Promoting Preservice Teacher’s Mental Health Self-Efficacy Through Teacher Education

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Relational Dymaics in Education Spaces: Exploring Teacher Learning Communities, Mental Health Self-Efficacy, and Emotion-Focused Teaching (Table 28)

Abstract

Teachers today are on the front line of identifying and responding to mental health challenges of diverse youth, yet teacher education rarely prepares them to do so. This mixed methods exploratory study investigates how participation in curricular modules on youth mental health implemented in a required teacher preparation course influenced preservice teachers’ (N=44) understandings of and self-efficacy to address student mental health challenges. Pre-and post-test design utilized the School Mental Health Self-Efficacy Teacher Survey (SMH-SETS) and open-ended survey questions. Results show a significant increase in preservice teachers’ mental health self-efficacy after intervention participation. Qualitative thematic analysis suggests that curricular focus on relational skills, reflection, peer communication, and case application of learning supported participants’ growth. Implications for teacher education are explored.

Author

• Elizabeth E. Blair, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater