Training School Counselors in a School-Based Depression Prevention Program: Understanding Implementation Commitment and Clinical Utility

Background: While there has been growing recognition of the importance of depression prevention efforts, there exists a critical gap between research and practice in youth depression prevention: although clinical trials have identified evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for preventing adolescent depression, the factors that drive effective implementation are not fully understood. Interpersonal Psychotherapy – Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST) has been found to be an efficacious group depression preventive intervention. However, future work must explore whether IPT-AST can be implemented effectively in the community. School counselors (i.e., guidance counselors, school psychologists, child study team staff) are the natural choice to deliver indicated prevention programs like IPT-AST. However, research examining whether school counselors can feasibly and effectively implement EBIs is largely lacking. Additionally, the literature suggests certain obstacles to the implementation of EBIs in the community, including organizational factors (e.g., school climate, administrator support) and provider characteristics (e.g., professional background, clinical experience). The proposed project, a first step toward the implementation of IPT-AST in schools, will assess the feasibility and acceptability of a preliminary training workshop for school counselors and will examine provider and organizational factors associated with counselor-rated beliefs about the clinical utility of IPT-AST and implementation commitment.

Method: Data collection will take place in November 2013. School counselors at 12 public middle and high schools in central New Jersey will attend a one-day IPT-AST workshop and complete self-report measures on provider characteristics, organizational factors, IPT-AST knowledge, clinical utility, and implementation commitment. We will examine training satisfaction scores, change in IPT-AST knowledge pre- to post-workshop, and counselor-rated clinical utility and implementation commitment as an initial assessment of the acceptability and feasibility of training school counselors to deliver IPT-AST. Second, we will examine the how provider characteristics (e.g., self-efficacy in program delivery, years of clinical training, time spent performing counseling activities in school) and organizational factors (e.g., administrator support, organizational resources, and school climate) predict training satisfaction, implementation commitment, and beliefs about clinical utility.

Potential Impact: This project is an initial and important step toward bridging the gap between research and practice for this efficacious depression prevention program. The proposed project would be the first effort to train school counselors in IPT-AST and may suggest novel ways to adapt training programs and implementation efforts for school counselors with diverse backgrounds and school environments.

Back to: Increasing the Impact of Depression Prevention Interventions: Findings from IPT-AST Studies

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