NCT05034198

Remote Training in Rural Schools

Development and Pilot Testing of a Remote Training Strategy for the Implementation of Mental Health Evidence-Based Practices in Rural Schools

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 174 (actual)
• Sponsor: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 99 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Rural areas have fewer, and less well trained, health care providers than non-rural areas. Schools have become more involved in the delivery of mental health services and hold great potential for increasing access to children and adolescents. Innovations in training and service delivery are needed to improve mental health care quality and availability in rural schools. Evidence-based practices (EBPs) can be incorporated into school-wide multi-tiered systems that are currently used to improve school climate and safety. School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a service-delivery strategy based on the public health model is one example. Investigators will use an iterative process (Rapid Prototyping) to develop and evaluate the appropriateness, feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a remote training strategy that provides resources to support use of Tier 2 EBPs and effective support for care coordination practices in rural schools.

Conditions

• Behavior Disorders

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Coping Power Program (CPP)	CPP is an evidence-based intervention designed for students with externalizing behavior disorder. CPP consists of twelve 45-minute sessions. This EBP has been found to be effective at reducing aggressive behavior, covert delinquent behavior and substance abuse among aggressive boys, with gains maintained at one-year follow-up. Growth curve analyses showed that CPP had linear effects for three years after intervention on reductions in aggressive behavior and academic behavior problems.
BEHAVIORAL	Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for Anxiety Treatment in Schools (CATS)	CATS is an adaptation of Friends for Life (FRIENDS). The adapted protocol retains the core elements of evidence-based CBT for anxiety and the FRIENDS group format. Investigators implemented planned adaptations to the protocol based on collective experience. Changes were made to the language, cultural methods, number of sessions, and activities while maintaining the 5 essential components of the treatment. This resulted in a briefer (8-session) and more feasible, engaging and culturally appropriate protocol for urban under-resourced schools than the original FRIENDS.
BEHAVIORAL	Check-in/Check-out (CI/CO)	CI/CO is a targeted, Tier 2 intervention for students at risk of developing externalizing and internalizing mental health disorders. CI/CO is designed to provide immediate feedback (i.e., at the end of each class period) to students, based on the use of a daily report card. This feedback is developmentally sensitive. CI/CO implementers meet individually with students for a brief 'check-in' in the morning and a brief 'check-out' in the afternoon. Research on the use of CI/CO has shown it to be effective in reducing externalizing and internalizing problems with elementary school students. CI/CO will be offered to individual students for a three-month period of time, which is the same time-frame needed for the implementation of CPP.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-09-30
• Primary completion: 2025-07-01
• Completion: 2025-07-01
• First posted: 2021-09-05
• Last updated: 2026-02-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States