The Second Annual Academy in School Mental Health 2012 Program Evaluation The Second Annual Academy in School Mental Health (Academy), hosted by the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health, was held at Halifax West High School July 9-‐11, 2012. The Academy was offered as a three day conference for educators, designed to assist them in improving their knowledge and understanding of adolescent mental disorders, mental health problems and mental health. The conference was structured into plenary sessions attended by all participants as well as multiple streams of break-‐out sessions allowing participants to tailor their learning experiences to their unique interests. Teaching Faculty of the Academy included experts in the field of adolescent mental health with background in Psychiatry, Pharmacy, Social Work, Psychology and Education. This conference was designed for junior and senior high school educators and school health staff focusing on topics surrounding adolescent mental health and mental disorders in a school environment. The Academy provided a rich learning environment for 120 educators and was designed to provide tools and techniques to help them better address issues in adolescent school mental health. Plenary Topics and Presenters • Adolescent Brain: Implications for Educators -‐ Dr. Stan Kutcher, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS: Dr. Kutcher is the Sun Life Financial Chair in Adolescent Mental Health at Dalhousie University and the IWK Health Centre. Dr. Kutcher presented on understanding the development of the brain during adolescence and how that development leads to social, emotional and behavioral features that need to be understood by educators in designing and delivering the school experience for young people. • Medications for Mental Health Problems -‐ Dr. David Gardner, PharmD, MSc: Dr. Gardner is a Professor with the Department of Psychiatry and has a joint appointment with the College of Pharmacy at Dalhousie University. His session addressed a review of psychotropic medication and explored the process of medication selection and treatment. • Dealing with Anxiety in the Classroom -‐ Dr. Alexa Bagnell, MD, FRCPC: Dr. Bagnell is an Associate Professor with the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University and Associate Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the IWK Health Centre. Her session focused on anxiety disorders, learning to recognize and manage anxiety in children and teens within classroom and school settings. • Learning the Signs of Depression -‐ Dr. Suzanne Zinck, MD, FRCPC: Dr. Zinck is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. Her session goals included exploring causes of mood disorders, signs of mood disorders, and practical classroom strategies designed to assist students impacted by mood disorders. • When Everything Seems Unreal: Psychosis at School -‐ Dr. Sabina Abidi, MD, FRCPC: Dr. Abidi is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University. Her session reviewed the definitions and symptoms of psychosis, examined the markers that help identify youth at risk for 2
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psychosis, and discussed the importance of early identification and treatment for youth with psychosis and psychotic disorders. Educating Educators on Eating Disorders -‐ Dr. Stephanie Casey, MD, FRCPC: Dr. Casey is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University and Staff Psychiatrist in the Eating Disorders Program at the IWK Health Centre. Her session focused on the understanding the complexities of eating disorders, strategies for what educators can do who suspect a student is dealing with an eating disorders, and what prevention efforts are beneficial and what are harmful.
Break-‐out Topics and Presenters • Mental Health Curriculum Training for the Classroom -‐ Ms. Yifeng Wie: M.Ed. is a Research Associate with the Sun Life Chair in Adolescent Mental Health Group who specializes in school-‐based mental health programming and evaluation. Her session discussed the practical application of the Mental Health & High School Curriculum Guide a mental health literacy program designed by Dr. Stan Kutcher and the Canadian Mental Health Association.
