Mixed Methods Evaluation of Behavioral Health Interventions Addressing School Discipline

Background: Youth with behavioral health conditions, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged, are vulnerable to suboptimal organizational designs and uncoordinated services among schools, behavioral health providers and law enforcement. Additionally, professionals in these settings are underprepared to appropriately respond to behaviors that often have trauma and mental health underpinnings.

For youth, what often follows unaddressed behavioral health needs are mental health crises, disengagement from school and involvement in the justice system. Failure to address behavioral health needs of youth not only jeopardizes their future, but it can also impact those who they regularly come into contact with, particularly in school settings where the overall safety and climate can be compromised.

As part of a three-year project funded by the National Institute of Justice, this study evaluates two interventions designed to address the behavioral health needs of adolescents in high schools. The two interventions include:

1. School Responder Model (SRM): A cross-system response model involving schools, community behavioral health, and law enforcement that addresses school discipline through alternate routes, focusing on the core causes of the behavior. The intervention is intended to develop knowledge about trauma and mental health, and build collaborative relationships across the systems touching youth.
2. Adolescent Mental Health Training for School Resource Officers (AMHT-SRO): A two-day training for school resource officers and school security, intended to build skills for appropriately responding to behaviors displayed by youth with mental health needs.

Implemented in 16 high schools across two states, the specific goal of the study is to examine the effects of the SRM and AMHT-SRO, both independently and collectively, on key outcome measures including school safety and climate and unpack differences in these outcomes due to variations in localized contexts.

Methods: For this ongoing study, a quasi-experimental design with four research groups and a convergent parallel mixed method approach to data collection and analysis was used. Quantitative data includes youth-level administrative data from the schools, behavioral health providers, and law enforcement, as well as organizational-level survey data on climate and culture. Additionally, qualitative data was collected through interviews, focus groups and observations with system professionals.

Results: The initial results to be reported include a discussion of the status of intervention implementation across the participating high schools including analysis of the configuration of the collaborations and partnerships developed by the schools, and the contextual factors impacting implementation. The challenges encountered engaging schools in systems-level work to address trauma and mental health, as well as the approaches taken in this project to address those challenges. Additionally, profiles of the participating school and community – based on initial youth-level administrative organizational-level data collection – will be presented as context for the discussion.

Conclusions and Implications: This study will inform the development of effective practices and policies for appropriately addressing the behavioral health needs of youth in school settings, and responding to situations with disruptive or unsafe behaviors. It will also provide insights into the organizational pre-conditions necessary for ensuring success of these and other collaborative interventions.