Teachers’ perspectives on educator mental health competencies: A qualitative case study

Diane Kratt

doi:10.29333/ajqr/5792

Diane Kratt ¹ ^*

More Detail

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 2, Issue 1, pp. 22-40

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5792

OPEN ACCESS 4015 Views 7368 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

Abstract

Given the prevalence of children’s mental health disorders, teachers’ roles have expanded to include identifying students with mental health needs and delivering mental health interventions. However, teachers rarely receive mental health training. This study’s purpose was to explore teachers’ perspectives on an educator mental health competency framework proposed by a group of researchers using the following questions: (a) how the competencies could guide and inform their practice; (b) how the teachers would react if the competencies were adopted; and (c) what suggestions they had for improving the competencies. The participants’ responses indicated that they needed more knowledge on mental health and larger systems of support to increase their classroom effectiveness. Overall, the teachers supported the adoption of the competencies but had reservations regarding the necessary training and implementation process. Although the participants did not provide direct suggestions on revisions to the competencies, they did imply suggestions. Findings support the use of the mental health curriculum framework in the development of teacher mental health training. Several implications for practice are proposed including the addition of mental health curriculum in teacher preparation programs and the necessity for school administrators to create a school culture and infrastructure to effectively support school mental health.

Keywords: school mental health, educator competencies, teacher preparation, professional development, social emotional development