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Strategies to Address ADHD in the Classroom -‐ Dr. Penny Corkum, PhD: Dr. Corkum is a Registered Psychologist and Associate Professor in the Clinical Psychology Program in the Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University. She is also the Director of Research and Training at the ADHD Clinic at the Colchester Regional Hospital. Her session focused on ADHD in the school setting. Teacher Strategies from the Frontline -‐ Ms. Judy Elliot, B.Ed, MA and IWK Teaching Staff: Ms. Elliot is an experienced educator teaching for over 20 years in a mental health environment and is a Manager at the IWK Health Centre in the Day Treatment Program. She along with educational staff in the Day Treatment program including, Mr. Nick Cardone, B.Ed, Ms., Kathryn White, B.Ed., Ms. Allyson MacKay, B.Ed., and Ms. Denise Murnaghan, MA, facilitated workshops to review in-‐class strategies beneficial for young people experiencing mental health difficulties. Advocacy and What to Expect from a Hospital Treatment Program – Mr. Andy Cox: Mr. Cox is the mental health advocate for the IWK Health Centre. His session focused on issues such as stigma and advocacy and patient rights within mental health programming. Helping Educators Discuss Student Mental Health with Parents -‐ Dr. Alan McLuckie, PhD, RSW: Dr. McLuckie is an Assistant Professor with the School of Social Work and Lecturer with the Department of Psychiatry at Dalhousie University and supervisor of the IWK Health Centre, Family Therapy Consultation and Training Program. His session discussed ways parents and teachers can work together to help overcome barriers, such as stigma, which hinder the communication of needs, identification of mental health difficulties and/or the provision of supports. ADHD Medication: What Educators Need to Know -‐ Dr. Wade Junek, MD, FRCPC: Dr. Junek is a Lecturer with the Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University and past President of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. His session reviewed the current medications and treatment options pertaining to ADHD and associated behavioural, emotional and learning difficulties. Motivational Interviewing -‐ Ms. Karen Pellerin, MSW and Dr. Heather Durdle: Ms. Pellerin and Dr. Durdle are members of the clinical staff at Choices, IWK Health Centre’s Choices addiction program.
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Their session focused on understanding and engaging with young people and their families who are at different stages of motivation related to mental health and addiction issues and accessing treatment. Anxiety Disorders: What Guidance Counsellors Should Know -‐ Dr. Iliana Garcia-‐Ortega: Dr. Garcia-‐ Ortega was trained and practiced as a psychiatrist in Mexico City and is currently a Research Associate with the Sun Life Chair in Adolescent Mental Health Group. Her session focused on exploring practical evidence-‐based strategies to support young people with anxiety within the school system. Experiences of Youth Taking Psychotropic Medications – Dr. Andrea Murphy, PharmD: Dr. Murphy is an Associate Professor with the Department of Psychiatry and Nursing at Dalhousie University. Her session focused the patterns of medication prescription and usage for young people and the implications for educational support/resources. Strategies for Dealing with Substance Abuse – Mr. Derek Leduc, MSW. Mr. Leduc is a member of the clinical staff at Choices, IWK Health Centre’s addiction program. His session focused on schools policies in relation to substance use among youth within school settings.
Participant Information The Academy welcomed 120 educators, of which 104 completed our pre-‐academy knowledge assessment which incuded information related to the eductors’ demographic information such as place of residence and professional background. The majority of participants were from Nova Scotia (70), respresenting school boards including the Halifax Regional, Cape Breton-‐Victoria Regional, Annapolis Valley, and Strait Regional school boards. Academy participants also included educators from Prince Edward Island (7), New Brunswick (10), Newfoundland and Labrador (7), Ontario (7), Alberta (1), and Nunavut (1). The professional backgrounds of participants were: teachers (17%), Special Education Teachers (8%), or Principals/school Administrators (21%), Guidance Counsellors (13%) and allied professionals (31%) a category that includes nurses, public health/youth health centre coordinators, psychologists, social workers and child and youth workers. See Figure 1 for the participants professional backgrounds. The majority of participants (59%) reported having more than 10 years of experience working in schools and a sizable number of participants (25%) indicated having more than 20 years of experience. These numbers suggest that those educators and school professsionals participating in the Academy are not recent hires. The Academy format: The Academy format consisted of six large group plenary presentations from leaders in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry and school-‐mental health. In addition to the plenary presentations, ten breakout 4
