Panel Discussion 17 - School-research Partnerships: Working Together to Promote Evidence-based Practices in K-12 Schools and Address the Youth Mental Health Crisis

At least one and six children in the U.S. are living with a mental health disorder (O’Connell et al., 2009), with rates drastically increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic (Leburn-Harris et al., 2022). Despite this, only one in ten children have received mental health services in the last year, with even lower rates in children from historically marginalized backgrounds (Bitsko, 2022). K-12 schools are managing the brunt of this crisis: over half of children who receive treatment do so in schools. Moreover, children from low-income and racial/ethnic minoritized groups are more likely to only receive services in school (Ali et al., 2019). However, schools are overtaxed and unable to provide services to all students. Many evidence-based cognitive and behavioral interventions can be incorporated into schools to support their efforts to address the youth mental health crisis. However, for practices to be effective and widely adopted, the unique context of schools must be considered at every phase of intervention development, evaluation, and efforts to support dissemination and implementation (Forman et al., 2013). Forming meaningful partnerships with schools to learn from current practices and inform all stages of research can improve the appropriateness of evidence-based practices and facilitate their use. Panelists were chosen to discuss their work partnering with school communities to conduct research on evidence-based practices in school settings. Panelists have expertise across a range of mental health concerns, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, stress, and trauma. Panelists will discuss how incorporating evidence-based practices into schools can promote well-being and decrease the burden of mental health concerns, particularly for historically marginalized groups. They will describe practices with demonstrated effectiveness in this setting, as well as promising approaches to facilitate feasibility, contextual appropriateness, and sustainment of practices. Finally, they will discuss the process of meaningfully engaging with teachers and other school personnel in all stages of research and share important considerations for clinicians and researchers partnering with schools.