Public schools are a major provider of mental health services for children in the US. Mental and behavioral health services range from universal programming to individualized clinical supports to address student needs. These services in schools are delivered by various professionals including non-teaching and teaching school personnel,…

Current childhood obesity treatment programs do not address medically underserved populations or settings where all members of an interdisciplinary team may not exist - either within one organization or within the community. In this paper, we describe the use of a community-academic partnership to iteratively adapt Epstein's Traffic Light Diet…

In this brief, we discuss embedding and framing the evolving literatures related to improvement and implementation sciences into a general intervention perspective. From that perspective, we sketch out some basic considerations related to improvement and implementation research, practice, and policy.

In collaboration with an urban public school, teacher candidates at a nearby university created a social-emotional skills project called Knight Brigade. The author discusses the project planning, implementation, and results as part of this ongoing partnership.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD), a highly prevalent and impairing psychological condition in adolescents, is characterized by persistent fear of social and performance situations. Existing evidence suggests that racism and discrimination may heighten risk for SAD and present barriers to treatment in Black youth. Yet, intervention research on SAD in…

The ARP Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) program focuses on increasing state educational agencies' (SEAs) and local educational agencies' (LEAs) capacity to provide wraparound services by hiring staff, dedicating resources, and planning partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs). This brief: (1) summarizes the role and expertise…

Young children of color experience daily messages, explicit or implicit, that they are not as good as White children. These encounters act as barriers to African American children's positive racial identity development. This paper presents findings from a feasibility study of a program to infuse a community with positive messages about African…

Within Massachusetts alone, 23,000 students are experiencing homelessness. And, with the expiration of COVID-era protections like an eviction moratorium and rental assistance, many experts predict that number will increase. Child and family homelessness is associated with a host of negative outcomes including poor physical and mental health, lower…

Objective: School-based prevention interventions informed by the World Health Organization Health Promoting School (HPS) framework aim to improve the health and wellbeing of school-aged children, yet few studies describe factors influencing the successful implementation of this framework in secondary schools. This study sought to explore why and…

Barriers to higher education persist among the Latino population across the United States. This project (IRB approval 18-001240), framed within the Engagement and Outreach Scholars Academy at East Carolina University, aimed to identify the obstacles to accessing higher education faced by the local Latino community and evaluate some ways to make…

The vast majority of youth experiencing symptoms of a mental health (MH) disorder never access services. Barriers to access include unawareness of symptoms or where to get help, stigma, or lack of transportation or finances. Many school, family, and community collaboration models have begun to enhance access to MH supports. The present study…

Over the last 10 years, institutes of higher learning (IHLs) in the southeastern United States have endured natural disasters that have caused flooding, water, and wind damage and resulted in student evacuations, class disruptions, and building damage. IHLs are further challenged with resuming campus operations despite the emotional impact…

Math education experts agree that struggling students need supplemental intervention support. Yet implementing educational intervention programs is logistically complex. Schools need effective and feasible math intervention programs. The current study evaluated outcomes from a year-long randomized controlled trial of a community-school partnership…

Implementing targeted (Tier 2) interventions for youth at risk of developing behavioral health concerns is critical for a comprehensive approach to school mental health. Given challenges in school-based implementation of targeted interventions, identifying factors associated with their implementation may contribute to a better understanding of…

Arts-in-nature practice has been shown to have positive impacts on children's mental health and wellbeing; however, introducing new innovations in schools can be challenging and requires involvement of staff in the process. The 'Branching Out' project explored how arts-in-nature practice can be scaled up to achieve greater reach in primary schools…