Rural Mental Health Care During a Global Health Pandemic: Addressing and Supporting the Rapid Transition to Tele-Mental Health

The adoption of tele-mental health by mental health professionals has been slow, especially in rural areas. Prior to 2020, less than half of mental health agencies offered tele-mental health for patients. In response to the global health pandemic in March of 2020, mental health therapists across the U.S. were challenged to make the rapid shift to tele-mental health to provide patient care. Given the lack of adoption of tele-mental health previously, immediate training in tele-mental health was needed. This article describes collaborative efforts between two mental health technology transfer centers and one addiction technology transfer center in rural regions of the U.S. in response to the rapid adoption of remote technologies to provide mental health services. A learning series of real-time tele-mental health trainings and supplemental materials were offered beginning in March 2020 to support this transition. A weekly learning series covered a variety of topics relevant to telehealth including technology basics, billing, state legislation, and working with children and adolescents. Given the demand of these initial training sessions, additional trainings were requested by agencies outside the regional technology transfer centers. To date, there have been more than 13,000 views of the tele-mental health webpage which includes recorded training sessions, handouts, and supplemental tele-mental health materials. The article also provides a summary of the questions and concerns highlighted by the more than 4,500 providers who joined the learning series, noting key rural and urban clinical and structural barriers to providing virtual care

The Classmaps Survey 2007: A Readability Study

The ClassMaps Survey 2007 is an evidence-based measure that assesses six aspects of classrooms that promote student success. Multiple measure development studies have provided evidence to suggest that the CMS 2007 is a reliable and valid measure of classroom climate. However, the readability of the survey has not yet been investigated. This dissertation examined the readability of the CMS 2007 by observing whether or not elementary students could read and understand the words included on the CMS 2007 and whether or not differences in reading and understanding existed between Upper and Lower Elementary students. Participants included 107 second- through fifth-grade students who attended after-school summer programming in four Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in a mid-western town. Data collected included records of the students’ success in reading aloud each word on the CMS 2007 Word List and in verbally defining selected words from the list. Frequency data were used to describe the degree to which students could read and verbally define the words on the CMS 2007 Word List and group comparisons were used to describe differences between Upper and Lower Elementary students. Results showed that Upper Elementary students were able to read words on the CMS 2007; however, Lower Elementary struggled to read some tough words on the CMS 2007. Both Upper and Lower Elementary students struggled to verbally define some tough words on the CMS 2007. Significant differences existed between Upper Elementary and Lower Elementary students, such that Upper Elementary students correctly read aloud and verbally defined more words than Lower Elementary students. Future research and implications for practice are discussed

The Classmaps Survey 2007: A Readability Study

The ClassMaps Survey 2007 is an evidence-based measure that assesses six aspects of classrooms that promote student success. Multiple measure development studies have provided evidence to suggest that the CMS 2007 is a reliable and valid measure of classroom climate. However, the readability of the survey has not yet been investigated. This dissertation examined the readability of the CMS 2007 by observing whether or not elementary students could read and understand the words included on the CMS 2007 and whether or not differences in reading and understanding existed between Upper and Lower Elementary students. Participants included 107 second- through fifth-grade students who attended after-school summer programming in four Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in a mid-western town. Data collected included records of the students’ success in reading aloud each word on the CMS 2007 Word List and in verbally defining selected words from the list. Frequency data were used to describe the degree to which students could read and verbally define the words on the CMS 2007 Word List and group comparisons were used to describe differences between Upper and Lower Elementary students. Results showed that Upper Elementary students were able to read words on the CMS 2007; however, Lower Elementary struggled to read some tough words on the CMS 2007. Both Upper and Lower Elementary students struggled to verbally define some tough words on the CMS 2007. Significant differences existed between Upper Elementary and Lower Elementary students, such that Upper Elementary students correctly read aloud and verbally defined more words than Lower Elementary students. Future research and implications for practice are discussed