References

Adelman, H. S., & Taylor, L. (2010). Mental health in schools: Engaging learners, preventing problems, and improving schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Anderson-Butcher, D. (2006). The role of the educator in early identification, referral, and linkage. In R. Waller (Ed.), Fostering child & adolescent mental health in the classroom (pp. 257-274). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. doi:10.4135/9781452232355.n15
Arslan, S. & Yiğit, M. F. (2016). Investigation of the Impact of Emotional Intelligence Efficacy on Teachers' Multicultural Attitudes. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(11), 147-157.
Ball, A., Iachini, A. L., Bohnenkamp, J. H., Togno, N. M., Brown, E. L., Hoffman, J. A., & George, M. W. (2016). School mental health content in state in-service K-12 teaching standards in the United States. Teaching and Teacher Education, 60, 312-320. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2016.08.020
Bishop, D. C., Giles, S. M., & Bryant, K. S. (2005). Teacher receptiveness toward web-based training and support. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(1), 3-14. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2004.11.002
Bradshaw, C. P., Bottiani, J. H., Osher, D., & Sugai, G. (2014). The integration of positive behavioral interventions and supports and social and emotional learning. In M. Weist, N. Lever, C. Bradshaw, & J. Owens (Eds.), Handbook of school mental health (pp. 101- 118). New York, NY: Springer.
Cammack, N. L., Brandt, N. E., Slade, E., Lever, N. A., & Stephan, S. (2014). Funding expanded school mental health programs. In M. Weist, N. Lever, C. Bradshaw, & J. Owens (Eds.), Handbook of school mental health (pp. 17-30). New York, NY: Springer.
Carothers, D. & Parfitt, C. (2017). Disability or Language Difference: How Do We Decide? American Journal of Qualitative Research, 1(1), 1-12.
Climie, E. A. (2015). Canadian children’s mental health building capacity in school-based intervention. Intervention in School and Clinic, 51(2), 122-125.
Creswell, J.W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Deniz, M., & Ersoy, E. (2016). Examining the Relationship of Social Skills, Problem Solving and Bullying in Adolescents. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 8(1), 1 -7.
Ekornes, S. (2017). Teacher stress related to student mental health promotion: The match between perceived demands and competence to help students with mental health problems. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 61(3), 333-353. doi:10.1080/00313831.2016.1147068
Elias, M. J., Zins J. E., Graczyk, P. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2003). Implementation, sustainability, and scaling up of social-emotional and academic innovations in public schools. School Psychology Review, 32(3), 303-319.
Ersoy, E. (2015). Assessment of Adolescent Perceptions on Parental Attitudes on Different Variables. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(5), 165-176.
Ersoy, E., & Ugur, H. (2015). The Relationship between Students’ Self-esteem and Parental Attitudes in Turkish Society. The Anthropologist, 21(1-2), 112-119.
Ersoy, E., & Deniz, M. E. (2016). Psychometric Properties of the Gifted Students' Coping with Anger and Decision Making Skills Scale. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(15), 121-128.
Franklin, C. G. S., Kim, J. S., Ryan, T. N., Kelly, M. S., & Montgomery, K. L. (2012). Teacher involvement in school mental health interventions: A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(5), 973-982. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.01.027
Gray, D. E., Ilse, P., & Watson, S. (2011). Spanning the HRD academic-practitioner divide: Bridging the gap through mode 2 research. Journal of European Industrial Training, 35(3), 247-263. doi:10.1108/03090591111120403
Gore, J. M. & Gitlin, A. D. (2004). [RE]visioning the academic-teacher divide: Power and knowledge in the educational community. Teachers and Teaching, 10(1), 35-58. doi:10.1080/13540600320000170918
Graham, A., Phelps, R., Maddison, C., & Fitzgerald, R. (2011). Supporting children’s mental health in schools: Teacher views. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 17(4), 479-496.
Greenglass, E. R., & Burke, R. J. (2003). Teacher Stress. In M. F. Dollard, A. H. Winefield, & H. Winefield (Eds.), Occupational Stress in the Service Professions (pp. 213-236). London: Taylor & Francis. doi:10.1201/9780203422809.ch8
Han, S. S., & Weiss B. (2005). Sustainability of teacher implementation of school-based mental health programs. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33(6), 665-679. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-7646-2 Brooks, J. G. (1999, December 30). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. [Review of the book, by C. Halpern]. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 1(1), 32-36.
Hoagwood, K. E., Cavaleri, M. A., Olin, S. S., Burns, B. J., Slaton, E., Gruttadaro, D. & Hughes, R. (2010). Family support in children’s mental health: A review and synthesis. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 13(1), 1-45.
Jorm, A. F., Kitchener, B. A., Sawyer, M. G., Scales, H., & Cvetkovski, S. (2010). Mental health first aid training for high school teachers: A cluster randomized trial. BMC Psychiatry, 10(51). doi:10.1186/1471-244X-10-51
Knowles, M. S. (1984). Andragogy in action: Applying modern principles of adult learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Koller, J. R., Osterlind, S., Paris, K., & Weston, K. J. (2004). Differences between novice and expert teachers’ undergraduate preparation and ratings of importance in the area of children’s mental health. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 6(2), 40-45.
Lafee, S. (2013). The school’s role in students’ mental health. School Administrator, 7(70), 24-30.
Mazzer, K. R. & Rickwood, D. J. (2014). Teachers’ role breadth and perceived efficacy in supporting student mental health. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 8(1), 29-41. doi:10.1080/1754730X.2014.978119
McDaniel, H. L., Schiele, B. E., Taylor, L. K., Haak, J., & Weist, M. D. (2014). Strengthening components and processes of family involvement in school mental health. In M. Weist, N. Lever, C. Bradshaw, & J. Owens (Eds.), Handbook of school mental health (pp. 195-207). New York, NY: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7624-5_15
McGorry, P., Bates, T., & Birchwood, M. (2013). Designing youth mental health services for the 21st century: Examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 202(54), 30–35. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.112.119214
Meldrum, L., Venn, D., & Kutcher, S. (2009). Mental health in schools: How teachers have the power to make a difference. Health & Learning Magazine, 8, 3-5.
