Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Our youth are struggling with their mental health and the effects can be seen in schools. Mental health challenges often lead to substance use and although the rates of menalth health challenges are similar between rural and urban youth, there is a higher rate of substance use among rural youth. Youth Mental Health First Aid is a program designed for adults who work with youth so that they can recognize the early signs of mental health challenges and substance use and respond appropriately as non-mental health professionals. Teen Mental Health First Aid teaches high school students about mental health and substance use and empowers them to help their friends without putting themselves into potentially harmful situations.This project implements Teen Mental Health First Aid in 5 rural Indiana high schools and evaluates the immediate effects on how students view mental health and treat each other. The evaluation will include educational metrics that are linked to mental health such as bullying, attendance, grades, and graduation rates. Each high school in the project will have their own set of metrics based on their own local concerns and the data they are already collecting. The goal of this project is to demonstrate that in rural areas, where mental health resources are scarce, empowering students with knowledge and compassion through the Teen Mental Health First Aid course can lead to better educational outcomes and decreased substance use.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to implement Teen Mental Health First Aid in rural high schools and evaluate the effects on educational metrics and student behavior. This will be accompolished through completion of the following objectives:Objective 1: Faculty and staff Youth MHFA: Within the first quarter of the project, 10 faculty and staff from each school will complete Youth MHFA training provided on-site (at the school) by Purdue Extension certified trainers.Objective 2: Teen MHFA train-the-trainer: By the end of the second quarter, each school will send 2 teachers or staff to the 3-day long remote train-the-trainer provided by the National Council.Objective 3: Teen MHFA training for students: By the end of the third quarter of the first year, the schools will provide Teen MHFA training to students in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. The Teen MHFA training will be provided in the first quarter of subsequent years to 10th grade students.Objective 4: Recruiting schools: Before the end of the 3rd quarter of Year 1 of the grant period, 2 additional rural high schools will be recruited to participate in the following school year, completing Objectives 1 through 3 in Year 2.Objective 5: Analysis: Data collection and analysis will be completed to determine the impact of the program in the 4th quarter of each grant year. Many of the metrics of concern represent data points already collected by the schools through a variety of software systems. Each school will provide the data in a format determined to meet the needs of evaluation while not creating a burden of work for the school staff. Some metrics, like bullying, may be measured directly through student reporting systems or by proxy through other measures of school performance like detentions for issues between students.
Project Methods
Efforts for this project include the delivery of Youth Mental Health First Aid by Purdue Extension, train-the-trainer attendance by select school faculty or staff, and delivery of Youth Mental Health First Aid to students in each of the schools.Evaluation metrics will be determined through discussion between the PD and each school administration. The metrics used to measure the impact will be determined based on a combination of administrators concerns within their schools, especially related to student behavior, and the availability of data already being collected by the school. Completion of training and identification of metrics will be marked as process milestones, provision of reports of data analysis conducted after the end of each school year mark product milestones.