Evaluation of GLOBE Youth: An Interprofessional Behavioral Health Social Work Graduate Training Program

Background and Purpose: Given the growing body of evidence that clients with chronic health conditions have better outcomes when receiving services in an unified system of care (Battersby et al, 2010), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has established integrated care as its guiding framework. This has created a growing demand for social workers with the knowledge and skill to serve youth in integrated behavioral health settings. Recognizing this need, Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) has funded 62 U.S. social work programs to develop integrated behavioral health training programs focused on youth.

This study reports on first year training outcomes of one of the HRSA funded projects at a large southern urban university. Globe Youth is an advanced clinical training program for second year M.S.W. students that provides four graduate level workshops and specialized field placements focused on integrated behavioral health with youth. The overall objectives are to increase interprofessional knowledge and cultural competency when working with youth of diverse backgrounds. Another objective is for students to demonstrate clinical skill with youth at posttest.

Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest design was used to assess whether GLOBE Youth students increased positive attitudes and knowledge of interprofessional practice and cultural competency after receiving the program using the Inter-professional Self-Assessment Scale (IPSA), the Entry Level Interprofessional Scale (ELIQ), and the ASK Cultural Competency Self-Assessment Scale. Data were collected online at pretest and posttest by the lead evaluator using unique ID numbers. Paired-samples t-tests were used to analyze the data from each of the overall scales, subscales and scale items. An objective structured clinical exam (OSCE) was used to assess clinical skill with youth at posttest.

Results:Students were primarily female (88%) and of diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds: 53% White, 22% African American, and 12.5% Latino(a), and 12.5% Asian. There was significant improvement from pretest to posttest on the IPSA on 10 of 11 items on the IPSA. One item was too high at pretest to allow significant improvement – “Value and honor diverse perspectives of team members.” There was also significant improvement on the overall ELIQ scale (p<.001), and the Communication and Teamwork subscale (p<.001), with the per-item mean improving from 2.95 at pretest to 3.56 at posttest (from neutral to positive range). Students reported high levels of openness to interprofessional learning at pretest, leaving little room to improve at posttest. In contrast, students rated interprofessional interaction negatively at both pretest (2.34) and posttest (2.33). There was significant improvement on the ASK cultural competency scale from pretest to posttest (p<.001), with students improving from a per-item mean of 3.62 to 4.44. All students demonstrated emerging skill on the OSCE working with a standardized youth client, while 78% demonstrated adequate clinical skill.

Conclusions: Results suggest that the Globe Youth program met its primary objectives for the first year. Expanded opportunities for positive interprofessional interaction and exploration of reasons for negative experiences are recommended. Details of changes made for year 2 of the training program are provided.