Collaborative Redesign of Implementation Strategies for the Brief Intervention for School Clinicians

Summary

Schools are the most common venue for youth mental health services, but school mental health (SMH) typically does not use evidence-based clinical interventions (CI), common elements of effective mental health, or effective implementation strategies. To address this gap, a multidisciplinary team developed the Brief Intervention for School Clinicians (BRISC), a four-session engagement, brief intervention, and triage strategy targeting a range of mental health (e.g., anxiety, depression, past trauma) and other problems (academic, peer, family). BRISC outperformed SMH usual care on engagement, treatment completion, and youth self-reported problem severity. Although there are many evidence-based SMH strategies such as BRISC, integration into practice is poor because accompanying implementation strategies are often absent, poorly defined, or insufficiently tailored to the education context.

Conditions

• Anxiety Disorders
• Depressive Symptoms
• Mental Health Issue

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Unadapted Brief Intervention for School Clinicians (BRISC; BR-O)

BRISC is a four-session, individual engagement, assessment, brief intervention and triage strategy for youth age 13-18. BRISC provides a research-based approach to improving structure, efficiency, and effectiveness of school mental health via five elements: (1) Stepped care/tiered structure; (2) Culturally-informed engagement and motivation strategies;(3) Systematic problem-solving framework; (4) Modularized common elements approach; and (5) Structured assessment and monitoring.BRISC is hypothesized to operate on specific mechanisms that influence improvements in efficiency and clinical outcomes.

BEHAVIORAL

Brief Intervention for School Clinicians (BRISC) with Implementation Strategies Adapted for School-Employed Practitioners (BR-A)

BR-A is a version of the Brief Intervention for School Clinicians with implementation strategies (IS) adapted for delivery by in the education sector by school-employed practitioners. Although IS modifications will be determined by Study 1 activities, we anticipate that BR-A may include changes to training pacing or format (e.g., asynchronous e-learning modules and videos); adaptations to format/content of consultation; and/ or addition of other ISs to enhance skills development (e.g., development of a learning collaborative) and/or overcome organizational or system barriers (e.g., educational outreach, changes to regulations). Core components of BRISC will be retained in the BR-A condition.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Washington

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Eric Bruns · University of Washington

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

13 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-05-30

Primary Completion

2028-03-01

Completion

2028-03-01