Nathaniel von der Embse, PhD, and his colleagues from the ßÙßÇÂþ» (USF), Ken Christensen, PhD, Jennifer Wolgemuth, PhD, Eunsook Kim, PhD, and , along with , from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, have been awarded a prestigious $1 million grant from the William T. Grant Foundation. The grant will fund a three-year project titled "Utilizing Discrete Event Simulation (DES) to Improve the Use and Relevance of Research Evidence to Inform School Mental Health Services."
The project will address the critical need for efficient and effective school mental health services amidst rising student mental health concerns. Despite the availability of extensive research, school decision-makers often rely on peer guidance over data-driven evidence, leading to suboptimal service selection. The research team will bridge this gap by developing and validating a software tool to enhance decision-making within a real-world educational context.
The software will simulate various intervention and assessment choices surrounding mental health services, demonstrating their impact on school resources, intervention timelines, costs, and effectiveness. This innovative tool will enable school decision-makers to perform "what if" analyses, exploring different scenarios such as increasing counselor numbers and their effects on intervention outcomes and costs.
The research will be conducted in collaboration with local school districts, including Hillsborough County Public Schools and Madison Metropolitan School District. Over three years, the project will engage 60 school decision-makers in interviews and focus, followed by 270 decision-makers participating in randomized control trials in the final year.
Dr. von der Embse said, "This project represents a significant step towards integrating research evidence into everyday school mental health decision-making processes. By utilizing this tool, we aim to make research findings more relevant and actionable for school decision-makers, ultimately improving mental health outcomes for students."
For more information, please contact Dr. Nathaniel von der Embse and future resources will be hosted on the School Mental Health Collaborative website.