Understanding the Research-to-Practice Gap to Promote Youth Mental Health in Rural Middle Schools: A Comparative Case Study

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Research Use Across K–12 Settings (Table 13)

Abstract

Amidst a growing youth mental health crisis, rural schools are often called upon to implement strategies like Evidence-based practices (EBPs) to promote youth mental health. Not many rural schools, however, have these in place. We used a comparative case study design via semi-structured interviews with school staff (n = 11) from three rural school districts to: 1) understand the organizational capacity of rural schools to learn about and select EBPs to support student mental health; and 2) to identify how intermediary partners can support rural schools in these processes. Interviews were conducted in-person (one via Zoom), recorded, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed across-case. Rural-specific facilitators and barriers to school capacity are identified as well as recommendations for intermediary partners.

Authors

• Savannah Hobbs, University of Denver

• Nicholas J. Cutforth, University of Denver

• Cynthia Hazel, University of Denver

• Elaine S. Belansky, University of Denver