Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project includes adults and youth in Garrett, Allegany, Kent, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, and Worcester Counties, Maryland. Although the programming is open to all adults and youth (dependent upon the specific course being offered), some specific subpopulations are targeted. For example, older adults are a population of interest, as are Hispanic communities. Outreach is continuing to these specific communities as our rural counties tend to have more older adults and an emerging Hispanic population connected to agriculture. Changes/Problems:As stated in the accomplishment section, we are revising our surveys to deal with measurement issues that we encountered. We also noted that certain programs have a very low survey completion rate. So, to better measure out outcomes, we will focus on ensuring that staff are consistent with survey collection procedures and that the surveys themselves are revised to deal with certain response biases that we encountered during this first project period. We also were unaware that the project could target Allegany and Worcester counties due to confusion about the USDA / ARS codes and which were allowable under this RHSE program. We will be making changes in the 2024-2025 project year to deliver more programming to these 2 counties. We have already hired a new part-time educator in Worcester to allow for additional outreach. Finally, as with any grant-funded program, we have dealt with some staff turnover which resulted in duties being redistributed among existing staff. We also hired 2 new educators which requires onboarding efforts. We have developed new project management tools to help all employees communicate and collaborate more effectively. For example, we are now using the software Trello to help us plan and organize the multitude of teaching events that occur through this program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The people involved in this project were offered the chance to attend regional conferences focused on rural health as well as conferences regarding the programs delivered by this program. For example, staff attended the Mental Health Assocation of Maryland's Mental Health First Aid Instructor Summit in June of 2024 to improve their skills and collaboration regarding the delivery of the MHFA program. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project holds semi-annual partners' meetings to disseminate project findings and solicit feedback regarding our programs. This has resulted in the creation of programs to help improve the sustainability of the program's impacts. For example, we have provided training for new instructors of Mental Health First Aid for years, but we did not offer as much post-training support to new instructors until hearing feedback during the partners' meetings during this period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Programmatically, we aim to continue to do outreach to Hispanic and older adult communities. For older adults, we plan to package two of our offerings together which are particularly relevant to this group: pain management and presecription safety. In the first year, we offered these two programs separately, but combining them and making specific marketing efforts to "sell" the combined programseems to hold promise to attract more older adults. Both the project directors (Chan & Hurtado) speak Spanish and will continue outreach to offer Mental Health First Aid in Spanish-speaking communities. Chan has delivered MHFA in Spanish in urban areas of the state, but has yet to solidify an audience in the RHSE-targeted counties.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The following is a summary of the post-program survey data for this project. Each program is labeled according to which Major Goal it satisfies (either #1 or #2). Regrounding our Response & Overdose Lifeline Programs (Major Goal #1) Total participants: 794 Participants from target counties: 102 Surveys completed: 100 Note: For this and the Pain Management classes, we encountered some bias within the surveys as they were originally designed. We are observing a social acceptability bias that may have created a ceiling on the learning outcomes measured. We are in the process of revising the surveys to account for this bias by switching to a retrospective pre-post rather than a true pre post, which often results in participants overestimating their initial knowledge on the topics we teach. Objectives (bolded): 50% of participants report a greater use of prescription safety practices Outcome: Of the 100 participants who completed the survey, 13 (13%) reported a greater understanding of prescription safety practices Outcome: Of the 21 surveys that included questions about prescription safety practices, 62% reported a greater understanding 70% of participants report an improved awareness of opioid misuse Outcome: Of the 100 participants who completed the survey, 30% reported an improved awareness of opioid misuse Outcome: Of the 83 surveys that included questions about opioid misuse, 36% reported an improved awareness 70% of participants report an increase in knowledge of and how to access opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery resources Outcome: Of the 100 participants who completed the survey, 13 (13%) reported an increase in knowledge of and how to access opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery resources Outcome: Of the 41 surveys that included questions about resources, 32% reported an increase in knowledge 70% of participants report an improved understanding of the consequences of risky behaviors Outcome: Of the 100 participants who completed the survey, 17 (17%) reported an improved understanding of the consequences of risky behaviors Outcome: Of the 55 surveys that included questions about risky behaviors, 31% reported an improved understanding 40% of participants report an intent to seek mental health care or treatment resources Outcome: Of the 100 participants who completed the survey, 7% reported an intent to seek mental health care or treatment resources Outcome: Of the 8 surveys that included questions about intent to seek care, 88% reported an increase in their intent to seek care Pain Management (Major Goal #1) Total participants: 26 Participants from target counties: 7 Surveys completed: 9 Objectives (bolded): 70% of participants increased knowledge and skills in managing pain Outcome: 3 (33%) participants reported an increase in pain management skills and knowledge 70% of participants increased intention to make changes to manage stress Outcome: 7 (78%) participants reported increased intention to manage their stress 40% increased ability to cope Outcome: 5 (56%) participants reported an increase in their ability to cope with stress This is Not About Drugs (Youth program, Major Goal #2) Total participants: 108 Participants from target counties: 78 Surveys completed: 71 Objective (bolded): 70% of participants report increased knowledge of and how to access opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery resources Outcome: Of the 71 participants who completed the survey, 64 (90%) reported an increase in their knowledge of how to access resources Mental Health First Aid (MHFA, Major Goal #2) Total Participants: 87 Participants from target counties: 71 Adult Courses: 5 48 participants Youth Courses: 4 23 participants Surveys completed: 44 Objectives (bolded): 70% of participants report an increase in their mental health knowledge Outcome: Of the 44 participants who completed the pre/post survey, 35 (79.5%) reported an increase in their mental health knowledge 70% of participants report an intent to help others Outcome: Of the 44 participants who completed the pre/post survey, 20 (45.5%) reported an intent to help others after attending the event

Publications

• Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Chan, A., Kniola, E., & Francis, R. (2024). Emotional experiences of Mental Health First Aid Trainees: A qualitative study. Journal of Human Sciences and Extension, 12(2), 3. https://doi.org/10.55533/2325-5226.1468
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Young, E., Chan, A. E., Schad, C., Kotb, Y. & Hurtado Choque, G. (2024, April 4th). Mental Health First Aid Praticipant's Mental Health Literacy Effect on Helping Behavior Intention. Poster presentation. University of Maryland, School of Public Health, Research Day, College Park, MD