Addressing Latinx Youth Psychological Wellbeing through Mental Health First Aid Training in Catholic Schools

Overview: Youth mental health presents social justice issues for social work, educators, and practitioners, and serve as a Grand Challenge of Social Work. This presentation will examine results of an evaluation of Mental Health First Aid training as part of a university-community partnership and provide implications for education, research, and practice.Proposal text:

Background/Purpose: One in seven youth experienced a serious mental health disorder at some point in their life with half of all mental problems, such as a major depression being most common, starting by age 14 (SAHMSA, 2018). Latinx youth are at elevated risk of these issues during the pandemic (Penner et al., 2020) while also facing stigma and disparities in access and utilization to quality care (Costello et. al, 2014; Cummings et al., 2016). These concerns are critical, presenting threats to youth well-being. Many youths experience positive mental health; however, there remains a need to prevent or address youth mental health crises in order to prevent escalation. This presentation will review Mental Health Awareness Training program evaluation results from a Hispanic- Serving Institution and Archdiocese K-12 schools university-community partnership demonstrating social work’s role in identifying marginalized youths’ needs in the school setting and promoting adequate access to mental healthcare.

Methods: Online Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training was provided to teachers and other school staff members of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. The 15-item Youth Mental Health Opinions Quiz was administered to all trainees prior to (Pre-Test), and immediately after (Post-Test), the YMHFA training. This instrument measured both attitudes and knowledge. An 8-item Pre- and Post-Training Assessment was also administered to measure confidence in the implementation of the various components of the YMHFA curriculum. This Assessment used a 5-point Likert scale of agreement. Data were analyzed for trainees who completed both pre- and post-test versions of each measure using McNemar’s tests of change and Wilcoxon signed rank tests, respectively.

Results: Statistically significant improvements were observed among knowledge of, and confidence to employ, youth mental health first aid techniques. Specifically, for the Youth Mental Health Opinions quiz, 9 out of 15 items showed statistically significant changes over time. Furthermore, total scores showed a significant increase of +2.41 correct items, t(125) = 9.872, p