Source: OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
BUILDING COMMUNITY CAPACITY TO SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH AND PREVENT SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS IN RURAL OHIO
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031545
Grant No.
2023-46100-41100
Cumulative Award Amt.
$349,920.00
Proposal No.
2023-04825
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2023
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2026
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[LX]- Rural Health & Safety Education
Project Director
Martin, K. E.
Recipient Organization
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
1680 MADISON AVENUE
WOOSTER,OH 44691
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Deaths due to opioid and fentanyl overdoses and deaths by suicide remain high and many rural counties are severly challenged by these deadly results. In 2018, OSU Extension was successful in obtaining funding from a grant program that encouraged a focus on the opioid problem. The USDA NIFA Rural Health and Safety Education (RHSE) grant program included language that encouraged applicants to consider addressing the opioid problemWhe We also partnered with the OSU College of Pharmacy to pilot and deliver Generation RX educational programs that promote safe medicine practices for all age groups.With funding from a 2020 RHSE grant, we expanded the program and added three additional counties. When COVID-19 shut down in-person programming, we responded by training instructors to deliver the programs online so we could continue offering programs by converting to the professionalonline platforms.During the past five years, we observed a growing concern about mental health issues in the counties we were supporting with prevention education programs. Deaths by suicide were increasing and the stigma against mental heralth care served to keep people away from the professional help they needed. To respond to these developments , we added Mental Health First Aid training with curricula for adults, youth and teen high school peers. Other programs delivered online or in-person that support mental health care include Trauma Informed Care and Question Persuade and Refer. We are sponsoring a conference to focus on stigma to help reduce or remove the negative association with a visit to see a mental health care professional. This RHSE 2023 grant provides continuing program support in five of the six counties we have already been working with and will include train-the-trainer opportunities for county Educators to teach supported programs. This will provide support for the educational programs giving them a foundation to build on and continue to provide prevention education and mental health programs on an ongoing basis.With funds from this 2023 RHSE grant, we will add 8 additional countiesf for a total of 13 counties., 10 of which are in Appalachia. We will offer prevention education and mental health programs in the 13 counties. We will collaborate with a team funded by the Rural Opioid Technical Assistance (ROTA) grant program sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) which will result in more trainers to support our in-person and online train-the-trainer approaches and provide prevention education and mental health programming in additional Appalachian counties.To evaluate our educational program efforts, pre and post tests will be used to measure knowledge gain, and the intent to change behavior will also be assessed. We will track demand for each program and the number of participants completing each program We will work with schools, families, local governments, community drug coalitions, health care providers, and other local non-profits to identify relevant grant programs that could be used to seek funds to maintain and support these important community-based initiatives.
Animal Health Component
80%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
80%
Developmental
20%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
80260993020100%
Knowledge Area
802 - Human Development and Family Well-Being;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
Goal 1 - Increase community resilience and capacity to address mental health disorders, substance misuse, and relatedsocial issuesObjective 1 - 1Offer training opportunities to prepare and engage community members as educators and facilitatorsto support and implement mental health and substance misuse programsObjective 1 - 2 Through the use of targeted programs, develop flexiblestrategiesthat best meet the mental health, substance misuse and related social issues facing the communities.Goal 2 - Increase public health knowledge andawareness of resources and suppport strategies for youth and adults facoing memtal health and substance misuse issues. Objective 2 - 1 Promote public health education programs that inrease understandinng of substance use and misuse, safemediction practices, and mental health disorders.Objective 2 - 2 Identify and engage community-based resources that support the needs of aduls and youth wih mental health disorders and substance misuse .
Project Methods
Methods:The delivery of education programs will be done using in-person, online, and hybid options. With the ban on in-person programs during COVID-19,Extension Educators and progam staffbecame quite skilled in teaching online. Now, with COVID-19 restrictions removed, educational programscanbe delivered usingany approach or a hybrid approach that utilizes any of the three in a combination of approaches. With a commitmemt to engage community health care programs and professionals,community members,and community organizationsin respondning to substancemisuse and mental health care needs, community outreach will be critical for bringingkey individuals and organizations together to dvelop a community-basedstrategy to put in place acontinuinggrass roots effort to address mental health and substance misuse issuesthroughout the grant period and beyond. The county Extension office staff will play a key role in facilitating education and outreach efforts that buildlocal support for developing and implementinga community response to address substance misuse and mental health disordersEvaluation:Knowledge gain and the intent to change bahaviorwillbe measeured to determine the impact ofeducational programs. Anotther evaluationcomponentwill assess the level of success of the community education and outreach efforts in forming a diverse and committed effort to reduce mental health stigmas.Communities will be assessed ontheir ability to orgaize andgain local support for their plan which should target key segments of the community - youth, students, families, communities, and local initiatives that focus on reducing substance misuse and mental health disorders.

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

Outputs
Target Audience:There are several target audiences we are reaching with this grant. One audience is Extension Educators who teach Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) to adults who work with youth, adults who work with adults, and Educators who teach teen MHFA to teens. We are recruiting additional Educators and other community partners to teach MHFA to the three target audiences as there has been turnover as Educators retire or leave for other positions. We are also supporting Educators who teach Generation Rx to audiences that include elementary and high school students, college students, young adults, middle age adults, and seniors. Educators also teach Trauma Informed Approaches to those who interact with community members who have been impacted by adverse childhood experiences. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over the past year, a Farm Stress Certified training program was delivered for health care and social work professionals so they could better understand the challenges facing farmers and farm families. Youth Mental Health First Aid itraining, adult Mental Health First Aid training and teen Health Health First Aid training programs were offered and ovver 650 stakeholders participanted in thtion Rxe training. Training was offered in-person and virtually. Trauma Informed Approaches (TIA) , Questioin, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) and Generation Rx programs were also delivered and provided additional opportunities for training and professional development. These training and professional development opportunities will be available to help counties implement their strategies for program delivery. Additional instructors will be trained and classes will offer professional development opportunities that support the counties strategies to address mental health and well-being goals, promote safe use, storage and disposal of medications, and farm stress and suicide. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The opportunities to access and benefit from the targeted programs have been shared in the counties with partners and collaborators. Educators and partners/collaborators determine which programs to deliver that best help to address the community interests that address mental health well-bring and substance misuse. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the next reporting period, requiested training for instructors will be supported, and requested programs will be delivered.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To understand the potential for the counties to strengthen the capacity to address mental health disorders, substance misuse, and related social issues, the initial focus was to identify which counties had educators that were trained to teach the identified programs. As the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) programs require two trained instructors to deliver the in-person part of the programs, the counties either had to have two trained instructors for the specific program or an educator had to team up with an educator from another county to deliver the program. A third option would be to engage two educators from other counties to join together to deliver the program in the county. The Trauma Informed Approaches (TIA) program also required two trained instructors to deliver the program in-person. For the first year of the grant, counties were asked to engage in discussions on how they would approach the delivery of programs given the options available to the counties. If they had no trained instructors and decided they wanted to have trained instructors in-house, they woulfd be able to request instructor training for educators in the county. Or they could support one trained educator and share the training with an educator from a neighboring county. A third option would be to request trainers from other counties to deliver the programs. These options provided counties with the flexibility to choose the best strategy to offer the programs to the county. There is also the possibility for county educators to partner with other organizations in the county with trained instructors to deliver programs. Funding will be provided for training instructors along with travel support when educators traveled outside their county for training or program delivery.

Publications