5 - (IOP 13) Using Team Science to Support School Mental Health: Evaluation of a Community-partnered Adaptation of Teamstepps

Background: Public schools are a primary access point for youth mental health (MH) services, yet challenges such as limited resources, high staff turnover, and complex systems hinder effective, evidence-based service delivery. Improving coordination and collaboration amongst school-based MH teams is imperative to improving their effectiveness. TeamSTEPPS, a team science intervention originally developed for healthcare, was adapted for school-based MH teams to enhance communication and collaboration, and pilot data indicated strong feasibility and acceptability (Wolk et al., 2019). This study evaluated the impact of TeamSTEPPS, paired with tailored implementation strategies, on teamwork perceptions, attitudes, and interprofessional collaboration.

Methods: In collaboration with MH teams from three school districts our team adapted TeamSTEPPS for the school context. Prior to training and approximately nine months after training, participants completed a demographics survey and validated measures of: a) teamwork perceptions (TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire), b) teamwork attitudes (TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire), c) interprofessional collaboration (Expanded School Mental Health Collaboration Instrument-School Version), d) practice attitudes (Evidence-Based Practice Attitudes Scale), and e) burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory- Human Services version). We used linear mixed-effects regression with random effects for individuals to estimate changes in teamwork perceptions, attitudes, and collaboration in a pre-post comparison of TeamSTEPPS training. We tested interaction effects to assess whether clinician-level demographics and other factors (practice attitudes and burnout) and school-level factors (team size, school size, and teacher ratio) moderated the observed differences.

Results: Participants (M age = 38.7 years) were predominantly female (78.7%), white (78.7%) and non-Hispanic/Latinx (95.5%). Post-training, self-reported collaboration improved (mean difference: 0.20, 95% CI: 0.04–0.37), particularly in larger schools. Higher teacher-student ratios were associated with lower collaboration, while postgraduate degree holders reported greater collaboration. No significant changes were found in teamwork perceptions or attitudes, potentially due to ceiling effects. Teamwork attitudes were higher among participants in small groups and licensed professionals. Moderating effects were very small, with minimal impact on these relationships.

Discussion: Findings suggest that TeamSTEPPS may support inter-team collaboration (i.e., between the school MH team and additional parties such as community mental health agencies) but not perceptions and attitudes related to intra-team functioning (i.e., teamwork amongst members of the school MH team). Targeted supports may help MH teams to collaborate more effectively with educators managing larger classrooms, while postgraduate degree holders could serve as key facilitators of inter-team collaboration. Though causal conclusions are limited, results highlight TeamSTEPPS’ potential to enhance coordination of interdisciplinary efforts to increase evidence-based practice delivery in schools.