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

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Given the growing numbers of young children presenting to school with mental health challenges, and the disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion among young learners, there is a need for expanded, wider-reaching mental health supports in early education settings. Early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) is an increasingly common approach in which a mental health provider (MHP) works with teachers, principals and parents to build the capacities and skills of the caregivers in a child’s life. The ECMHC logic model suggests that, by building adults’ capacity, a greater number of children can be impacted than if MHPs worked one-on-one with children. A teacher’s increased capacity to support young children’s mental health (proximal outcome) is thought to lead to a more positive classroom-wide environment as well as to improved child functioning (distal outcomes). This symposium adds to the burgeoning evidence-base to support ECMHC by examining these multiple levels of effects for the distal outcomes and the links between them hypothesized in the logic model (e.g., classroom and child outcomes). The first paper reports results from a multilevel model indicating that ECMHC positively impacted child social-emotional outcomes. The second paper observes a “catch-up” effect on classroom-level outcomes (e.g., classroom climate, behavior management) for classrooms that participated in consultation. Paper three presents multilevel mediation analyses that suggest that change in child outcomes may be mediated through change in classroom climate. These three papers build support for the ECMHC logic model, and have implications for understanding the multi-level effects of school-based mental health interventions.

Sub Unit

• Prevention and Interventions

Chair

• Erin Mathis, Georgetown University

Discussant

• Karen Bierman, Pennsylvania State University

Individual Presentations

• Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation: Child Outcomes from an Evaluation in Preschool Classrooms Underserved Neighborhood - Presenting Author: Erin Mathis, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Karyn Hartz, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital; 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

• Classroom Quality: Outcomes from Evaluation of Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation in Underserved Neighborhood Preschools - Presenting Author: Karyn Hartz, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital; Non-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

• Influence of Consultative Alliance on Teacher and Classroom Outcomes of Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation - Presenting Author: Annie Davis, The Catholic University of America; Non-Presenting Author: Sandra Barrueco, The Catholic University of America; Non-Presenting Author: Deborah Perry, Georgetown University