National Center for Educational Statistics. (2014). Fast Facts. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (2009). Preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among young people: Progress and possibilities. M.E. O’Connell, T. Boat, & K.E. Warner (Eds.), Board of Children, Youth, and Families, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Nellis, L. M. (2012). Maximizing the effectiveness of building teams in response to intervention implementation. Psychology in the Schools, 49(3), 245-256. doi:10.1002/pits.21594
New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. (2003). Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America final report (DHHS Pub. No. SMA-03-3832). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
O’Connell, M. E., Boat, T., & Warner, K. E. (2009). Preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among young people: Progress and possibilities. Washington, DC: Committee on the Prevention of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among Children, Youth, and Young Adults: Research Advances and Promising Interventions; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council, The National Academies Press.
Paternite, C. E., & Johnston, T. C. (2005). Rationale and strategies for central involvement of educators in effective school-based mental health programs. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 14(1), 41-49. doi:10.1007/s10964-005-1335-x
Phillippo, K. L. & Kelly, M. S. (2014). On the fault line: A qualitative exploration of high school teachers’ involvement with student mental health issues. School Mental Health, 6(3). doi:10.1007/s12310-013-9113-5
Rossen, E., & Cowan, K.C. (2014). Improving mental health in schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(4), 8-13. doi:10.1177/0031721714561438
Rothi, D. M., Leavey, G., & Best, R. (2008). On the front-line: Teachers as active observers of pupils’ mental health. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(5), 1217-1231. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2007.09.011
Sawyer, M. G., Arney, F. M., Baghurst, P. A., Clark, J. J., Graetz, B. W., Kosky, R. J., Nurcombe, B., Patton, G. C., Prior, M. R., Raphael, B., Rey, J. M., Whaites, L. C., & Zubrick, S. R. (2001). The mental health of young people in Australia: key findings from the child and adolescent component of the national survey of mental health and well-being. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 35(6), 806–814. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1614.2001.00964.x
Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2017). Social and emotional learning and teachers. The Future of Children, 27(1), 137-155.
Shernoff, E.S., Frazier, S.L., Marinez-Lora, A.M., Lakind, D., Atkins, M.S., Jakobsons, L., Hamre, B.K., Bhaumik, D.K., Parker-Katz, M., Neal, J.W., Smylie, M.A., & Patel, D.A. (2016). Expanding the role of school psychologists to support early career teachers: A mixed-method study. School Psychology Review, 45(2), 226-249. doi:10.17105/SPR45-2.226-249
Stake, R.E. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Volk, A. A., Craig, W., Boyce, W., & King, M. (2006). Perceptions of parents, mental health, and school amongst Canadian adolescents from the provinces and the northern territories. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 21(1-2), 33-46.
Walter, H. J., Gouze, K., & Lim, K. G. (2006). Teachers’ beliefs about mental health needs in inner city elementary schools. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45(1), 61-68.
Waxman, R. P., Weist, M. D., & Benson, D. M. (1999). Toward collaboration in the growing education-mental health interface. Clinical Psychology Review, 19(2), 239-253. doi:10.1016/S0272-7358(98)00072-5
Weist, M. D., & Evans, S. W. (2005). Expanded school mental health: Challenges and opportunities in an emerging field. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34(1), 3–6. doi:10.1007/s10964-005-1330-2
Weist, M. D., Lever, N. A., Bradshaw, C. P., & Owens, J. S. (2014). Further advancing the field of school mental health. In M. Weist, N. Lever, C. Bradshaw, & J. Owens (Eds.), Handbook of school mental health (pp. 1-14). New York, NY: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7624-5_1
Weist, M. D., Mellin, E. A., Chambers, K. L., Lever, N. A., Haber, D., & Blaber, C. (2012). Challenges to collaboration in school mental health and strategies for overcoming them. Journal of School Mental Health, 82(2), 97-105. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00672.x
Weston, K. J., Anderson-Butcher, D., & Burke, R. W. (2008). Developing a comprehensive curriculum framework for teacher preparation in expanded school mental health. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 1(4), 25-36. doi:10.1080/1754730X.2008.9715737
Weyns, T., Verschueren, K., Leflot, G., Onghena, P., Wouters, S., & Colpin, H. (2017). The role of teacher behavior in children's relational aggression development: A five-wave longitudinal study. Journal of School Psychology, 64, 17-27. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2017.04.008
Whitley, J., Smith, J. D., & Vaillancourt, T. (2012). Promoting mental health literacy among educators: Critical in school-based prevention and intervention. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 28(1), 56-70. doi:10.1177/0829573512468852
Williams, J. H., Horvath, V. E., Wei, H., Van Dorn, R. A., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2007). Teacher’s perspectives of children’s mental health service needs in urban elementary schools. Children & Schools, 29(2), 95-107.
World Health Organization. (2003). Investing in mental health [Report]. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Retrieved from www.who.int/mental_health/en/investing_in_mnh_final.pdf
Yigit, I. H., & Tatch, A. (2017). Syrian refugees and Americans: Perceptions, attitudes and insights. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 1(1), 13-31.

Citation

Kratt, D. (2018). Teachers’ perspectives on educator mental health competencies: A qualitative case study. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 2(1), 22-40. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5792

Kratt, D. (2018). Teachers’ perspectives on educator mental health competencies: A qualitative case study. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 2(1), pp. 22-40. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5792

Kratt D. Teachers’ perspectives on educator mental health competencies: A qualitative case study. American Journal of Qualitative Research. 2018;2(1), 22-40. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5792

Kratt, Diane. "Teachers’ perspectives on educator mental health competencies: A qualitative case study". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2018 2 no. 1 (2018): 22-40. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5792

Kratt, Diane "Teachers’ perspectives on educator mental health competencies: A qualitative case study". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 2, no. 1, 2018, pp. 22-40. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5792

Kratt D. Teachers’ perspectives on educator mental health competencies: A qualitative case study. American Journal of Qualitative Research. 2018;2(1):22-40. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/5792