Building the capacity of educators to support primary prevention and early intervention goals with youth at risk for psychological distress

Background-Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. Over half of mental illnesses emerge prior to adulthood, significantly impacting lifetime health, productivity and social well-being. Left untreated, mental illness results in increased absenteeism, lower academic performance, disrupted classroom behaviors and compromises school and community safety. The Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation is implementing an online avatar-based training simulation with funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to train educators in the identification and referral of students in psychological distress.

Purpose-To measure the impact of training that incorporates avatar-based role-plays to prepare educators to identify, approach and refer students in psychological distress.

Significance-Early identification and treatment of mental illness, including depression, anxiety and substance abuse can increase quality of life, productivity and lower health care utilization costs. Equipping school-based adults with gatekeeper skills can make a tremendous impact on student mental health.

Data from 303 participants from 38 Ohio schools was analyzed using either a repeated measures analysis of variance or a matched sample t-test.

Results showed significant increases in recognizing signs of psychological distress; likelihood to approach and refer students in distress; and confidence in applying gatekeeper skills. Data from a second longitudinal study demonstrated the durability of learning three months after the training where all measures remained significant. There were also self-reported increases in the number of students recognized to be in psychological distress, approached, and referred for mental health counseling and an increase in the number of conversations among staff about students of concern.