Classroom Quality: Outcomes from Evaluation of Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation in Underserved Neighborhood Preschools

• In Event: 2-099 - Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Child Outcomes, Classroom Outcomes and Order of Effects

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) aims to enhance the quality of young children’s affective environments in order to promote their social, emotional and behavioral health. Quality early affective environments are a salient predictor of children’s social-emotional wellbeing (Broekhuizen et al., 2016; Hamre & Pianta, 2003). Rather than provide individual mental health services, ECMHC works with administrators, teachers, and families to build their internal capacities to support children’s social-emotional development. Thus, consultation with one teacher has the potential to benefit an entire classroom of children who then experience higher quality emotional climate and teaching practices. Research syntheses have documented positive effects of ECMHC for children, teachers, and programs (Brennan et al., 2008; Perry et al., 2010). However, additional research using more rigorous methods is needed to fully understand the effects of ECMHC. This study builds on previous evaluations by 1) using an evaluation design that includes comparison groups and multiple data collection time points, 2) examining how consultation dose relates classroom quality changes, and 3) examining effects of ECMHC in underserved neighborhoods with a high prevalence of child social, emotional, and behavioral needs.

Method: A quasi-experimental evaluation of the Georgetown’s ECMHC model (Hunter et al., 2016) was implemented in preschool classrooms in seven public charter preschool programs in a large mid-Atlantic city. The present study examines the second year of ECMHC implementation, which included child-focused and classroom-focused consultation. The academic year was divided into three, 10-week consultation cycles. Each cycle included a cohort of two or three classrooms in each school. Classrooms (N = 39) participated in 0, 1 or 2 cycles of consultation. Eligibility was based on administrator referral and consultant ratings of classroom climate using the Preschool Mental Health Climate Scales (Gilliam, 2008) and behavior management practices using the Preschool Observation of Social-emotional Teaching (POST; Mathis & Hartz, unpublished). All classrooms were observed at the beginning and end of each cycle (4 observations total). We utilized two observation time points: beginning-of-year/pre-consultation and end-of-year/post-consultation.

Results: Preliminary analyses indicate that pre-consultation (beginning-of-year), classrooms selected to participate in consultation had lower observed quality classroom climate and behavior management practices. Post consultation (end-of-year) these differences between classrooms were no longer significant (Table 1). Classrooms that participated in consultation ‘caught up’ to classrooms that did not participate in consultation, such that classroom climate and teaching practices were equivalent by the end of the school year (Figure 1). Final analyses will include multilevel models examining differences in pre-consultation and post-consultation classroom climate and teaching practices by consultation dosage. Multilevel models will be fit to account for the clustering of classrooms within schools.

Conclusions: This study’s quasi-experimental evaluation design adds to the strength of the growing research base demonstrating positive effects of ECMHC for enhancing young children’s affective environments. Additionally, these findings shed light on how the amount of consultation received relates to improvements in classroom quality. This study suggests that ECMHC is an effective approach to systemically promote early childhood mental health and social-emotional learning in underserved communities.

Authors

• Karyn Hartz, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
  Presenting Author

• Erin Mathis, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Abby Carlson, AppleTree Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chavaughn Brown, AppleTree Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Matthew Biel, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
  Non-Presenting Author

• Celene Domitrovich, Georgetown University
  Non-Presenting Author