(PS5-D84) Evaluating Organizational Implementation Context in School Mental Health Settings

There is a considerable body of research emphasizing the significant role of organizational context in setting the stage for the successful dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP) in healthcare settings.  Yet, there is a dearth of research and empirically supported instruments measuring the influence of organizational context on the implementation and sustainment of EBP in the education sector (Lyon et al., 2018).  Gaining a better understanding of organizational context variables that may impact the successful adoption and implementation of EBP in schools have the potential to significantly improve treatment quality. The organizational implementation context (OIC) refers to organizational characteristics identified as particularly relevant to EBP implementation. Specifically, organizational (a) leadership and (b) climate have been shown to set the stage for effective implementation of EBP within an organization, whereas (c) citizenship behavior has been proposed as an important predictor of employee engagement and positively associated with peer influence and EBP implementation.  

This study proposes to replicate Lyon and colleague’s (2018) findings by evaluating the psychometric properties of three measures assessing a subset of organizational characteristics identified as relevant to EBP implementation: Implementation Leadership Scale (ILS), Implementation Climate Scale (ICS), and Implementation Citizenship Behavior Scale (ICBS). Specifically, we aim to (a) evaluate their internal consistency, (b) examine the inter-correlations among scales, and (c) explore the relationships between organizational and demographic variables.

Data were collected from 60 school-based therapists participating in a statewide training on the Managing and Adapting Practice (MAP; PracticeWise, LLC) system, a modular-based approach to EBP service delivery. Therapists consisted of 41 school-based behavioral health (SBBH) providers, and 17 of their supervisors, and two participants who did not indicate their position, all of which who were approximately 42.49 (SD= 10.49) years in age, predominantly female (n=43, 78.2%), identified most as a cognitive or cognitive-behavioral in orientation, and worked in their current position for an average of 7.87 (SD= 6.46) years. Participants were administered six pre-training measures, including the ILS, ICS, and ICBS.

Consistent with Lyon and colleagues (2018), preliminary analyses indicated good internal consistencies across scales, as well as significant intercorrelation between OIC measures. The ILS, including two of its subscales (i.e., proactive, knowledgeable) demonstrated a significant positive correlation with hours of supervision per month and caseload size. Additionally, results indicated significant differences in reports on subscales of the OIC measures depending on provider role (supervisor vs. SBBH). These and other results and study implications for school mental health EBP efforts will be discussed.