Developing a Technology-based Staff Training Tool for an Empirically-Supported Positive Preventive Intervention For Supporting Children At-Risk for the Development of Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Project Summary Disparities in mental health service utilization are more pronounced for children from diverse backgrounds with disproportionately fewer Black and Latino children benefitting from mental health supports and services. Schools are key to addressing these racial and ethnic disparities in mental health service utilization given they are an important point of access and offer children an environment in which evidence-based interventions can be embedded within everyday classroom routines and experiences. First Step Next (FSN) is an evidence-based intervention for young, high-need students who are struggling to develop the vital social-emotional and behavioral skills necessary for success in Pre-K and early elementary classroom settings. The FSN program has been successfully applied with over 2,000 K-3 students in the past decade and a half. The purpose of the proposed project is to develop, implement, and evaluate a mobile-web online training and technical support system to promote sustainability and enable scalability of FSN. This project will leverage existing resources and competencies to create a commercially viable technology-based training tool. In this SBIR Phase I research, we will (a) develop and evaluate a prototype interactive web browser and mobile app multimedia training tool to enable para-professionals to deliver FSN to young children, and (b) identify additional training materials needed to address training gaps. The proposed technology-based training tool should be highly sustainable, because it (a) relies on “endogenous” providers in the school setting (e.g., classroom aides, assistant teachers and family support workers) as coaches-in-training, (b) is likely to prove cost-effective since we will utilize a technology that can deliver training at scale, and (c) will improve fidelity both by leveraging technology to provide consistent training experiences to para-professionals and by including a recorded observation of implementation that will be reviewed and graded by an expert trainer to increase the likelihood of intervention implementation fidelity. We will assess the feasibility and usability of the FSN technology platform with end users implementing the program within an authentic educational setting.Project Narrative This application will develop a commercially viable technology-based training tool for First Step Next (FSN), an evidence-based intervention for young, high-need students who are struggling to develop the vital social- emotional and behavioral skills necessary for success in Pre-K and early elementary classroom settings. The training tool will include an interactive web browser and mobile app multimedia content to enable para- professionals (e.g., classroom aides, assistant teachers and family support workers) to deliver FSN in preschool and elementary classrooms. Once developed, the training tool will be field tested for usability and acceptability with a group of “endogenous” providers in the school setting.