Abstract
Cognitive–behavioral interventions are effective in preventing and treating various child and adolescent mental health problems and are useful components in treating pediatric medical disorders. Schools are viewed as important settings for providing these services, and school psychologists have the potential to be key providers of these interventions. Unfortunately, implementation levels are low. This preliminary investigation examined the relative contributions of personal beliefs about an intervention, attitudes toward client problems, social factors, and organizational factors in school psychologists’ willingness to implement cognitive–behavioral interventions. A national sample of 124 school psychologists completed a multidimensional self-report measure of attitudes toward an intervention and the context for implementation after reading vignettes describing a client problem (either depression or diabetes) and an intervention strategy (which either did, or did not, include the involvement of the teacher). In addition to the particular client problem, beliefs about acceptability/efficacy of an intervention and organizational resources for it were most important in predicting school psychologists’ implementation commitment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atkins, M. S., Frazier, S. L., Adil, J., & Talbott, E. (2003). School-based mental health services in urban communities. In M. D. Weist, S. W. Evens, & N. A. Lever (Eds.), Handbook of school mental health: Advancing practice and research (pp. 165–178). New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Bogardus, E. S. (1925). Social distance and its origins. Journal of Applied Sociology, 9, 216–226.
Castillo, J. M., Curtis, M. J., Chappel, A., & Cunningham, J. (2011). School psychology 2010: Results of the national membership study. Paper presented at meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, San Francisco, CA.
Chafouleas, S. M., Briesch, A. M., Riley-Tillman, T. C., & McCoach, D. B. (2009). Moving beyond assessment of treatment acceptability: An examination of the factor structure of the Usage Rating Profile—Intervention (URP—I). School Psychology Quarterly, 24, 36–47.
Chandra, A., & Minkovitz, C. S. (2007). Factors that influence mental health stigma among 8th grade adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 763–774.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Deal, T. E., Purinton, T., & Waetjen, D. C. (2009). Making sense of social networks in schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Drotar, D. (2006). Psychological interventions in childhood chronic illness. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Duchnowski, A. J., Kutash, J., & Friedman, R. M. (2002). Community-based interventions in a system of care and outcomes framework. In B. J. Burns & K. Hoagwood (Eds.), Community treatment for youth: Evidence-based interventions for severe emotional and behavioral disorders (pp. 16–37). New York: Oxford University Press.
Durlak, J. A., & Dupre, E. P. (2008). Implementation matters: A review of research on the influence of implementation on program outcomes and the factors affecting implementation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 327–350.
Eckert, T., & Hintze, J. (2000). Behavioral conceptions and applications of acceptability: Issues related to service delivery and research methodology. School Psychology Quarterly, 15, 123–148.
Eckert, T., Miller, D., DuPaul, G., & Riley-Tillman, T. (2003). Adolescent suicide prevention: School psychologists’ acceptability of school-based programs. School Psychology Review, 32, 57–76.
Ennett, S. T., Ringwalt, C. L., Thorne, J., Rohrbach, L. A., Vincus, A., Simons-Rudolph, A., et al. (2003). A comparison of current practice in school-based substance use prevention programs with meta-analysis findings. Prevention Science, 4, 1–14.
Faro, B., Ingersoll, G., Fiore, H., & Ippolito, K. (2005). Improving students’ diabetes management through school-based diabetes care. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 19, 301–308.
Fixsen, D. L., Naoom, S. F., Blasé, K. A., Friedman, R. M., & Wallace, F. (2005). Implementation research: A synthesis of the literature. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida.
Fixsen, D. L., Blase, K. A., Duda, M.A., Naoom, S.F., Van Dyke, M. (2010). Implementation of evidence-based treatments for children and adolescents. In J. R. Weisz, & A. E. Kazdin (Eds.), Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents (2nd ed.). (pp. 435–450).
Forman, S. G., Fagley, N. S., Steiner, D. D., & Schneider, K. (2009a). Teaching evidence-based interventions: Perceptions of influences on use in professional practice in school psychology. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 3, 226–232.
