Improving Social, Emotional, Behavioral, and Academic Functioning

Summary

This efficacy trial will evaluate the impact of an enhanced version of the Interconnected Systems Framework (ISFE) on elementary school-based team functioning, including use of evidence-based practices, and student emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning. The original interconnected systems framework (ISF) model was designed to improve the depth and quality of mental health services delivered within multi-tiered systems of support by integrating Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and school mental health (SMH) efforts to provide a continuum of high-quality services for students. Preliminary findings from a prior efficacy study show that the ISF improved team functioning and increased identification and services for students in need, particularly among youth of color, when compared to the other two conditions. Moreover, the ISF led to improvements in student social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. The current study builds on these findings by testing an enhanced version of the ISF designed to advance the model by adding/modifying several core components intended to further increase the impacts for youth with significant emotional and behavioral problems and reduce inequities in discipline and student service delivery.

Conditions

• Depression, Anxiety
• Disruptive Behavior Disorder
• Trauma, Psychological

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Enhanced version of Interconnected Systems Framework

* District-community Leadership Team to support district-wide implementation and dissemination (Swain-Bradway et al., 2015) * Detailed memoranda of understanding between schools and collaborating mental health centers * Community mental health clinicians meaningfully participate in MTSS teams * Twice-monthly MTSS meetings using systematic teaming strategies (Newton et al., 2012) * Universal screening of students' social, emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning * Data-based decision-making using screening data and data on school and academic functioning for students with and without disabilities * Student-level discipline and intervention data (Blake et al., 2011; Smolkowski et al., 2016) addressed through iterative problem-solving approaches (McIntosh et al., 2018) * Team fidelity measures taken at the start and end of each school year, augmented with monthly fidelity monitoring of Tier 2 and 3 services * A Community of Practice (Wenger, 2010) among the ISFE schools

BEHAVIORAL

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports with Co-located School Mental Health

* PBIS, including previously established data-based decision making, teaming, and evidence-based practices at three tiers: universal prevention; early identification and intervention for students with emerging risk; and intensive intervention for students with established problems and/or disabilities (Sugai \& Horner, 2006; Sugai et al., 2014). Most PBIS schools struggle with intervention (Hawken et al., 2009) and the emphasis is typically on behavior, not internalizing student needs, including depression, anxiety, and trauma (Weist et al., 2018). * SMH using a co-located approach, with clinicians implementing treatment separate from the schools' MTSS (Barrett et al., 2013). Research has shown that even when PBIS and community-supported SMH operate in the same school building, in most cases there is no functional collaboration, (Splett et al., 2014). Under this model, SMH services are provided reactively, and students are often in crisis when referred (Dowdy et al., 2010).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of South Carolina

  collaborator OTHER

• Medical University of South Carolina

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Florida

  collaborator OTHER

• East Carolina University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Brandon K Schultz, Ed.D. · East Carolina University

• Mark D Weist, Ph.D. · University of South Carolina

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-02-01

Primary Completion

2025-12-15

Completion

2025-12-15

Countries

• United States

Study Locations