sessions were offered in a manner that allowed participants to attend breakout sessions that were most relevant to their interests. During the three-‐day academy, many of the six plenary sessions were repeated in order to allow participants to tailor the Academy to their learning needs. The plenary sessions offered an overview of mental health including information on the adolescent brain and on mental disorders (psychosis, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders). The breakout sessions offered a wide range of choices including sessions on medications, digital resources for teachers, advocacy, strategies for dealing with substance abuse, motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral techniques, discussing mental health with parents, and a presentation by Laing House youth and staff. In addition to the aforementioned sessions, a breakout session was offered on a training program designed to assist teachers in applying the Mental Health & High School Curriculum Guide (Curriculum). Program Evaluation Of the 120 participants, 69 participants completed knowledge assessment surveys prior to attending the Academy (i.e., pre-‐test), as well as following their participation in the Academy (i.e., post test). Completion of pre and post knowledge assessments by participants allows a statistical analysis to be conducted in order to determine if significant change occurred in participants knowledge on 25 multiple choice questions related to mental health (i.e., mental health questions corresponding to the content of the Academy plenary sessions) before and after their participation in the Academy. The post-‐Academy knowledge assessment also included consumer statisfactions questions designed to provided participants with an avenue for feedback related to the quality of the presentations, presentor’s style, utility of the information to their roles as educators/school professionals, and the quality of the presentation format and venue. Pretest results indicate that on average participants answered 17 of 28 (60%) questions correctly (60%). These results improved to 23 of 28 (82%) correct following participation in the Academy. In educators “language”, participants improved their mental health knowledge from a “C” to and “A”. See Figure 2 for a comparison of the average group scores measured before and after participation in the Academy. A paired samples t-‐test was used to show that this increase to be Figure 3: Participant Satisfaction statistically significant t (50) = 11.61, p < .001. These results suggest that the Academy in School Mental Health significantly increased educator’s knowledge surrounding adolescent mental health and mental health literacy. In response to the question overall I learned information and concepts [during the Academy] that will be helpful to me in my work, the majority of participants reported excellent (52.2%) or good (43.4%). 5
Few participants (4.4%) reported the Academy to be satisfactory in regards to the information being helpful for their work. None of the participants reported somewhat unsatisfactory, unsatisfactory or poor which were part of the options given. See Figure 3 for the results of participants’ ratings of how helpful the Academy was in regards to learning information and concepts that will be helpful to them in their work. Of the 69 who completed full surveys, 100% responded that they would recommend the Academy to their colleagues. When asked to rate the Academy compared to other similar programs they have taken, 29.7% rated the Academy as much better, 62.8% rated it as better and only 7.4% rated the Academy as the same. None of the participants reported the Academy to be worse or much worse as compared to other workshops they’ve attended which were amongst the options given. Participants also provided general feedback about the Academy that was overwhelmingly positive. The positive feedback received addressed both the presenters’ skills and knowledge as well as the content presented. Multiple participants wrote that they thought the Academy was “informative”, “well organized” and “a wonderful/accessible learning experience”. Satisfaction with the Academy is highlighted by feedback from one participant who wrote:
[I] loved the format of this year’s academy. The formula of main lecture, breakout, lunch, main lecture, breakout was very successful. I highly recommend this pattern for next year. [I] loved the main or key-‐note lectures. They provided a great baseline or common ground from which everyone could begin. Another participant noted that:
There were so many sessions I wish could have been extended. The keynotes were excellent. I feel I’ve been challenged to make change to ensure collaboration happens more often between our schools and child and adolescent services and support agencies. I also need to increase support for bringing awareness to mental illness and help to make it okay to talk about and share mental illness information and personal experiences.
One participant echoed the sentiments of many other participants when describing the quality of the presenters: The quality of the speakers/key notes [were] very qualified, passionate individuals; [their] commitment is evident.
Participants reported that the information presented at the Academy was relevant and will help them in their work. One participant noted how impactful the information provided at the Academy could be to shaping new teachers by saying:
I believe every student teacher should participate in this academy as a requirement of graduation from a school or education.
One participant expressed that the opportunities presented by the Academy extended further than just the knowledge acquisition and reached into improving professional relationships:
An excellent opportunity to learn, network and interface with care providers.
Multiple participants also noted that they would recommend the Academy to others as well as plan to attend future Academies. One participant’s feedback highlighted their appreciation and applause of the overall quality of the Academy
I feel the scheduling was well paced, the speakers were first rate and frankly I can’t believe 6
we were so fortunate to have been able to learn from this incredibly educated, passionate group of experts[.]
Future Directions The success of the second Academy argues for the development and implementation of an Academy held annually. The reported benefits of the Academy content for educators suggests that there is value in creating an online webinar from the video recorded sessions from the first Academy. These webinars will be hosted on www.teenmentalhealth.org allowing for greater access for educators across the province and throughout Canada. Reported Prepared by: Veronica Basha, MSW, RSW, Research Assistant & Alan Mcluckie, PhD, RSW Researcher, Sun Life Chair in Adolescent Mental Health Group
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