Forman, S. G., Olin, S. S., Hoagwood, K. E., Crowe, M., & Saka, N. (2009b). Evidence-based interventions in schools: Developers’ views of implementation barriers and facilitators. School Mental Health, 1, 26–36.
Garrison, E. G., Roy, I. S., & Azar, V. (1999). Responding to the mental health needs of Latino children and families through school-based services. Clinical Psychology Review, 19, 199–219.
Gottfredson, D. C., & Gottfredson, G. D. (2002). Quality of school-based prevention programs: Results from a national survey. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 39, 3–36.
Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., Macfarlane, F., Bate, P., & Kyriakidou, O. (2004). Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: Systematic review and recommendations. The Milbank Quarterly, 82, 581–629.
Grey, M., Boland, E. A., Davidson, M., Yu, C., & Tamborlane, W. V. (1999). Coping skills training for youths with diabetes on intensive therapy. Applied Nursing Research, 12, 3–12.
Hair, J. F, Jr, Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kaslow, N. J., Clark, A. G., & Sirian, L. M. (2008). Childhood depression. In R. J. Morris & T. R. Kratochwill (Eds.), The practice of child therapy (pp. 29–92). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Langley, A. K., Nadeem, E., Kataoka, S. H., Stein, B. D., & Jaycox, L. H. (2010). Evidence-based mental health programs in schools: Barriers and facilitators of successful implementation. School Mental Health, 2, 105–113.
Link, B., Yang, L. H., Phelan, M. J., & Colllins, P. (2004). Measuring mental illness stigma. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 30(3), 511–540.
Mahajerin, A., Fras, A., Vanhecke, T. E., & Ledesma, M. I. (2008). Assessment of knowledge, awareness, and self-report factors for type II diabetes among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43, 188–190.
Martens, B. K., Witt, J. C., Elliott, S. N., & Darveaux, D. X. (1985). Teacher judgments concerning the acceptability of school-based interventions. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 16, 191–198.
McCabe, P. C., & Sharf, C. (2007). Building stronger, healthier families when a child is chronically ill: A guide for school personnel. Communique: NASP. 36.
Meyers, L. S., Gamst, G., & Guarino, A. J. (2006). Applied multivariate research: Design and interpretation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Miller, D. N., DuPaul, G. J., & Lutz, J. G. (2002). School-based psychosocial interventions for childhood depression: Acceptability of treatments among school psychologists. School Psychology Quarterly, 17, 78–99.
O’Connor, B. P. (2000). SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel analysis and Velicer’s MAP test. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 32, 396–402.
Power, T. J., & DeRosa, B. W. (2012). Children with chronic health conditions. In R. B. Menutti, R. W. Christner, & A. Freeman (Eds.), Cognitive-behavioral interventions in educational settings (pp. 531–556). New York: Routledge.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations. New York: The Free Press.
Rones, M., & Hoagwood, K. E. (2000). School-based mental health services: A research review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 3, 223–241.
Rosenbaum, M., Nonas, C., Weil, R., Horlick, M., Fennoy, I., Vargas, I., et al. (2007). School-based intervention acutely improves insulin sensitivity and decreases inflammatory markers and body fatness in junior high school students. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 92, 504–508.
Sheridan, S. M., & Gutkin, T. B. (2000). The ecology of school psychology: Examining and changing our paradigm for the 21st century. School Psychology Review, 29, 485–502.
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health.
Weisz, J. R., & Kazdin, A. E. (2010). Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Wilson, S. A. B., Posey, W. M., & Schneider, E. M. (2009). Pediatric School Psychology: Type 1 diabetes in children. NASP Communique, 37, 6–9.
Wysocki, T. (2006). Behavioral assessment and intervention in pediatric diabetes. Behavior Modification, 30, 72–92.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the assistance of Elena Marszalowicz and Erin Herman with this project. We acknowledge the support of the Violet and Cyril Franks Research Fund for the Study of Stigma and Mental Illness for this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Forman, S.G., Fagley, N.S., Chu, B.C. et al. Factors Influencing School Psychologists’ “Willingness to Implement” Evidence-Based Interventions. School Mental Health 4, 207–218 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-012-9083-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-012-9083-z