Two recent articles, led by Dr. Olga Acosta Price, Associate Professor at the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health and Director of the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at George Washington University, highlight the critical role of school-based behavioral health interventions. Dr. Price, along with colleagues from George Washington University’s Center for Health and Health Care in Schools, Department of Prevention and Community Health, and School of Nursing, as well as partners at the District of Columbia Department of Health, are particularly interested in studying the ways schools can support the emotions and behaviors that affect students’ overall well-being.
"Enhancing School Capacity to Adopt School Behavioral Health Best Practices" was published in the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology in January 2024. The research evaluates strategies for building capacity within schools to implement comprehensive school behavioral health systems. It highlights the importance of technical assistance (TA), data-driven decision-making, family engagement, and community partnerships. The study underscores that successful implementation relies on tailoring strategies to fit school contexts and integrating both general and innovation-specific capacity-building activities. Schools that engaged more deeply in capacity-building interventions saw notable improvements in school behavioral health best practices, such as Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and family engagement.
"School Nurses’ Perceived Role and Capacity to Support School Behavioral Health Programs in DC Public and Public Charter Schools” was published in the Journal of School Nursing in July 2024. This piece focuses on school nurses' roles in supporting behavioral health programs in DC schools. It finds that while nurses are often the first to identify and refer students to behavioral health services, they report feeling underprepared and express a need for more training in behavioral health topics. This study suggests that enhancing the educational opportunities for school nurses can maximize their contributions to school behavioral health efforts, especially in early identification and assessment.
Both articles highlight the importance of building capacity—whether through school-wide TA and professional development, or targeted training for key staff like school nurses. Together, they suggest that expanding the knowledge and skills of school staff at all levels is essential for addressing the increasing behavioral health needs of students, particularly in light of challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
About Partner Spotlights: The members of the DC Education Research Collaborative’s Research Council are 13 local universities, research organizations, and data and policy groups. In addition to designing and conducting research with the Collaborative on behalf of the DC education community, they also have their own robust and rigorous research projects on a variety of topics and locations across the nation. Partner Spotlights highlight the work of our members that are relevant to the Collaborative’s research agenda and the DC community.
