Essay Example on Rank order the top mental health Issues

Table 1 rank order the top mental health issues concerns in all most all schools which revealed that the top mental health concerns were overt behaviors 67 83 whereas anxiety 33 and depression 22 were among the lowest ranked concerns Further teachers were also asked to identify the types of services provided within their schools Based on the reported services being provided in schools teachers 85 were indicated a lack of service implementation and awareness in the following areas a provision of mental health services in homes by school personnel b trauma counseling c parent counseling d group counseling therapy and e function based behavioral assessment and intervention planning B Teachers Roles in Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Their Students Versus the Roles Other Professionals in Their School In response to the query it has found that over two thirds 70 of all respondents agreed that schools should be involved while less amount 18 of teachers disagreed and 12 remained neutral Further teachers responses to specific roles of various school professionals in addressing the mental health needs of students revealed that the top four tasks for teachers as indicated by 58 or more of respondents were a implementing classroom behavioral interventions b monitoring student progress c teaching curriculum based classroom behavioral interventions and d teaching curriculum based classroom social emotional lessons 

The same tasks were indicated for Special Education teachers however the addition of conducting behavioral assessments and consultation with teachers and parents were also strongly indicated by 54 of respondents School psychologists roles were primarily indicated for the following tasks by 60 or more respondents a screening for mental health problems b conducting behavioral assessments c consultation with teachers and parents and d provision of school based mental health services for children Social Workers were mostly indicated for the following by 62 or more respondents a referring children and families to community based service providers b provision of school based mental health services for families c provision of prevention programs services d staff development training and e consultation with teachers and parents The school professional with the most tasks associated with addressing the mental health needs of students was the school counselor with ten of the 13 tasks having 59 or more respondents indicating their involvement Overall there were low percentages for tasks that educators indicated were not a role for the school The highest level within this category received 23 of respondents for the provision of school based mental health services for families C Teacher Knowledge Training and Experience in Supporting Mental Health Based on the data obtained from respondent about the knowledge training and experiences in supporting mental health it has revealed that most teachers did not feel that they had the knowledge 59 skills 57 or resources 69 71 to effectively support the mental health needs of their students effectively Further teachers perceptions of experience level and type of training related to behavioral interventions were also assessed Respondents indicated their most common experiences learning about behavioral interventions occurred through workshops in service 64 staff development 58 and independent reading study 38 

Lower percentages of respondents indicated learning these interventions through graduate course work 31 and undergraduate coursework 31 Of all respondents 8 reported that they had not received any training in behavioral interventions Educators also rated their overall education or training on behavioral interventions of which 16 rated as none or minimal 51 reported moderate and 33 reported substantial Experience using behavioral interventions was also assessed of which 14 reported none to minimal experience 40 indicated moderate and 46 reported substantial experience using behavioral interventions Overall educators ratings for their overall level of education training and experience using behavioral interventions were high over 80 indicated moderate to substantial Table 2 Results of t Tests and Means SD for Veteran N 60 vs Newer N 30 s Perceptions of Their Levels of Education 

Training Experience Knowledge and Skills for Supporting Children's Mental Health Needs Rating of Education Training Experience Knowledge Skills Veteran 60 Newer 30 t p d How would you rate your education or training using behavioral interventions 3 19 75 3 05 65 1 48 14 0 13 5 How would you rate your amount of experience in using behavioral interventions 3 34 77 3 20 71 1 42 15 7 14 4 I feel that I have the level of KNOWLEDGE required to meet the mental health needs of children with whom I work 3 06 1 10 3 20 97 0 96 33 7 13 7 I feel that I have the SKILLS required to meet the mental health needs of the children with whom I work 3 13 1 04 3 21 1 0 0 59 55 6 08 1 I feel that I have adequate cultural knowledge and communication interpersonal skills to meet the mental health needs of the children with whom I work 3 48 93 3 55 85 0 63 52 7 07 7 Note A SA 4 agree or 5 strongly agree N 3 neutral D SD 2 disagree or 1 strongly disagree Paired t tests were conducted for five ratings of knowledge and skills for meeting the mental health needs of students The paired t tests included newer versus veteran teacher s perceptions of their level of knowledge and skills on the same rating scales To control for Type I error given the number of tests run Bonferroni correction was used 05 5 tests run which resulted in an adjusted alpha of 01 required for results to be considered significant Myers Well 1995 None of these results yielded significant differences to be reported thus the analysis failed to reject the null hypothesis regarding newer versus veteran teachers