Project Compass: Expanding the Behavioral Health Workforce Serving Rural and Medically Underserved Communities

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Six
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring New Worlds: Program Evaluation and Learner Assessment (Table 7)

Abstract

The Compass Program was developed to expand the behavioral health workforce serving rural and medically underserved communities (MUCs), thus addressing the shortage of psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioners. The three-semester program for MSN students enrolled in a Nursing Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program (P/MHNP MSN) consisted of a stipend, educational opportunities, and exposure to medically underserved communities through three clinical practicums.
Using a repeated-measures, mixed methods design, we examined the effect of the Compass Program on MUC knowledge, attitudes, and intention to work with MUC using surveys completed before Compass and at the end of each semester. Results showed dramatic increases in student knowledge of MUCs and changes in attitudes. Most Compass participants plan to work with MUC.

Author

• Lynn Foster-Johnson, Dartmouth College
  Presenting Author