health Featured Resources

Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the MHTTC Network includes 10 Regional Centers, a National American Indian and Alaska Native Center, a National Hispanic and Latino Center, and a Network Coordinating Office. The purpose of the MHTTC Network is technology transfer - disseminating and implementing evidence-based practices for mental disorders into the field. This page highlights some of the MHTTC school mental health resources, followed by a collection of school mental health news articles, reports, and more from other reputable organizations.

NW Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (NW-MHTTC) School Mental Health Supplement

This center serves schools in SAMHSA’s Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, and WA). Their goals are to: Provide training and technical assistance on implementation of mental health services in schools and school systems, Build infrastructure and create learning communities, and Support educational leaders to promote mental health for ALL.

Adult Mental Health Literacy Programs

Aids for the implementation of Mental Health programs for higher education settings.

National Mental Health Technology Transfer Center’s Supporting Student Mental Health: Resources to Prepare Educators

The MHTTC Network and the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine collaborated on an environmental scan and needs assessment of available educator mental health literacy training and resources. This document: describes the role of educators in supporting student mental health, explains the core components of mental health literacy, and provides an annotated list of existing resources and trainings that instruct educators on mental health literacy.

Classroom WISE (WellBeing Information and Strategies for Educators)

The MHTTC Network and National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has developed a FREE self-guided online course, video library + resource collection, and a website focused on educator mental health literacy. The 3-part training package, Classroom WISE (WellBeing Information and Strategies for Educators), was informed by and co-developed with educators from across the nation. These resources will present concrete, universal approaches to promoting student mental health and creating safe and supportive classroom environments, describe student behaviors that may indicate a mental health concern, and provide specific skills and strategies to engage and support students with mental health concerns.

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